A group investigates the paranormal, and they start with a hunt for Bigfoot. Hardly the most original premise, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of room for solid characterization, musings on the nature of the unknown and supernatural and a lot of imagination. At the end of Shadows #1, there's still plenty of room for all those things, but there isn't much to be found in the first issue. This is a pretty by-the-numbers book, with stock characters and a plot that plays out almost exactly like you'd imagine, along with artwork that is solid but doesn't really stand out. It's not a bad book, it just hasn't shown itself to have anything new to offer yet.
Part of the problem is that Dodge and Camp don't really make the best use of the space. The introductory three pages are utterly useless to the story at hand, and the introduction of the cast is rushed so that we can get a big shot of the mansion where they won't be spending any time. The team jumps right into their investigation of Bigfoot, and while that sort of quick jump into the story is admirable, I would rather have seen at least a little establishing of the premise beyond a throwaway line about how searching for knowledge is never a waste of money.
Throughout the issue, Dodge does spend some time exploring what drives these characters, and while the characterization is pretty surface level, we do at least get a snapshot of each character's personality. Morgan Wells is the Scully-esque skeptic, Shelley is the old hand and the believer, King is the bruiser and Jillian is the young kid who wants in on the action. As I said earlier, not the deepest or most original characters, but certainly not terrible starting points, and Dodge gets points for establishing these all-important basics in the first issue.
Part of what would make Shadows work for me is a sense that these characters are treading on dangerous or unexplored ground, but Camp's work makes everything look too clean, too recognizable and safe. Even the Bigfoot that we see, who is supposed to come across as bestial and dangerous, seems instead about as routine as a bear wandering into your camp. It's certainly scary on the "that thing is bigger than me" level but the mystery and majesty that we're meant to get is utterly lost. In addition, while the art makes the characters distinctive enough with different hairstyles and clothes, there's a certain similarity in all their features that contributes to the generally bland feeling I get off the book.
There's certainly room for Shadows to become something interesting, and in terms of fundamentals, Dodge and Camp have got what it takes. What the book needs is more of a personality, either in terms of deeper characters, more distinctive dialogue, more unusual phenomena for the team to explore or something else, and I hope that it develops that as time goes on.
