‘Last ShadowHawk’ #1 Variant Cover To Feature Never-Before-Seen Art By Valentino And McFarlane
by Olly MacNamee
Continuing to celebrate its thirtieth year, Image Comics have rummaged through the archives and dusted off a never-before-seen ShadowHawk #1 cover. Drawn by Jim Valentino and originally intended for the series’ launch in 1992, it will now be inked by Todd McFarlane and feature as a 1:100 variant cover when Last ShadowHawk #1 is released this August.
Valentino announced:
“We’ve pulled out all of the stops on this special one-shot from working with amazing talents like Philip Tan, Rob Liefeld, Daniel Henriques, Brian Haberlin, Chance Wolf, Jimmie Robinson and now Todd Mcfarlane. A bevy of incredible covers and a story of vengeance and retribution that will leave reader’s stunned. We’ve done everything we can to make this very last appearance of ShadowHawk (no lie—this really is the end) something truly special.”
Eric Stephenson, Publisher at Image Comics, added:
“One of my earliest memories of working in comics is Jim calling me up to tell me about the formation of Image and then later, showing me his initial sketches and artwork for ShadowHawk. Among that early artwork was a cover for the first issue that he eventually decided against using after hitting on the idea to do the black and foil cover highlighting ShadowHawk’s metal helmet, and with Jim’s decision to bring down the curtain on the character once and for all in this special one-shot, it seemed like a good opportunity to dig that unused cover out and get someone special to ink it. Despite knowing each other for nearly four decades and co-founding Image together, Todd has only inked two of Jim’s covers before—Guardians of the Galaxy #5 and What If #11—so he seemed like the perfect choice to add the finishing touches to this cover some 30 years later!”
The back cover will feature the original Rob Liefeld-inked artwork that Valentino ultimately used for the first printing of Shadowhawk #1 when the series premiered in 1992.
Last ShadowHawk #1 will be available on Wednesday, August 17th from writer/artist Philip Tan (Spawn, X-Men), co-writer Brian Haberlin (Hellcop, The Marked), and inker Daniel Henriques (Gunslinger Spawn, Shadow War: Alpha).
