VALIANT BEYOND: TALES OF THE SHADOWMAN #4 – New Comic Review

Valiant Beyond: Tales of the Shadowman #4, by Alien Books & Valiant Comics on 12/3/25, opens a swampy horror story about guilt, monsters, and memory.

Credits:

• Writer: AJ Ampadu
• Artist: Sergio Monjes
• Colorist: Jon Amarillo
• Cover Artist: Sebastián Cabrol (cover A)
• Publisher: Alien Books, Valiant Comics
• Release Date: December 3, 2025
• Comic Rating: Mature (gore, nudity)
• Cover Price: $4.99
• Page Count: 28
• Format: Single Issue

Covers:

Analysis of VALIANT BEYOND: TALES OF THE SHADOWMAN #4:

First Impressions:

The opening pages drop you straight into the Deadside with an old woman hiding in the dark while a cannibal tears a victim apart, and it lands like a gut punch rather than a slow burn. The mood is thick, mean, and personal right away, because the narration is less about the gore and more about how small and cowardly she feels for doing nothing. As a hook for this arc, it feels like a clear, focused horror concept that the script actually follows through on, not just a shock image.

Recap:

Previously, Detective Alyssa Myles got called on the carpet for diving too deep into voodoo and Deadside business, and her captain suspended her and ordered a quarantine after the magic contamination got out of hand. The fallout from Dr Mirage’s death hit the department and the city hard, while “the Game” exposed how human desire and weakness were being twisted by otherworldly predators in seductive, deadly scenes where bodies and souls became offerings. At the same time, the villain called Sister pulled Grae Ghazur back from New Orleans, forming a group called the Five who plan to trigger an apocalyptic event, while Mr Twist ran for the Wasteland of the Deadside. Shadowman and Myles used memory magic to run him down in a brutal final clash, and Shadowman hurled Twist into the Umbra, leaving Myles to return home for Mirage’s funeral, hunt the rest of the killers, and untangle the cursed mystery binding her to Jack Boniface.

Plot Analysis:

An old woman in the Deadside bayou hides in the shadows while a monster known as the Bayou Cannibal butchers a woman in front of her, and she admits in narration that she did not move a muscle to help. She runs and survives, but the guilt eats at her, and later she explains the attack to the Mayor in Jaunty’s Quarters inside the dead city of Shambhala. They talk through where the killing happened and how the victim was just another poor soul the city failed to protect, and the Mayor’s people jump straight to the idea of beefing up perimeter spells. The old woman cannot even name the victim, only the struggle, which sets the tone for a story about things you see clearly in the moment, then somehow cannot hold on to afterward.

The Mayor, who clearly has his own anxiety and panic issues, reminds himself that the Deadfolk made him their leader and that he owes them protection whether he feels ready or not. When he recognizes the old woman as Maman Jolie du Sang, a once legendary warrior priestess who could make loa tremble, he pushes her to stop rotting in fear and act like the person she used to be. Jolie admits she let fear and shame sink into her bones over the years, that she got old and weak and started hiding in the shadows instead of standing in the light. The Mayor’s answer is blunt and simple, old does not mean useless, so he tells her to spill a little blood and call the Shadow.

Jolie cuts her hand and summons Bosou Koblamin, the Shadowman, who appears and calmly points out she is bleeding all over the floor while the Mayor brings him up to speed. Jolie confesses that there was another night when she came face to face with the Bayou Cannibal, close enough to smell the blood on him, and then her memory tossed it away like a fading dream. Shadowman explains that this killer, Uncle Sami, has been blessed by the loa of doubt, a power that lets people see, hear, and smell him, yet reject the memory before it settles, like trying to recall a dream the moment after waking. Shadowman also admits that he is haunted by his own missing past, with faces and names cut out of his history by some curse, so he is just as tired of ghosts and half-truths as Jolie is.

Together they prepare a plan with a goat-gut knife meant to mark Uncle Sami, special powders meant to keep him from slipping out of their minds, and a veve of Papa Legba that pins every path shut except the one they choose. The deal is simple, either the blade and powders work or they die ugly, and Shadowman hands Jolie the weapon because Sami will sense him if he gets too close. A separate scene shows Sister meeting one of her killers, who thanks her for the time of his life and hands over a prize before walking through green energy, followed by a splash page that lays out the DarkSoul Apocalypse and the Five, with Grae Ghazur the Changeling, the Saint, Uncle Sami the Cannibal, the Assassin, the Sister, and the Ripper set up as a big threat. Back in the bayou, Jolie refuses to hide any longer, walks into the swamp alone, and sings an old tune about a rambler who finally gets cut down, turning the song into a promise that this time the butcher will not walk away.

Jolie finds Uncle Sami in the marsh and cuts him with the enchanted knife, shocking him when the wound actually hurts and his body suddenly feels heavy, like he is neck deep in mud. While he curses and tries to spot the witch who sliced him, the powders and Legba’s veve kick in, freezing his escape routes and stopping his trick of slipping out of reality and memory. Shadowman steps in and tells him the bayou has judged him, the shadows can no longer hide him, and the Umbra is calling as fire rises to burn him apart while he howls that the bindings cannot hold him. After the cannibal is consumed and the trap fizzles out, Jolie collapses from her wounds, proud that she finally stood her ground but certain she will not survive, so Shadowman offers another option, she can pay his boon by living on as a shadow between worlds, cursed to watch the world from the dark. Jolie, who spent so long hiding in the shadows to escape her fear, now chooses to stand there proudly beside the darkness as she becomes a living shadow, setting up the next chapter’s promise of a werewolf reckoning.

Story

Structurally, this issue is clean and focused, built around a single case, the hunt for Uncle Sami, that begins with a crime, moves through planning, and ends with a decisive outcome. The pacing leans steady rather than frantic, with a long middle stretch of dialogue in Shambhala that still pulls its weight because it sets up Jolie’s shame, the Mayor’s pressure, and the rules of Sami’s doubt power before anyone throws a punch. The dialect-heavy narration and dialogue give the Deadside a specific voice, especially through Jolie, and while it might slow down some readers, it is consistent and supports the mood rather than drifting into parody. The script keeps exposition tied to immediate stakes, explaining loa of doubt, Papa Legba, and the Umbra because those details matter to how the trap works, not just to sound mystical, which makes the world-building feel functional instead of fluffy.

Art

The art leans hard into shadow and texture, which fits a story about things hiding in the dark, and the layouts stay clear enough that the reader can follow the emotional beats even when the panels get busy. Character acting sells a lot of the drama, from the Mayor’s clenched, sweating face as his chest tightens to Jolie’s shift from hunched guilt to fierce resolve once she takes the knife and walks into the swamp. Color choices ride a narrow band of sickly greens, deep blues, and hot magical highlights that make the Deadside feel corrupted but alive, and the fire that finally takes Uncle Sami feels earned because the page has been so cold up to that point. The only real drawback is that some of the fight panels in the bayou lean muddy, with heavy blacks and motion lines that blur exact geography, so readers who like very clean action may need to slow down and scan a bit.

Characters

Jolie gets a full mini arc in one chapter, starting as a self-described coward who hid in the shadows while people died, then dragging herself back into the light long enough to lure a monster to his doom. Her motivation is simple and human, she is sick of running and of being eaten alive by what she did not do, and that shame turning into sacrifice gives the ending real weight when she chooses an eternal half-life just to pay her debt. Shadowman plays the role of weary guardian, consistent with prior stories, but here he also voices his own frustration about broken memories and missing pieces of his identity, which keeps him from feeling like a flat plot device who only shows up to swing a scythe. The Mayor is a small but effective presence, a leader who suffers panic attacks yet pushes past them for his people, and Uncle Sami fits the story’s needs as a sadistic predator whose doubt power makes him more than just another strong ghoul, even if he does not get much personality beyond “delighted butcher.”

Originality & Concept Execution

The core idea, a cannibal blessed by the loa of doubt so that everyone who sees him instantly forgets, is a smart twist on the usual slasher villain, and the script actually uses it rather than just naming it. The way the story solves that power, through powders and a crossroads veve that pins Sami to a single path and fixes him in memory, pays off the earlier talk and gives the climax a clear logic that readers can follow. The broader DarkSoul Apocalypse page with the Five is pure event teasing, but tying Uncle Sami to that bigger threat keeps this from feeling like a throwaway monster-of-the-week, even if the tease is not subtle. Overall, this chapter feels like a fresh enough spin on Shadowman’s usual mix of voodoo horror and moral debt, executed with enough focus that new readers can latch onto the concept without needing a lore manual.

Positives

This issue’s strongest asset is how tightly it binds horror spectacle to character guilt, using Jolie’s shame and final stand to make the monster fight feel like more than a routine takedown. The writing lays out Uncle Sami’s doubt power clearly, then builds a plan around it, so when the powders hit and the veve locks his escape routes, the victory feels earned rather than random. Art and color stay in step with that mood, bathing the Deadside in oppressive tones until the final fire burns through the page, and the visual design of Sami as a hulking, sneering cannibal works the moment he steps out of the dark. For readers already invested in Shadowman, the combination of a complete case, a new shadow ally, and a quick look at the Five makes this feel like a solid use of time and shelf space.

Negatives

For all its focus, this chapter still leans on a stack of terms and past events that could make fresh readers feel like they walked in halfway through the movie, especially with the brief, dense DarkSoul Apocalypse spread. The bayou fight, while moody, occasionally sacrifices panel clarity for atmosphere, so if you prefer crisp, step-by-step action choreography, the heavy shadows and smoke may feel more like fog than flavor. Jolie’s dialect is flavorful but thick, and paired with supernatural jargon it can be a hurdle for younger or casual readers who are not already tuned into this corner of the line. Finally, the Five teaser reads more like an ad than an organic part of Jolie’s story, which slightly undercuts how personal and self-contained her sacrifice could have felt.

Art Samples:

The Scorecard:

Writing Quality (Clarity & Pacing): 3/4
Art Quality (Execution & Synergy): 3/4
Value (Originality & Entertainment): 1/2

Final Thoughts:

(Click this link 👇 to order this comic)

VALIANT BEYOND: TALES OF THE SHADOWMAN #4 plays like a focused one-night hunt that still moves the larger Shadowman game forward, and that balance is where its value sits. If you have been following the previous case files and you like your horror built on guilt, ritual, and rules that actually matter in the final fight, this issue earns a spot in your pull stack. If you are brand new to this world or want a more breezy, low-lore horror read, the dialect, Deadside jargon, and event teases may feel like more work than the single win over Uncle Sami is worth.

---

---

---

As an Amazon Associate, we earn revenue from qualifying purchases to help fund this site. Links to Blu-Rays, DVDs, Books, Movies, and more contained in this article are affiliate links. Please consider purchasing if you find something interesting, and thank you for your support.