- Title: The Shadow: The Death of Margo Lane #5 (of 5)
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Matt Wagner
- Artist: Matt Wagner
The five-issue mini-series comes to a conclusion with a twist that isn’t going to be that big of a surprise to readers. Finally face-to-face with Zhu Khanum, the daughter of Shiwan Khan, the Shadow‘s attempt at vengeance for Margo Lane‘s death is stalled when the daughter of the Shadow’s greatest enemy reveals Margo is alive. Brainwashed as Zhu Khanum’s loyal soldier, Margo attacks The Shadow with ferocity.
Although the Shadow is able to stop Margo and remove much of Shiwan Khan’s programming, the mini-series ends on a dour note as the villain escapes capture and Margo’s choice to leave Lamont given the emotional and psychological scars left from her time with Zhu Khanum.
While the series doesn’t deliver the “death” of Margo Lane as promised, writer and artist Matt Wagner serves up something possibly even more damaging to the hero – Margo choosing to leave Lamont’s side and his quest to enforce justice on an unjust world. With the close of the mini-series we don’t see the effect of Margo’s continued absence on the Shadow (something which would be interesting to explore as his spikes in violence since her supposed death seemed to foreshadow a darker path for the vigilante). Worth a look.
[Dynamite, $3.99]