Shadowman was the name of a jazz-playing voodoo-themed superhero from New Orleans whose eponymous comic book was published by Valiant Comics. Valiant was later acquired by Acclaim Entertainment, who produced two video games based on the slightly altered version of Shadowman character and concept.

Valiant Comics

The original Shadowman was a young, African-American jazz musician named Jack Boniface. During the Spider-Alien Invasion of 1992, he was bitten by a Spider-Alien agent who posed as a woman named Lydia. The bite somehow altered Jack's body chemistry. During the night, he became more aggressive and restless. He gained enhanced strength and reflexes. Feeling the urge to hunt "demons", the criminals who prayed on the innocent, he adopted a costumed identity of Shadowman.

During the Unity crossover, Shadowman fell in love with Elya, a raptor pilot from 4001 A.D. During their time together, she revealed that Jack would die in 1999. This discovery proved to be something of a double-edged sword for the character. The knowledge that he could not die until that date gave him confidence and determination to overcome seemingly impossible odds. On the other hand, it led Shadowman to take incredible risks. He died during the first issue of Unity 2000 crossover, which, in a bit of intended irony on the part of the writer, was published in 1999.

Video Game

What is a Shadowman?

The title of Shadowman is given to the one who possesses the Mask of Shadows, a magical voodoo artifact. Shadowman, also known as the Walker Between the Worlds and the Lord of Deadside, is able to travel between the realms of Liveside, the ordinary living world we all know, and Deadside, a bleak realm to which everyone, without exception, arrives after death. His rule stems from the fact that he alone cannot truly die - if killed he will always rise again, while the other lost souls of Deadside will disappear into oblivion.

Shadowmen

The Shadowman protagonist of the games is Michael LeRoi, a failed English literature student who ended up as a lowly cab driver in New Orleans. Discovering a bag full of money left in his cab, Mike sent the money to his family and paid for his little brother Luke’s life-saving operation, and in so doing, fell afoul of the organized crime syndicate that had lost the money. Mike sought the help of a bokor, a voodoo priest, who gave him a spell of protection. The spell worked too well when the mob gunned down Mike and his family – Mike survived but the rest of his family, including Luke, did not - and in exchange for the spell, Mike became the bokor’s servant. Mike was liberated only when Mama Nettie, a voodoo priestess, raided the bokor’s bar, the Wild at Heart, killing the bokor and implanting in Mike’s chest the Mask of Shadows.

Mike's predecessor was Maxim St. James, who presumably became Shadowman simply by wearing the Mask of Shadows. Maxim knew that according to prophecy one Shadowman would bear a burden of saving the living world from a great evil. Though that Shadowman turned out to be Mike, Maxim spent his tenure as Shadowman sealing mystical voodoo items away in hidden places only another Shadowman could reach, keeping them safe for whoever would fulfill the prophecy to use.

Shadowman's Abilities

By day he is Mike LeRoi, still working at the Wild at Heart, by night he becomes the Shadowman. Mike is essentially immortal – though he can be wounded, if killed as Mike he will reappear in Deadside as Shadowman. And if Shadowman takes sufficient damage he will ‘die’ but simply rise again.

Shadowman is able to use various voodoo magics and artifacts. He has no need to eat, breathe, or sleep, enabling him to travel long distances through most kinds of environments. In Shadowman’s hands, weapons and other items take on dark voodoo aspects. In particular, Mike’s trusty .45 pistol becomes the Shadowgun, which has the ability to drain the souls from its targets, giving Shadowman more power.

Originally, Mike was almost skeletally thin, and his Shadowman form was much like his living body, only with voodoo fire blazing from his eyes and the Mask of Shadows glowing through his chest. In his second adventure, Mike was considerably more muscular as a living man, while Shadowman had become a fiery skeleton.

Shadowman initially was very vulnerable to fire, which would 'kill' him immediately upon contact. However, in his first adventure he acquired magical tattoos that gave him increasing levels of immunity to fire until he was ultimately able to immerse himself completely in lava without any injury.

Activities

In his first adventure Shadowman was pitted against The Five, a group of serial killers who had been empowered by a mysterious man named Legion to gather Dark Souls – souls which granted their possessors immortality. With the Dark Souls and a gigantic engine constructed by The Five’s engineer – a now-immortal Jack the Ripper – Legion planned to create an army of immortal warriors and invade Liveside. Shadowman raced against The Five to gather the Dark Souls himself. With their power and his Shadowgun, Mike was able to kill the seemingly immortal Five and thwart Legion’s plans.

Narrowly escaping the destruction of Legion’s Asylum, Shadowman returned to the Wild at Heart to find it under attack by yet another voodoo priest, Papa Morte, and his friend Jaunty kidnapped. Rescuing Jaunty from Papa Morte’s clutches, Shadowman found the little man was suffering under a powerful and dark curse. Nettie sent Shadowman to Thomas Deacon, a PI involved in the occult, who in turn told Shadowman that Morte is actually Morteth, a Grigori demon who with his comrades is trying to free the Grigori leader, Asmodeus. Shadowman once again raced to find a set of magical talismans, this time against the awesome supernatural power of the Grigori.

Other Characters

Mama Nettie – Less familiarly known as Agnetta, Nettie is a 400-year-old voodoo priestess who controls Shadowman, though somewhat tenuously. Nettie maintains her youth through sexual relations with Shadowman. Nettie’s voodoo power is less than the Lord of Deadside’s, and she is unable to travel to Deadside to assist him there, but her experience with things arcane make her a valuable mentor and helper in Liveside.

Jaunty – An Irishman of noticeably short stature, Januty was ritually sacrificed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nettie claimed him after death and now Jaunty serves her in both realms. Though he has no power to speak of, the fact that he can travel to Deadside makes him a useful assistant to Shadowman, and a way Nettie can communicate with Mike. In Deadside Jaunty appears as a skeletal serpent. Jaunty tends to act in a superior way towards Mike by virtue of his longer experience as a walker between worlds – Mike finds this irritating.

Thomas Deacon – While a cop, Deacon was crippled and his partner was killed, all thanks to Morteth, a Grigori demon. Deacon left the force to become a private investigator and hunt down the Grigori. He and Nettie often exchange information, but it is his obsession with the Grigori, not any particular altruism, that rules him.

Luke – Mike’s little brother who was killed in a mob hit. Luke’s teddy bear is the only thing Mike has left of him, and the memories it contains have made it into a portal for Mike to travel from Liveside to Deadside and back again.

Maxim St. James – A previous Shadowman, who created the Paths of Shadow in Deadside, where Shadowman’s weapons and magic are carefully hidden from those who might abuse them.

Victor Karl Batrachian – AKA the Lizard King. The leader of the Five, a doctor who charmed wealthy women and murdered them for their money. Batrachian, while on death row at Gardelle County Penitentiary, took control of the prison with two of his fellow Five, and after slaughtering inmates and guards alike, stood off the National Guard.

Marco Roberto Cruz – AKA the Repo Man. One of the Five. Murdered couples in and around the Mojave Desert. Part of the Gardelle siege.

Milton Pike – AKA the Video Nasty Killer. One of the Five and participant in the Gardelle siege. Vietnam veteran expelled from militia groups for cruelty to their own members. Earned his police-blotter nickname from the horrifying videotapes of his murders he sent to the police.

Avery Marx – AKA the Home Improvement Killer. One of the Five. Mentally disturbed, he overcame his problems by cutting the power to his murder sites and wearing night-vision goggles to give him the advantage over his victims.

Jack-2 – John Q. Pierce, Jack the Ripper, member of the Five, and their engineer. Though given the nickname Jack-2 as police believe he is a copycat killer, he is actually the original Jack the Ripper, preserved by Legion to join the ranks of the Five.

Papa Morte – Alias used by the demon Morteth of the Grigori, who love to hide in areas rich in folklore. From the voodoo-steeped swamps of Louisiana, Morteth gathered power to find the sigils necessary to release his master Asmodeus.

Trivia

Shadowman was one of the first mature-rated games to appear on a Nintendo console, as part of Nintendo’s efforts to demonstrate that they were more than just a family-oriented company.

Shadowman, along with Acclaim’s other struggling franchise Turok, was part of a widely criticized ad campaign. Acclaim offered a monetary prize to people willing to have an ad for Shadowman 2 engraved on their tombstone.

References

Information regarding the video games was taken from the instruction manuals for both games. Supplemental information for The Five was taken from Deacon’s File, information found in Shadowman. A transcript of Deacon’s File can be found, among other places, at http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/game/24486.htm