Original Valiant continuity Shadowman debuted in 1992 as a flagship title in the
Valiant Universe. After one year in publication,
Shadowman was selling over 100,000 comics books a month. Shadowman would go on to guest star in a number of Valiant comics, fighting alongside other heroes in the
Valiant Universe, most notably
"Unity" and "Unity 2000".
Acclaim continuity Shadowman eventually sold more than 5 million copies in total before
Acclaim Entertainment bought Valiant for $65 million in 1994.
Acclaim Comics subsequently started a new
Shadowman series in 1996. Acclaim also published
Shadowman video games. In preparation for the leap to video games a new action-oriented Shadowman took up the mask in comics. The second series of comics (spelled
Shadow Man) featured the iteration of Shadowman that would gain huge popularity in the successful Shadow Man video game franchise. In a similar manner to the original iteration, the hero fought alongside other characters in the Acclaim Comics Universe, notably
Unity 2000. People who have worked on
Shadowman characters and storylines include
Marvel Comics Editor-in Chief
Joe Quesada, former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief
Jim Shooter,
Frank Miller,
Garth Ennis,
Rob Liefeld,
Barry Windsor-Smith,
Jamie Delano,
Steve Ditko,
David Lapham,
Rags Morales,
Fabian Nicieza,
Jim Starlin,
Bob Layton,
Jimmy Palmiotti,
Walt Simonson and
Ashley Wood. With issue seven Bob Hall took over writing chores and continued as the primary writer on the book until the first "Shadowman" run ended with issue 43. Acclaim shut down all comic book publishing in 2002, in anticipation of a
bankruptcy filing of its parent company after suffering heavy losses from its licensed sports video games.
Shadowman and all other Valiant properties were sold to Valiant Entertainment. ==Powers==