VALIANT COMICS: SHADOWMAN

Shadowman printed 8 issues by the time 1993 rolled around. Issues number 4 and 5 covered the Unity storyline. Jim Shooter wrote issues 1, 2 and 4 through 6.

In December 1994, a Shadowman trade paperback was published. It reprinted issues 1 through 3 and 6. This trade paperback also came bagged with a copy of Darque Passages 1.

The original Shadowman was a young, African-American jazz musician named Jack Boniface. During the Spider-Alien Invasion of 1992, he was bitten by a Spider-Alien agent who posed as a woman named Lydia. The bite somehow altered Jack's body chemistry.

During the night, he became more aggressive and restless. He gained enhanced strength and reflexes. Feeling the urge to hunt "demons", the criminals who prayed on the innocent, he adopted a costumed identity of Shadowman.

During the Unity crossover, Shadowman fell in love with Elya, a raptor pilot from 4001 A.D. During their time together, she revealed that Jack would die in 1999. This discovery proved to be something of a double-edged sword for the character. The knowledge that he could not die until that date gave him confidence and determination to overcome seemingly impossible odds.

On the other hand, it led Shadowman to take incredible risks. He died during the first issue of Unity 2000 crossover, which, in a bit of intended irony on the part of the writer, was published in 1999. [source]