My reviews for the Shadow Service comics from Vault Comics, written by Cavan Scott and illustrated by Corin Howell and Triona Farrell. Please be aware that later reviews may contain spoilers for previous titles.

James Bond and John Constantine: Hellblazer meets Jessica Jones in the supernatural crime and mystery SHADOW SERVICE Vol. 1: Dark Arts, where witchcraft meets spycraft in the underbelly of London.

BLACK MAGIC MEETS BLACK OPS.
Worried your partner is cheating? Need a missing person found?
Gina Meyers is the Private Investigator for you. Sure, she’s a witch who worries that her powers make her more of a monster than the crooks she’s trying to catch, but it’s not like London’s criminal underworld is literally going to hell… is it? Spy craft meets black magic in the shadowy world of MI666.

Collects issues #1 to #5 of the on-going series.

This book was provided for free by Black Crow PR and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

Please note
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I became a fan of Scott Cavan’s writing in the Star Wars Adventures comics, so when free copies of Shadow Service Issue #1 and later Vol 1 were offered in exchange for honest reviews I snapped up the chance.

Ok let’s be honest here, it’s an urban fantasy comic with a witch PI and a secret service organisation called MI666. How can you not want to read that??? The artwork previews that Cavan shares regularly on his Twitter just kept making me want to check this one out even more. Plus, as always anything based in London is a big plus to me.

Shadow Service doesn’t mess around. From the get-go, the reader is thrown into a world where it’s clear that the world is dark and unforgiving, and Gina Meyers had her eyes opened to it from a young age. Our protagonist isn’t a happy-go-lucky hippy granting wishes and giving out protections, nor is she looking for missing puppies or helping cats out of trees. Sure she has nothing against animals, in fact, she has a very good relationship with all types of wildlife, however, what I’m trying to say is that Gina’s a foul-mouthed 20-something brunette who curses harry-fucking-potter for having things so easy. She works as a PI primarily to get paid in a job that suits her abilities, and her altruism towards her clients appears to be more guided by her desire to prove to herself that she’s not a monster.

You see, Gina’s got some wicked dark powers that she only knows how to use because they come naturally to her. She has no idea where they came from, what they are or anything else for that matter. What she does know is that she’s powerful, dangerous and so extremely bloody scary that people run away from her. That leaves a girl with some major attitude and trust issues, so when MI66 (they’re actually called “Section 26” but no one, not even their own people call them that) she’s not sure what to believe, that’s the intriguing thing about Shadow Service; there are no clear good or bad guys. At this point, four issues in, I’m not even sure if there are any good or bad guys. I think that there might just be grey, greyer and extremely murky. Also, in my experience, you never trust a supernatural entity that has chosen to inhabit the body of a child.

The supernatural world that the reader is shown in this first volume of Shadow Service is deep, dark and vivid. It is imagination gone wild and a comic book is the perfect format. The art coupled with Scott’s writing brings to life both the terrifying and the obscure, highlighted against London’s dank and wet streets.  One thing I appreciated was that even amongst the panels of blood and guts the gore is just the right amount. It’s not over the top and it doesn’t detract from the rest of the scene, allowing you to take in everything including the characters’ expressions and the smallest details.

Shadow Service Volume 1 will leave you craving more. Just who are MI666? What is their leader Hex and what is he up to? Will Gina ever fit in with the rest of the team? What is happening in London? And the most important question of all; who is Eddie the Rat really?!

Jessica Jones and James Bond meet John Constantine: Hellblazer in the supernatural spy thriller SHADOW SERVICE Vol. 2: Mission Infernal, where witchcraft meets spycraft in the shadowy world of MI666.

BLACK MAGIC MEETS BLACK OPS.

First Gina was a witch. Then she was a spy. Now she’s a traitor.

Betrayed by one of their own, the Shadow Service takes to the dangerous streets of Rome. But can the traitor be brought back into the fold? The chase is on. Spycraft meets witchcraft in the world of MI666.

Collects #6 to #10 of the on-going series.

This book was provided for free by Black Crow PR and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

I adored Shadow Service Vol 1 and naturally, I was on board to read and review Shadow Service Vol 2: Mission Infernal and find out what wayward witch Gina Meyers was getting up to next. Plus, of course, being #teamEdwin I just had to find out what the story was about our favourite rat!

If you’ve read the first volume of Shadow Service and were impressed, hold onto your seats because things get even better in volume two! In the first volume we were introduced to the MI666 team and other people in Gina’s life, however, we only learned the origin story of one of them; Coyle. In this volume, we learn how Gina met Edwin the rat and Quinn, and the origin story of agent Aashi, as well as the illusive MI666 leader Hex. There’s still much more we need to know about Hex, but we are given the basic information about who he is and where his supernatural life began.

Shadow Service Vol 2 delves much deeper into everything and as you’d expect there are a lot of plot twists which bring even more questions just as we get some answers. The wonderful artwork from volume one continues, with Corin Howell and Triona Farrell’s work growing stronger with each issue. There are some stunning scenes in the later issues as the two artists really get to dig into London’s supernatural world, bringing the demonic and the celestial to life. One thing I love about this series is the moody colour scheme and grungy textures, and they fit so well alongside Scott’s writing. They both add layers to the story which you can only get in the comic/graphic novel medium.

Scott takes us on an emotional rollercoaster as we follow Gina as she tries to work out where she belongs; is it on her own, with Quinn who has helped her out before or with MI666? The problem is that she’s no longer an obscure nobody and London’s underworld has begun to notice her… can she get away with fading back into obscurity and going back to chasing after cheating partners again? (Does she even want to?). As with volume one, Scott’s writing is on point, and the nice tip of a hat in acknowledgement to the British public who have had to live with Tories making a complete hash of things during the pandemic will go down well with many readers. It’s a scene that would not have been out of place in a Constantine issue, so if you’re a Constantine fan, then I’d suggest giving Shadow Service a shot.

The volume ends with a huge opening for the next one, and I can’t wait to see where it goes. I have so many questions!

James Bond meets Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan/The Hollows in the supernatural spy saga, SHADOW SERVICE Vol. 3: Death to Spies from New York Times bestselling author, Cavan Scott!

Black Magic Woman meets Black Ops Bond!

All over the world, secret agents are being murdered by monstrous folk horrors, and not even MI666 is safe. Gina Meyer faces tragedy as a teammate turns enemy. But what of the quest to find out the truth about her past and powers?

From New York Times bestselling author, Cavan Scott (Star Wars: The High Republic) and rising star artist Corin Howell (LILITH) comes the start of a thrilling new chapter of the supernatural spy saga!

For fans of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan (The Hollows), The Department of Truth, Umbrella Academy, Doctor Who, Star Wars High Republic, John Constantine: Hellblazer, James Bond, Lady Johanna Constantine, Mission: Impossible, Atomic Blonde, SALT, and Le Femme Nikita.

Shadow Service stands tall next to the likes of Criminal Macabre and Hellblazer in the world of supernatural detectives while still putting its own spin on it to stand apart. – Horror DNA

This book was provided for free by Rockstar Book Tours and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

MI666 are back again and Shadow Service Vol. 3: Death to Spies by Cavan Scott & Corin Howell is teeming with more dark horror and secrets. It is my pleasure to join the Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours and bring you my review for the third volume of this brilliant comic series. The blog tour is taking place throughout March and this week’s schedule is:

• 5th March – Cara North
• 6th March – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog
• 7th March – Jazzy Book Reviews
• 8th March  – Just Geeking By (you’re here!)
• 9th March – Review Thick And Thin
• 10th March – onemused
• 11th March – The Real World According To Sam

Gina Meyer is back for more magical and demonic high jinks alongside her new Section 26 teammates. In the previous volumes of Shadow Service, we saw her struggle with the decision of whether to join the Secret Service better known by everyone as MI666. After the events at the end of volume two she made the decision to join the team, her limited information about her powers and where she came from thrown into turmoil. Once again on her own, it made more sense to join the devil she knew than go it alone.

Shadow Service Vol. 3: Death to Spies starts with an explosive opener that takes no prisoners and things get no less drastic from then on. Someone’s taking out agents within the global supernatural security community, and they’re using creatures from local folklore to do it. MI666 realise that either there’s only one way this could be happening worldwide; a shapeshifter is responsible. So when they come across a hulijing, a fox spirit, that can shape-shift, they think they’ve got their culprit.

Of course, nothing in the world of MI666 is ever quite that simple and in Shadow Service Vol. 3: Death to Spies Scott takes readers further than they’ve ever been before with a storyline that doesn’t just cross international boundaries but crosses history as Gina gets the answers she’s been looking for whether she wanted them or not. Everything is bigger, darker and more dangerous as the agents of MI666 deal with other agents across the world, a conspiracy that has been decades in the making and everything is about to come crashing down on them.

Once again Howell’s art is impeccable, her ability to change the mood of a scene and illustrate the dark horror and wonders of the world of Shadow Service bringing the story to life. She captures the character’s personalities perfectly, giving the cheeky glint to Quinn’s glib, the steely gaze to Hex’s terrifying young visage and just the right amount of creepy evil to the grin of the villain you’ll meet in this volume. As for Gina, I love how genuine her moods are and the way that Howell’s art fits with Scott’s excellent dialogue. These two have worked together so well since the start of Shadow Service, so by volume three you can guarantee you’re in for a real treat.

Shadow Service Vol. 3: Death to Spies continues the dark and bloody themes of the previous volumes, continuing to delve into an urban fantasy world that is multi-layered. The world-building is wonderful, and it was great to go even deeper in this third volume and see what else is out there in the Shadow Service universe. Add in the thrilling storylines that leave you desperately wanting more because you’ve just been left swearing at what has just happened at the end of the volume. If you’ve not picked this comic series up yet then what are you waiting for? There is nothing else quite like Shadow Service, and it’s just getting better and better with each volume.

Thanks for reading my comic reviews for Shadow Service! I hope you enjoyed them, and I’d love to hear your thoughts 🙂

Does Shadow Service sound like something you’d read?

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