How far will Gina’s trust go?
Creative Staff:
Story: Cavan Scott
Art: Corin Howell
Colors: Triona Farell
Letterer: Andworld Design
What They Say:
You only die twice. Tragedy has struck MI666. With an agent down, the hunt begins for the killer. Meanwhile, the ghost of Gideon Quill continues to delve deeper into Gina Meyer’s past, coming face-to-cursed-face with the spirit of the man who terrorized her as a child. Continuing the supernatural spy saga by New York Times bestseller Cavan Scott (Star Wars: The High Republic) and Corin Howell (Wonder Woman).
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of the new storyline in the previous issue gave us a big moment with Aashi getting killed and that leads into the opening here in a different way. Cavan Scott has moved the storyline along well with the first two arcs and has provided growth, change, and plenty of chaos, so we’re keen on more. As I’ve talked about with this series, Corin Howell has been a favorite for a while now when it comes to the artwork as I’ve liked several of their books in the last few years. With this one focusing more on action, they keep things tight but accessible and with a good flow to follow rather than too many quick cuts that don’t tell the tale, which goes a long way for me.
With the book opening by going back six months in time, we get to see how Gina was surprised by how well she and Aashi ended up working together and becoming friends. That’s something she never really expected as the two managed to click at work and while we don’t see them hanging out as deep friends, the bonds were definitely growing and changing, making her death worse. That has Gina feeling frustrated now as Hex won’t actually go and bring her back in some form like she knows he can and that kind of off-balanced nature on her part actually gets him to confront her on things. It’s nicely done as he notes that she’s hiding her work with Quill, showing that he knows all, and that he would easily do the same with Aashi if not for the fact she specifically wrote it into her contract that it would never happen. She wanted real rest when she was dead and not to be brought back.
Far more interesting, in a way, is that it now has Hex making it clear that Gina messed up by not trusting him on the whole finding her mother thing and using Quill. He’s able to reach through to get her to try and trust him a bit more by putting MI666’s resources behind her finding out about her mother, but that they focus on the mission at hand at first. Which is shaping up well as it looks like a simulant of some sort is causing trouble across multiple agencies with local threats but with the same result of killing off agents. It reinforces Gina’s desire to do this mission right and I really like the first bit of it we see play out here. We also see some of what Quill is up to in the investigation into Gina’s mother as a bit of that past is churned up a bit on the supernatural side. That hints at some dark stuff but continues to make it clear that Quill just should not be trusted at all at this point.
In Summary:
Shadow Service continues to be an undiscovered gem that I hope more people find out about. It’s a strong book that has a lot going on and it isn’t something you flip through in two minutes and move on from. There’s some good dialogue with real weight and meaning behind it, changes in the cast as it progresses, and new discoveries being made. All while Howell brings it to life with some really great designs and layouts and a sense of character. I can’t help but sing the praises of this series in hopes of others discovering it and enjoying it as much as I do.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: May 25th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
