A by the numbers collaboration.
Creative Staff:
Story: Eliot Rahal
Art: Renato Guedes
What They Say:
Before they were dominating the music charts and selling out stages worldwide, Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee were just a pair of talented, but otherwise ordinary, brothers…until a twist of fate delivered them fame and wealth beyond their wildest imagination. Now, years later as hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd, the brothers are bound for New Orleans…and an otherworldly encounter with the supernatural guardian called Shadowman, the lone line of the defense between our world and the Deadside that lies beyond…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Rae Sremmurd is one of the best hip-hop duos to come out in recent history. Making hits such as No Flex Zone and Black Beetles, the group’s appeal has everything. However, how did they get famous? One would assume through mega-producer Mike-Will-Made-It, but instead, we find out it’s through signing a deal with the devil. Now, their side of the contract is almost up and the devil has come to collect with Shadowman and his crew the only people capable of canceling that contract.
Collaborations at times can be very interesting. There are multiple people that created some very interesting scenarios for collaboration. Takashi Murakami and Kanye West, Marvel and Capcom, Mario and Rabbids. These collaborations truly seemed like a collaboration where input from both sides was done to create a good unifying product. Eliot Rahal and Rae Sremmurd seem to go the opposite route into forgettable territory in Shadowman and Rae Sremmurd which can sum up by the interaction between the members of Rae Sremmurd.
A disheartening aspect that sums up this endeavor is when both members of Rae Sremmurd talk to each other. While the characters do call each other by their stage name it doesn’t feel authentic at all. It feels staged. While many artists refer to each other by stage names and then have a more intimate government name, it doesn’t feel as if they are addressed like that properly. Rather they are mentioned in name in order to make sure that you knew who the characters were. This makes for a scenario where it comes up clumsy and awkward as characters feel like people thrown together than actual brothers.
Everything else with this collaboration just seems standard. The action seems standard for the character. The dialogue seems dinner for the characters in a route to each other except for Rae Sremmurd. It feels like a tried-and-true formula done before by other works. Well, that’s not necessarily a bad route to take. It becomes hazardous when it feels rote and dialed in. This is the case when characters for a famous band feel like characters for another work that could have been done without them. It just doesn’t feel like a proper collaboration.
Shadowman’s art for the most part works. The water coloring helps give an animated look to the realism depicted in Shadowman. For some, they will find that this is not necessarily the most interesting to look at. However, for many of those that want a more realistic depiction, this works well enough. The scenes feel well articulated and expressive making the souls and the realm that Shadowman feel dark and haunting.
In Summary:
Shadowman and Rae Sremmurd could have been a lot better if both parties came to the table more earnestly. It feels as if Rae Sremmurd and Rahal came together, talked a bit but didn’t properly collaborate. It shows the way the characters interact with each other giving a more “cameo” feel than an actual plotline driven work. The art is serviceable, but also does not feel as if it had a sense of true input from the group. The overall feels more of a cash-in than a work of collaborative art. it’s a shame because it could have worked well.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: October 4th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
