Book: “Shadoweyes” by Sophie Campbell
Publishing Info: SLG Publishing, August 2010
Where Did I Get This Book: The library!
Book Description from Goodreads: In the futuristic, dystopian city of Dranac, moody teenager Scout Montana is an aspiring vigilante, but her first attempt to beat up a mugger is halted when she’s hit in the head with a brick and knocked unconscious. When she awakens, she discovers that she’s able to transform into a strange, blue, clawed, superhuman creature! In this new body she becomes the vigilante Shadoweyes… but, she’s unable to return to her human form, and is lured into a homeless superheroic life on the streets by her inhuman appearance – forced outside of society yet still bound to it. Scout’s new life as Shadoweyes is just getting started!
Review: When we started this blog, I knew that one of the things I really wanted to do was to try and find books that had diversity in them. I think that it’s important as librarians that we find books for all people from all backgrounds, and to promote them and show them off. I asked my friend Tami for some recommendations, and one of the first ideas she came up with was “Shadoweyes”. I had never heard of this series, and am glad that it was brought to my attention. So thanks, Tami! Scout/Shadoweyes is a character that stands apart from a number of other superheroes, if only because her personality is both very chill and subdued, while also having a very strong sense of what’s morally right, even if sometimes what’s right can be murky. I liked that she wasn’t necessarily a quirky teen girl, nor was she really an outcast. She has her best friend Kyisha, she has a supportive and loving mother, but she also has a frustration with the society she lives in that pushes her to try and make the world at least a little safer. She doesn’t have lofty goals; lofty goals are thrust upon her when she starts shape shifting into Shadoweyes, a strange reptilian humanoid creature.
I really like Scout/Shadoweyes, as she felt very real as a teenage girl in a very violent and dangerous world. I also liked her circle of friends/acquaintances, namely Kyisha and Sparkle. Kyisha is a very fun and cynical character, while Sparkle is over the top in her optimism and naïveté (and her love for a card game that is very reminiscent of “My Little Ponies”), so having them both provide companionship to Shadoweyes and her story was a nice balance. As for world building, Dranac is a place that we don’t know much about, setting wise. The concept of a dystopic future world is one that we’ve seen before, but what I liked about “Shadoweyes” and the setting of Dranac is that the dystopic world is not really the focus of the story, it’s just the setting. True, Dranac isn’t a good place to live, hence the reason Scout/Shadoweyes is so interested in being a vigilante, but as of right now Dranac’s setting is environmental only. Given that so much dystopic fiction for teens usually ends up with an overthrowing of the system, I’d be curious if “Shadoweyes” is going to go that route. It may not have to, and set itself apart that way.
I also really like how diverse this world is, and how that diversity is not treated as a strange anomaly. Not only is Scout/Shadoweyes an African American teenage girl, her friend Kyisha is a POC and trans, and Sparkle is representing another demographic that I don’t really want to give away because of a spoiler that really needs to be saved for reading it, just in relation to emotional impact. Campbell also draws all of these characters with differing looks, body types, and personalities, so they all feel very representative of different kinds of people who don’t usually get a lot of focus in a graphic novel setting. Campbell herself is a writer that I’m happy has a voice in the comics world, as she is a trans woman. There was one instance where the moral of tolerance and understanding felt a little bit on the nose, with characters starting to lecture a bit, but it was very quickly pulled in and never trotted into unbelievable territory. On the whole, all of the diversity and representation was very organic and believable, which was so refreshing and good to see. As someone who knows she still has a lot to learn when it comes to a lot of these things, I don’t know if I can say that it was a be all end all place for diverse representation, but I do think that at the very least it’s a good start.
And then there’s the villain, the unnamed-as-of-yet zombie/mummy/whatever girl. She is just super unsettling, and I am very curious as to what her deal is because she gave me a serious case of the willies. I don’t know why she was holding onto Sparkle, I don’t know why she was buried, and I don’t know where she is going in terms of plot. But I am really, really intrigued to find out, because her presence is easily one of my favorite things about this comic. While the city itself has a lot of injustice that Scout/Shadoweyes is trying to sort out, I really hope we go back to this girl and the mysteries that surround her.
After doing a bit of digging, it looks like the original run of “Shadoweyes” only went for two graphic novels. But as of now, it looks as though it’s being rereleased as a web comic that you can find online, starting HERE. Online it’s in full color, and I found a kickstarter that Campbell set up that, I think, is re-releasing “Shadoweyes” in full color. So maybe we’re going to get some new adventures of “Shadoweyes” beyond what has been in black and white print form already. I, personally, am very excited about that, and hope that it comes to fruition.
Rating 8: A fun comic that has it all: action, solid friendship, representation, humor, and heart.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Shadoweyes” is included in these Goodreads Lists: “Booklist for Trans Teens” and “Supernatural (Not Superhero) Comics”
Find “Shadoweyes” at your library using WorldCat!
The Library Ladies 