#shadow radio

[maxwell-grant]

Sorry, I see you already answered that question in 2021, found that post.

My new question is: what is “the shadow”?

(Art by Dan Schkade)

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow Knows…” The maxim that the weed of crime bears bitter fruit, intoned at the start of every program, was biblical in its sternness. The Shadow was an Old Testament avenger, a ruthless slayer of the wicked, very befitting the Depression decade of his greatest strength. The Shadow was both the force for good and lurker in the darkness. - The Shadow Scrapbook

The Shadow, also known as The Master of Darkness, The Dark Avenger, The Master of Men's Minds, Weird Creature of the Night, Identity Theft Georg, That Guy Who Lives in Lamont Cranston's House, "Shads" and other many names, is a mysterious figure who fights evil by turning it against itself. He is a former globetrotting aviator-spy-soldier (revealed to be named Kent Allard, 7 years into the character's run) turned crimefighting paladin who fights to protect and uplift the innocent and bring justice to victims of strife and calamity, and he does so with the black-clad design, domineering charisma, sinister cackle, Machievellian theatrics and ruthless efficiency of a villain.

In action, The Shadow loomed as a cloaked figure, materializing from out of the night, rescuing helpless victims and striking terror into the hearts of evildoers. However, he reserved such theatrics for a logical climax. Between times, The Shadow proved himself a master of deduction as well as disguise.

While his major missions were to stamp out mobs or smash spy rings, he often tabled such routines in order to find a missing heir, uncover buried treasure, banish a ghost from a haunted house or oust a dictator from a mythical republic. The Shadow was such an incredible character in his own right that almost anything he encountered was accepted by his ardent followers. - Walter Gibson

The Shadow began life as the spooky narrator of publisher Street & Smith's radio program, whose sibilant, mocking personality and sinister cackle were dramatically more interesting than any of the programs he was narrating, and so when listeners started asking Street & Smith for a Shadow Magazine that did not exist, they had to make one of their own. To that end, they recruited a young magician turned newspaper writer and former associate of Houdini's fraud-busting network, Walter Gibson, to write the adventures. Gibson was extremely acquainted with the ins and outs of illusionism and sleight-of-hand and worked personally with many of the greatest magicians at the time, and would extensively use said knowledge in crafting The Shadow's character and adventures.

And so The Shadow Magazine began, reviving the "hero pulp" format that had died out in the pre-WW1 dime novels and redefining the mold of crimefighting "pulp heroes" from that decade onwards, as well as many superheroes from that time period inspired by him and his successors. He is currently more famous for being plagiarized by the chief inspiration for a certain guy who runs around with bat ears and for his general role as a highly influential forerunner and influence in forms of storytelling still extensively used today.

On the taxonomical chart of Western comics he’s a common ancestor for a sizeable chunk of the marketplace. Every street vigilante, every masked crime-fighter, every necessary monster: he’s in the DNA of them all. A living fossil, a coelacanth or goblin-shark for the comics world, swimming in waters of ice and ink - Si Spurrier

The Shadow maintained a fluctuating radio career over the 1930s to go along with his highly successful magazine, and he'd eventually reach newfounds heights of stardom from 1937 onwards thanks to the debut of a new radio show, initially starring Orson Welles in the titular role. Said radio show would become an audience hit well into the 1940s and would introduce new fixtures to the character such as friend-and-companion Margo Lane and an invisibility superpower, which were eventually integrated since into the comics and pulps and other media. You can still easily find many of the character's radio adventures online as well as his exploits in comics and pulps (harder to find now, but still possible if you know where to look). I'll pass along my personal recommendations here.

(Art from Matt Wagner's The Curse of Blackbeard Skull, in The Shadow #100)

In the taxonomical history of American crimefighters he sits in between the hardboiled detectives of the 1920s and the 1940s superheroes, and although the 1930s pulp heroes were in part defined largely by imitating him, he is no traditional square-jawed do-gooder: he is a tall, gaunt, cadaverous wraith with the mask of a Western bandit and a vampire's cloak and the clothes of 19th-century cartoons of saboteurs and anarchist bombers. The barest glimpse of the man beneath is that of a judgemental patrician's aquiline nose and intense, sharp eyes, like icepicks probing the back of your skull. He makes a point to show every now and then how easily he can reshape that face to suit his needs, and make it your own, even doing so in front of you to make a point.

He is Dracula meets King Arthur, Sherlockian brainpower and Lupin trickery joined forces, centerpiece to urban thrillers turned into fairytales as The Big Bad Wolf switches sides to save us. Though his setting looks the part, The Shadow is no gritty film noir creature: he is what happens when the cutthroat gangsters and invincible spymasters and predatory businessmen behind it all meet the actual scariest guy around: Death itself, as the ultimate master and servant joined in one, who found a higher calling fighting for us instead, breaking and bending and controlling the rules and tipping them ever so slightly in the favor of those who are usually in no position to fight back.

(Art by Giovanni Timpano, for The Shadow #25)

As we discussed The Shadow, I suggested an opening scene with a cloaked figure emerging from a night fog to prevent a desperate young man from taking a suicide plunge from a high bridge. Thus befriended, the young man would swear loyalty to his rescuer and thereby become involved in exciting adventures with otherp persons who had been aided by the same benefactor, all being united in a common cause against crime. - Walter Gibson

That is where the Agents come in. As The Shadow is a distant living puzzlebox, we are very rarely privy to his thoughts and feelings, he glides through many stories scarcely-seen until he needs to be, and so we frequently experience things from the viewpoint of proxies, whether they are agents or characters swept into intrigue that only The Shadow can save them from. The first Shadow story opens up with a broke and depressed young man named Harry Vincent, ruined by the Great Depression reality of the time and trying to commit suicide, who is saved from it by The Shadow, and upon accepting a new purpose in life as his agent, grows into a dependable and strong ally, friend and even leader to people once like him over the course of the following adventures.

Across his history The Shadow has had agents and allies among all walks of life: redeemed/pretend criminals who use their reputations to provide The Shadow with inside knowledge, war vets, police officers, prison reformists, troublemaking journalists, government agents, politicians, criminologists, psychologists, high society chameleons, streetwise cabbies, janitors, the homeless, even crooks who once worked for those that The Shadow opposed, with some stories dedicated entirely to The Shadow playing guardian angel or working to provide second chances to those who've turned to crime. Community leaders with opposing viewpoints, rebel spies, prostitutes, historical figures such as Amelia Earhart and Nikola Tesla, robots, political activists and freedom fighters, doctors, birds, boxers, actors, magicians, beavers, and a list too big to get into here. There was a crimefighting dog at some point also and he was a very good boy.

Said list also includes the guy most people initially assume is his secret identity, a wealthy globetrotting man-about-town named Lamont Cranston. The first on-screen meeting between The Shadow and his secret identity Lamont Cranston consisted of The Shadow showing up in the dark at Cranston's bedside, wearing his face and telling him in pristine detail how much he's usurped Cranston's life, and effectively blackmailing him into leaving town so he can continue being Cranston uninterrupted. It is considerably less known, however, that eventually Cranston and The Shadow became weird friends following this ordeal and worked together several times, with Cranston turning out to be a pretty entertaining hero in his own right even besides his designated purpose of being rich and useless, even he was not immune to The Shadow's ability to enact positive change on his allies. Which is one note I'll end this post on: that The Shadow and his surroundings can be a lot more layered than given credit for.

I make the argument again and again that The Shadow is an intriguing character with much more to him than simply the gun violence and spooky laughter and murderousness that he's frequently reduced to, even if he isn't quite consistently so (as expected of one who's been around in virtually every medium for over 90 years). He can be compassionate, thoughtful, cautious and consequence-minded in his approach to effectively combat crime and protect others, ridiculous, eccentric, flawed in ways big and small and humanizing, for better or worse depending on who's writing him. He is a versatile shapeshifter as well as an unassailable force of personality to throw into any gathering, any circumstance, any narrative, and remain unique.

(Art by Michael Kaluta, from Hell's Heat Wave)

With those other “masked avenger” pulp types, their masked identities are an act, at least in part. Underneath the hat and mask they are regular guys with relatable motivations. With the Shadow, the guy in the hat and scarf IS the real guy, and his motivations and feelings are largely kept from us.

When we see him in his “civilian” identity, THAT is an act. So there’s a kind of brutal simplicity to his dialogue.

He is what he appears to be, and says exactly what he means. - Chris Roberson

And that's about it as a summary. I have a masterpost pinned at the top because, evidently, I have a lot more to say about the character and more I can't cover here. If you want, feel free to shoot me any additional questions and let me work out my fixation on the weird crime spooky murder man. I have to go off about him at least once a month or else I start eating my furniture so, help me out here.

[liberumalas]

People having fun with Alastor's shadow, Part 1

[taterdraws]

i personally need 'em to team up real bad

[nattycat08]

I don't care if Valentine's Day was just a few days ago, I won't forget the beautiful ideas I had 😠💕

[supdudes95]

Another small part of the story I'm currently writing! I don't know why, but I feel their shadows holding hands even if the two of them aren't just makes me really happy XD

[tiyoin]

what if alastor’s darling went to heaven 😧

cw: heavy manipulation, heavy gaslight, alastor being alastor (whom is a shit stirrer,) poor charlie is getting caught up in alastor's schemes again

he’s yandere (platonic or romantic, up to you idc, but I hc him as ace) ofc he’s gonna want you by his side for all of eternity!

maybe that’s why he wants to involve himself with the hotel. so he can get close enough to heaven, just so he can tear your wings off and drag you down to hell with him.

of course he tells charlie about you once she gets the go ahead for the meeting. he asks her to give you this letter if she has the chance.

vaggie strongly opposes this once she see’s husk’s reactions to the mentioning of you. husk, the brute stand-offish bar tender stilled. the bar counter he was busy wiping down left forgotten as his head snapped to alastor’s.

yet his eyes met vaggie’s

“don’t let her get that letter. don’t let alastor near her”

she got the message loud and clear.

about to take the letter from alastor, he flicked his fingers away as his head snapped to hers. her eyes widened.

charlie was too busy gushing about ‘alastor long lost ‘lover’’ that she didn’t notice the hotel’s atmosphere change. the sudden dip in temperature, and the distant sounds of horses.

his eyes stopped boring into hers and snapped to husk, who started cleaning with stupor.

“miss vaggie..” charlie had stopped her bit and joined back to the conversation. off handedly noting how cold it was as alastor handed her the letter.

“i do appreciate your eagerness” his eyes squinted “in delivering this letter, but charlie here” he pats charlie’s head “is the only one i trust to do the job.” he smirked. fully aware of the silent conversation the two employees had.

vaggie gulped, backing away with her hands in faux surrender as charlie once again told him that she wouldn’t let him down!

vaggie didn’t have a good feeling about this. you two were separated for a reason.

he was in hell for a reason

plus it was illegal for believers and sinners to have any kind of contact, as that would violate heaven..

vaggie knew she shouldn’t talk. let alone question alastor. but he was planning on committing a carinal sin.

clipping an angels wings and watching them fall was the worst sin of all.

vaggie couldn’t wrap her head around it. did he really love you? or was he bored and wanted to take being an ‘overlord’ to the next level. to do one thing a sinner, let alone a citizen of hell could ever do.

cause a fallen angel.

“shouldn’t you let her be? you could get her- us into serious trouble by giving her that letter. who knows what might happen. we could get punished and she could”

“fall?“ he finished for her, eyebrow quirked with that same cocky grin on his face.

“what better way to help our group of sinners than to have an angel to lead us to salvation!” his grin widened, yet she never once met his piercing eyes. he squeezed his fist to show emphasis; determination, if you would.

“my y/n is nothing but a saint who devoted themselves to helping people in their life. she was even kind to give dear ol’ me special attention-“

“gross” vaggie cut in, alastor eyes snapped to her for the briefest moment, his facade cracking the tiniest bit before he continued; “this establishment is certainly in need of their expertise if we want the hotel to successfully reform sinners!”

charlie’s smile faltered, “but… she’d be kicked out of heaven…”

forever

that word rang through everyone’s minds. like how lucifer gave the apple to eve, alastor snaked around charlie.

“it’s a necessary evil, is it not?” he questioned, one by one his claws fanned onto her shoulders, his head next to hers as he whispered: “think about all the people we could help, they could help. they should know better than anyone how people in heaven are, what they act like, how they get there-“ he leered at vaggie

“from their own personal experience of course! and it’s so cold and lonely at night without my precious” he sniffles, grabbing a handkerchief from one of sir penticols egg boi’s.

“but we want people to get into heaven… not kicked out” she trails off, suddenly thinking about her father.

alastor rubbed her shoulders before sighing. he detached himself from charlie as stopped in front of her, next to vaggie.

“very well then” he extends his hand mournfully to charlie, eyes locked into hers.

“then there’s no point in having you deliver my love letter anyway” charlie looks at his hand, then his face, before looking at the slightly crumpled letter.

“please, charlie, don’t make this harder for me” alastor continues, empathizing his hand.

charlie looks at vaggie, then to the letter, then to the door and finally at alastor.

“…i’ll think about it” she mutters quietly, tucking the letter into her jacket as alastor’s sad demeanor changes like a mask falling off.

“wonderful!” he grabs charlie and vaggie by the shoulders and starts hearding them towards the portal. yapping their ears off about how they’ll do amazing, and that heaven ‘won’t know what to do once they see you both.’

but vaggie continued to look back, husk’s slightly turned up face didn’t betray the emotion on it. one she never thought she’d see on him.

pity.

charlie left first, tugging vaggie in as she met alastor’s twinkling eyes, and shit eating grin as he waved.

alastor had won, and vaggie knows he’s going to get ready to celebrate his spoils.

i edited it and added some more… things 🤭

[elsa-fogen]

Smile

He did it himself. He would. absolutely.

radiorose continuation

[jyoongim]

OK SO I WAS WONDERING IF I COULD REQUEST ALASTOR X READER??? I AM OBSESSED WITH THE IDEA OF ALASTOR CUDDLING UP WITH THE READER (soft spot🥺) BUT HIS SHADOW ALSO JOINS IN (bc it has a mind of it's own and likes the attention that the reader gives it) ILY UR WRITING SO SO MUCHHH IT HAS ME FOAMING AT THE MOUTH \(⁠♡⁠ω⁠♡⁠ ⁠)/

Supeeerrr fluffy and cute!

The radio played in the background as you snuggled against Alastor. It had been a pretty long day and after his radio broadcast, the red demon came to your shared room to relax for the night. 

You were doing a crossword and Alastor was reading a book, it was pure bliss.

It must have grown late as the chiming of the clock rung through the hotel.

You let out a yawn and set your puzzle down and really cozied up to the demon.

”I think we should see Rosie for lunch, I heard she has inquired new flavors of pinkies and I am dying to try them” you said as you began to get comfortable.

Alastor let out a hum, seemingly to agree.

He was too busy soaking up the warmth your soft body provided, happily curling his limbs around yours.

Your fingers danced across his features, tracing his face, twirling his hair and playing with his ears. They flicked about as you tickled the fluff around them.

A soft shriek caught your attention and looking up you see Alastor’s shadow peering down at you.

The shadow had a happy smile on its face, flitting about the wall and finally following your movements on the wall.

You smiled and using your own shadow to curl around it.

Alastor cut his eyes to watch as his shadow practically had heart eyes as your shadow nuzzled his. You watched as they danced around the walls, before your shadow settled back in place and returned to normal.

Alastor’s shadow dawned a sad look, before sliding down the headboard and curling around you. You giggled at the buzzing feeling it gave, feeling the shadow squeeze you as it settled on your side of the bed.

Alastor sucked his teeth at the entity, making the shadow’s face etch into a wide sharp grin as it happily snuggled against you, purring.

You were always in awe at Alastor’s shadow. It rarely left its owner, but it was always willing to be by your side. Your own shadow manifested and the two chirped happily with hearts as they morphed together, cuddling themselves.

”Aww even our shadows adore each other” you said yawning, head leaning against Alastor.

He took a look at the shadows and watched as the two tangled together.

He nuzzled you, sighing as he felt sleep try to overcome him

”It seems so my dear. Seems even the shadows like a good snuggle every now and again”

[edgy-senju]

Can't hide what's underneath that smile now.

[Commissions are open!]

[venananix]

i rly like that willem is just a head with legs

[novawuv-hazbinhotel]

Peoples Asked for it so here is

🍎👑streching + Curious Mr.Shadow 🤸✨

Here His the Alastor's Stretching

[kaylopolis]

Alastor's Shadow (18+) Masterlist

Alastor x F!Reader, Alias: Thestral

Synopsis: There’s a new Overlord in town and it isn’t the Radio Demon. Six years after you fell into Hell, you have finally earned your seat at the table as Pentagram City’s newest and baddest and with the Extermination coming six months sooner than planned, it is now time to implement your ultimate endgame. Afterall, who doesn’t love a bit of power and chaos? Your plans brings you to the doorstep of the Hazbin Hotel as Charlie’s newest Redeemer, but who you find waiting for you will not only turn your entire plan upside down, but also challenge your grab for power… 

Tags: Slow burn, rivals to lovers, eventual smut 

Author note: This is my first attempt at a fanfic, but I was just so inspired and wanted to post it somewhere after writing like +67K words (and counting). So here goes nothing I guess?

Warnings: Minors DNI! 18+! May contain disturbing, gruesome, and graphic sexual scenes. Graphic violence. Blood. Obsession. Mentions of abuse. Mentions of substance abuse. Trigger warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter. 

“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear…” 

- Mahatma Gandhi

-> Chapter One - The Commercial

-> Chapter Two - Breakfast

-> Chapter Three - Care for a Drink? Spice 🔥

-> Chapter Four - The Meeting

-> Chapter Five - Night's Mistress Smut 💦

-> Chapter Six - A Stroll Spice 🔥

-> Chapter Seven - Forget Me Knot Smut 💦

-> Chapter Eight - The Headliner Spice🔥

-> Chapter Nine - A Black Suit Spice🔥

-> Chapter Ten - Cute Smut 💦

-> Chapter Eleven - Lucifer's Visit

-> Chapter Twelve - The Kidnapping

-> Chapter Thirteen - The Truth

-> Chapter Fourteen - Picking a Fight Smut 💦

—> A message to the readers

-> Chapter Fifteen - Heaven's Worst Kept Secret Smut 💦

-> Chapter Sixteen - Let’s Kill God Smut 💦

-> Chapter Seventeen - The Countdown Cuteness ❤️

Alternative Endings:

Alternative Ending 1: Mini-Chapter Eighteen - My Fawn and My Shadow

Alternative Ending 2: Mini-Chapter Eighteen - Paris

In Production:

-> Chapter Nineteen (one per ending)

-> Epilogue (one per ending)

[liberumalas]

People having fun with Alastor's shadow, Part 2 (Rather Alastor's shadow is scolding Niffty)

[spacebubblehomebase]

"✨️The Stargazers.✨️"

Yeah. These two would usually not get along, but needs must and they have a job to do. Jobs they don't want their respective sides butting in on. Now I would have posted this earlier, but I got dreadfully sick. So I hope this was still worth the wait! A deeper look into Vaggie & Alastor's situation and their other forms to boot! Can you tell I got carried away? XD Introductions are finally done! Next part? Comics! See ya'll then! ^v^

-Bubbly💙

[writteninlunarlight-years]

Alastor's Shadows

Headcanons

(Here are some funny little Headcanons I have about Alastor and his shadows. I want to disclose that I am doing this for myself. I have done no prior research for Alastor's Shadows; these are my thoughts and opinions. My friend @literallurker and I were talking one day about them, and this was born)

To start this all off, I firmly believe that Alastor's Shadows still have consciousness, and the one who is his actual Shadow is the one who has been with him the longest, so it knows how he truly feels.

As for the other Shadows, half of them come from his work with Voodoo magic, and the other half comes from the souls he owns.

Alastor can manipulate any shadow he wants if he tries. Though, yes, he is the 'Radio Demon,' he is shown to have a lot of control over the shadows.

I would 100% not be surprised if he used his shadow manipulation to put on little puppet shows with the shadows of souls he owns. I am talking about Broadway productions cause you know the man has old Jazz classics playing in the background.

I honestly believe that Alastor's main Shadow, aka the one that has been with him his whole existence, has a name. Now, the name of this Shadow varies depending on who you ask. However, Charlie named it "Shadowy" one day, and everyone stuck with it since the Shadow enjoyed it and Alastor hated it.

'Shadowy' personally also loves to fuck with Alastor on a whole new level because there are no repercussions for him. So what, he gets banned from leaving Alastors natural light Shadow? So what. He would just unban himself the minute Alstor was busy doing something else.

Because 'Shadowy' is so close to Alsator and knows all his darkest thoughts, emotions, and secrets, he likes to tease the other guests just as much as Al.

Imagine Husk just minding his business, and then 'Shadowy' pops up with some cards and a poker face. He is ready to play some games, only for Alastor to feel this mutiny and ruin the game midway.

'Shadowy' is also super affectionate to Alastor's friends; Rosie knows all his hand signals and how he 'speaks.' Anytime she knows more than what Alastor is, letting her know it's because the Shadow told her.

As for love interests, I also believe 'Shadowy' is extra affectionate with Alastor's partner. Al is still very touch-sensitive, so there could be many times when the partner feels ignored, so 'Shadowy' swoops in to help show how much they are loved.

This can also lead to Alastor being more affectionate with the lover because he feels terrible that his Shadow is one-upping him.

Knowing 'Shadowy' is as close to himself as possible, Alastor will often tell the Shadow to hide in his partner's Shadow to protect them and tell him what is going on in their lives.

On a slightly more suggestive note, I firmly believe that if Alastor isn't caring for his partner's needs, the Shadow will 100% step in.

After the first time, the Shadow does this, and if the partner enjoys it a lot, Alastor will allow the Shadow to join more.

[supdudes95]

Late-night lessons <3