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Mike Kaluta: The Shadow

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Mitch Byrd: The Shadow

Source:comicartfans

The Shadow Pinup by Mitch Byrd, in MyComicShop.com (MCS)'s Now Available For Sale! Comic Art Gallery Room (comicartfans.com)

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Phil Winslade

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The Shadow: In the Coils of Leviathan #4

Cover by Michael Wm. Kaluta

Dark Horse

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THE LAUGHING CORPSE A Mystery Tale by Francesco Francavilla

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?” Little exclusive sneak peek at my story for the SHADOW 100th Anniversary issue out today in all comic shops! Very excited about this tale- hope you guys enjoy it! :)

THE SHADOW #100 Cover A Main: Matt Wagner Cover B Variant: Robert Hack Writer: Matt Wagner, Francesco Francavilla, Howard Chaykin, Chris Roberson, Victor Gischler, Michael Uslan, Art: Matt Wagner, Francesco Francavilla, Howard Chaykin, Giovanni Timpano Genre: Fantasy Publication Date: June 2015 Format: Softcover Page Count: 48 pages ON SALE DATE: 6/17

For 100 Dynamite issues, The Shadow has known what evil lurks in the hearts of men. To commemorate, Dynamite Entertainment brings together master storytellers to celebrate the purveyor of justice who proves that crime does not pay. Join MATT WAGNER, HOWARD CHAYKIN, and FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA as they pen, pencil, and ink stories so mesmerizing they don’t even need a girasol! Also joining us will be The Shadow alumni MICHAEL USLAN, CHRIS ROBERSON, and VICTOR GISCHLER, paired with top artists, to show the weed of crime bears only bitter fruit! This is ONE centenarian celebration you WON’T want to miss.

Cheers, FF

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The Shadow by Matt Wagner

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The Shadow magazine, cover dated May 15, 1942. Cover by George Rozen.

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The Shadow, 2013

Marcio Abreu: Pencil John Castelhano: Ink

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IMAGE W/O TEXT ↓

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The weed of crime bears bitter fruit.

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Inglorious lives meet inglorious ends.

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Shadow Comics Feb 1947

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The Shadow magazine, dated August 15, 1942. Cover by George Rozen.

That's Chief Justise Lawless now, thank you very much.

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I think what strikes me most about The Shadow radio shows staring Orson Welles (aside from the perpetual 1930s racism/orientalism, which is more or less prominent depending on the episode) is how the concessions to the medium create such interesting story-telling potential.

The radio!Shadow is not walking around with twin hand-guns. He doesn't carry a weapon at all and doesn't relying on being a master of disguise; rather his main power is the ability to 'cloud men's minds' and thus pass invisibly through any scene he's in. Which means he's solving situations primarily by being a massive troll and tricking criminals into shooting in the wrong direction or turning on each other, and suchlike. This isn't *nicer*, per se. He absolutely gets a lot of people killed (including by, at one point, substituting an evil lady's cobra for an untrained one).

But it means he's pretty vulnerable to people who have the wherewithal to lock the door, or use anaesthetic gas, or simply team up with a buddy to feel their way across the room searching for him. He succeeds when he can be unnerving and manipulative. He gets in trouble when people aren't put off by the cackling laughter out of nowhere.

It also means that, usefully for radio, you get a lot of places where people - including the Shadow - have to narrate their actions to each other. My favourite so far is when he's chasing a mad scientist up a water tower and the villain is shouting out descriptions specifically to let the Shadow know he's too late, because of threats the Shadow had issued earlier in order to drive this guy off balance.

I know this is a 'softer' iteration of the character, compared to other versions. They updated the tag lines as the show progressed to include the idea his powers will "soon be available" to the proper authorities (since they are framed as secrets/science that modern society at large hasn't yet rediscovered). It reminds me very strongly of Batman being a 'duly deputised law enforcer' in terms of meeting broadcasting standards.

At the same time, the no-direct-killing rule and leaning on the invisibility (plus limited mind-reading) work really well, arguably making him more sinister than your standard avenging vigilante since he relies on trickery so much. And I just I think it's an idea with a lot of potential in its own right. It actually put me back in mind of a concept I had for a 'superhero' that was in fact a whole bunch of people sharing a common mask, who worked together to make it seem like 'he' could be everywhere at once/teleport. I very much enjoy things that take a single ability - especially something that can be implemented as a theatrical stage trick - and find multiple ways to use it/negate it in the course of generating plots.

I do wish sidekick Margo Lane was a more distinctive character. The actors only occasionally mark themselves out alongside Welles and she's just . . . there, most of the time. It's not even reaching the level of Paul Temple and Steve in terms of a dynamic, much less my high bar for early superhero nonsense, Jay and Joan from the Flash.

(If you've never read the original Flash comics, Jay Garrick and his girlfriend Joan share the exact same sense of humour and are constantly winding each other up. They very much match each other's freak in that regard and it's great.)

Margo does get to be pretty awesome once in a while, though, such as driving a car through a shop-front to save the Shadow from a fire or stowing away aboard a ship to let him out of a locked room, then diving overboard to swim to shore. So there's that.

(Lest it need saying, I do love a good dynamic duo, even if I do think The Shadow as a concept works better if he has a network behind him, not just one friend.)

Anyway, it's passing the workday listening to these shows on YouTube and I'll let you know if I have any more thoughts on the subject.

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pulp people

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