#shadow manga spoilers

[usual-pale]

HE CAUGHT A FUCKING BULLET HES SO COOL

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

HOLY FUCK MAN

Genuinely genuinely this manga is gonna make me cry my eyes out

[smallpwbbles]

Heeeeyyy have you seen chapter two of the Shadow Manga? https://t.co/kd3OuQidDN

I was COMPLETELY unprepared for the direction they’re going with it but I’m totally for it

Also why the fuck would they make that Maria’s last words, do they want me DEAD

[eldritchgriffin]

Spoilers for chapters one and two of the Shadow manga!

Okay, to start off, I don't know if the manga is meant to be mainline-canon. However, based on what we've seen of it so far, I'm reading between the lines a bit, and have come up with a theory of sorts.

So, part one is set entirely on the Ark, ending with Maria being shot. Part two is where things start connecting to Generations more, and get a bit interesting:

The way this is framed makes it seem as if Shadow went directly from the Ark to the White Space. Which could just mean that the events on the Ark were some sort of flashback due to the time-traveling stuff. My theory takes a different approach though.

See, based on the way Shadow's been acting, it doesn't seem like he was just having a flashback. He hasn't given any indication of that, and the way he reacts after he arrives in White Space stands out to me. His first thought is that he needs to return to the Ark, and his second is remembering Maria's death.

But the Ark hasn't been his home in a long time, and he's known that Maria's dead for years. Comparing that to his reaction at the end of chapter one of Dark Beginnings:

He immediately clocks that it wasn't real, and he doesn't make any comment about Maria's death.

Theory time. Now, I know this almost certainly isn't what happens, but I want to put it out there before the game drops. What if Shadow from the manga is "Classic" Shadow? Shadow who has never been to the planet, who hasn't even had an hour since Maria died, and who hasn't yet found any reason for his existence beyond saving Maria?

This line from the orb-guy stands out to me as well.

What do they mean by "the second one?" What if the first "red and black" one was also Shadow, but modern Shadow?

It might be a bit of a stretch, but I think it's an interesting idea at least. The concept of past Shadow meeting his present-day counterpart. "Modern" Shadow has already come to terms with Maria's death, and is prioritizing stopping the Black Arms/Time Eater/Mephiles/whoever is trying to destroy the world. "Classic" Shadow only cares about saving Maria; nothing else matters.

[skaruresonic]

Unpopular take but the Shadow manga was pretty dissapointing from art wise to how different the characters behave from what we have seen in he older games. I just feel like the manga is getting overly praised because " its not idw or american or flynn therefore its good!' While not looking at the short story critical enough.

...What is there to criticize yet? People have been jumping the gun with assumptions that Black Doom retconned Maria's death when we quite literally don't know that for sure. This is the first issue. Maybe give it some room to breathe first.

I plan on reading the issue in full once I buy it, although not knowing Japanese will hinder my comprehension. I likely won't understand the dialogue, but it's not bad, at least from what few snippets I've seen. Certainly, it's no Tolstoy, but like. Does a manga need to be?

You also have to keep the Shiny New Thing(tm) phenomenon in mind. Lots of us have been asking for a Sonic manga for years and now we finally have one. Everything new will initially receive hype before people reexamine it with a critical eye.

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and IDW was just starting out, most of us were, in fact, praising the book and getting hyped for new issues. We weren't yet privy to the steep nosedive it'd take in quality following the metal virus.

---

I just feel like the manga is getting overly praised because " its not idw or american or flynn therefore its good!'

Hey now, that's not entirely true: I also enjoyed the Schadenfreude of dunking on "Shadow was tortured on the ARK" headcanons. To say nothing of the quality Shadria and that tasty Parasite Eve reference :P

Look, I know I have Shadria goggles strapped on so tight they're practically cutting off circulation to my head, but I feel like that's a little unfair to say considering we've only seen bits and pieces of issue one and have to rely on fan translations to know what's happening on any given page. It's not like we're 15 volumes in and Shadow's done nothing but brood. And just because I wasn't tempering my gushing with "Shadow looks weird in some panels" doesn't mean I wasn't silently thinking the latter. Trying to give the manga the benefit of the doubt here.

When you wander the Fauxteur Desert for years, even cloudy water will look like an oasis. In a series where the majority of fans and creators view the source material with disdain, as something to be mutilated in order to be considered "good," beggars can't be choosers. You have to take whatever Ws you can. It can be simultaneously true that I think the manga is good on its own merits and good because it's better than its contemporaries. One doesn't necessarily negate the other.

Besides, at the risk of sounding massively hypocritical... Is it so bad to feel relieved when you finally get served some decent food in this Chili's and you discover you're not as emotionally broken as everybody says you are? IDW fans gaslight you day in and day out with "you can't read," "you don't understand the characters," "you hate the series," and "you need therapy," and when you find something that brings you joy, for once, amidst the sea of phoned-in spinoffs tha pussyfoot around being faithful to the games at best and regard them with disdain at worst, something that doesn't feel like pulling teeth to read? You realize how full of shit they were.

The Shadow manga is better, objectively speaking. And I don't think it's quite fair to imply that comparisons to IDW should be off the table when we keep getting IDW forced down our throats as the cultural touchstone that defines Sonic, sometimes taking top billing before the games. I had to listen to everyone parrot "Eggman can't plan" as if it were Ohshima-given fact for three and a half years. Certainly, people can handle me going "omg Shadria <3" for a few posts.

The art is better. The blocking is better. The emotional beats land by virtue of being competently executed, instead of thinking we'll be won over by five-paragraph monologues. Sometimes the art carries the story! Wow! Compared to other media where the characters never shut up long enough to let us draw our own conclusions - a problem shared by Archie, IDW, Prime, the films, and Boom - that actually is a lot, all things considered.

And, yes, suffice to say, if fan translations are accurate, the writing is better, if only because it seems to come from a rare place of respecting the source material.

That probably sounds like I have no standards, but you have to realize the bar has been placed in hell and writers continue to cha-cha slide right on under it. IDW has Starline knock Shadow out with a freaking log, whereas in the manga Shadow stops a bullet in midair. I'm sorry I can't shut off my initial gut reaction of "holy shit that was bad ass."

It's not even like he stopped the bullet psychokinetically a la Neo, he caught that shit mid trajectory. Unlike the scene where Shadow gets knocked out with a log, nerfing him in order to hype up an OC, thinking about the logistics of the speed and precision needed to intercept a bullet in such a manner just makes it even cooler.

Good writing is enhanced by the application of thought. It doesn't punish the reader for considering the implications. The writer doesn't tell you to "go read something else" if the narrative disappoints.

This isn't even a contest.

...I know, dude. I'm aware it's not the best thing since sliced bread. It's a serial manga. Not expecting Shakespeare here. I just need it to be relatively faithful to the games and not emit an air of arrogant superciliousness towards the source material.

My standards are incredibly low considering how much higher they could be, and that's because 90% of spinoffs fail at clearing the first bar. If I maintained as stringent a standard as my adoring fans say I do, I'd have absolutely nothing to read lol.

[sonknuxadow]

warning for shadow manga spoilers i guess . for something that was already shown in the first chapter so not too major but putting it there just in case. but idk why some people are so upset over black doom influencing the gun soldiers in the manga and treating this as a serious lore reveal that black doom killed maria. because it feels way more likely that its black doom messing with shadows head forcing him to relive marias death again (which is a thing hes already established to be able to do) and not a direct flashback portraying the events exactly how they happened. hello can anyone hear me

[curetapwater]

I am so pissy that the manga had the GUN soldiers influenced by the Black Arms. God I hope that detail isn't included in the actual game and is just a bit of artistic license.

[krafterwrites]

Just read the new issue of the Shadow manga, and it went in a direction that I didn't expect at all. I figured the whole thing would be a mildly altered retelling of Shadow's backstory, since this manga apparently exists to get a new generation of fans invested in him, but it looks like that part's already over. The rest of the second chapter is the beginning of an original story loosely based around Shadow Generations, which is quite interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here

[hinamie]

I'll give them shelter like you've done for me

[vulcan-moon]

she means EVERYTHING to me you dont understand

shadow manga,,,,,,, grips fists, Shadow Manga

[epickiya722]

I shall treasure this image for the rest of my days. 😭🖤

[ultamitelifeform]

PART 1: Shadow Manga

[hishighnesstheprincess]

The contrast between how the scientists and Maria view Shadow is heartbreaking to me. The scientists sell him out to save their own skins even after earlier in this chapter Shadow saved all of their lives, and even though she's about to be gunned down just for knowing about Shadow, Maria refuses to give the military anything

[smallpwbbles]

I love the little eyeball jerk in the Shadow manga

It’s the way Shadow grabs it like a balloon

[saturnsfallen]

this is hurting me

[dynamic-dingo]

I tried something

I wanted to try color pop/pop art for a background, but my original plan didn't work so it ended up like this. I threw in some more stuff to test, like halftones and different hair highlights. I like it

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