From there, writer Joe Henderson and artist Lee Garbett (with Antonio Fabela in colors and Simon Fowland as letterer) bring Zadie's life into view. She only has two friends at school, mostly known as the sister of the "coma kid." Her older brother Ricky is in a coma after a car wreck, cared for by their mother. Their father seems to act like the peacemaker between Zadie and her mother.
Zadie can't figure out why shadows are after her, but she does find that Ricky's come back to her as a living shadow. The two of them try to navigate that while while the new school counselor turns out to be something very different and Zadie figures out what's really going on with these shadows.
The shadows act at first as a stand-in for Zadie's emotional turmoil. They come out when she's embarrassed or angry, and she can't exert much control over them. The way they're rendered as these spectral dark shapes with tendrils drifting off them like smoke, I'm not sure whether to credit Garbett for inking that, or if that's all Fabela's coloring. But it makes for a nice contrast with the "normal" shadows, which tend to be sharply defined.
For most of the issues, Ricky is almost the imaginary friend brought to life. Able to become larger than life and help Zadie fend off the things that terrify her, and someone only she can communicate with. Which also gives her the chance to be able to say things to him she couldn't when he wasn't comatose. Able to strike back at the people who torment her without Zadie getting into trouble.
It's why, when the counselor suggests "Ricky" is simply a shadow Zadie created, it feels like a logical conclusion. She's been complaining that she lived in his shadow, could never measure up, felt like he never acknowledged her except to be annoyed by her. But now he hangs out with her all the time, helps her, actually talks with her. It seems like all she could have wanted.
The "shadecraft" also acts as a point of connection between Zadie and her mother. They don't seem to have much in common. Melinda is very serious and grim, blunt with her criticisms. Zadie is much more glib and sarcastic, which she seems to get from her father, who uses his humor to defuse tensions (although his style is a bit drier than Zadie's). As it turns out, there are good reasons why Melinda is guarded and careful.
Garbett and Henderson also vary how people can use shadecraft. Zadie's tends to be more like a power ring, where she creates things out of the shadows. Melinda is closer to the New Warrior Silhouette, using shadows to move from place to place like portals. It's unclear if it's that each of them can only use shadows in certain ways, or they just initially manifested the abilities in a particular way. Melinda needed to escape from trouble, Zadie needed an outlet.
Garbett draws a world that looks a lot like surburbia in the U.S. The homes, the cars, I guess the clothes (hell if I know what high school kids wear these days). It looks pretty much like our world. The government types don't seem to have much in the way of special gizmos or anything. Fabela's coloring is likewise restrained. Nothing eye-searingly bright, but also not too murky. Otherwise, how could the reader tell when something was going on with shadows?
The volume ends by concluding the question of what "Ricky" really is, and could work as a conclusion if this is all there is. But they leave enough things open - the counselor isn't dead, and she knows to look for them now, and there's the question of how many more people like them exist - they could do more arcs easily.
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