Shadowpact #17
	Story Title: 'Darkness and Light (Part 1: Protégés) Writer: Matthre Sturges Artist: Doug Braithwaite Colorist: Mike Atiyeh Letterer: Patrick Brosseau Cover by: Doug Braithwaite, Alex Sinclair Editor: Joey Cavalieri Published by: DC Comics
	Reviewed by: Bruce Logan

Start of a new arc, this issue is sort of a setup. However, unlike many other ‘setup’ issues it doesn’t mean that nothing noteworthy happens here. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The Shadowpact-ers fight a veritable army of Zombies, Nightshade loses her powers, Dr. Gotham gets a ‘son’, the Enchantress gets ‘drafted’ as a mentor and her protégé is about to get into a whole lotta danger, (and not because of any fault of her own).

About the Enchantress and her protégé, June goes all Ms. Drill Sergeant Supreme on the poor kid, and then some. No wonder she (and yeah, the protégé is a she), gullible as she is, is sweet-talked by the fruit of Dr. Gothams’s, uh, well it sure as hell ain’t of his loins.

Lastly the artwork, my first reaction at seeing the absence of Tom Derenick was to cry fowl. However, new (or is he a fill-in?) artist Doug Braithwaite more than assuaged my ‘pain’. For those who might not know who Braithwaite is, well, he is the unsung hero of the duo that illustrated critically and financially successful series like the recent Justice. Even though Braithwaite’s style isn’t as uber-realistically-wrinkled as his (erstwhile?) partner, Alex Ross, I’d much rather prefer it (over Ross), if only because of his female characters looking like females and not cross-dressing steroid-pumping bodybuilders.

Conclusion: Given its consistently high level (story and art) it’s a pity and shame that this series doesn't sell more numbers.

RATING: 4/5