The Shadow
 

We all know the most popular Superheroes. Batman, Superman, Spider-man, The Flash, Wonder Woman etc. The List is huge. But who a lot people don't know about is a character that pre-dates all of them, and while he isn't a Superhero in the sense we know now, he laid the foundations for characters like Batman

The Shadow started out in a very successful radio show from 1937 til 1954. He also starred in the 'Pulps' from roughly the same time, before branching out into Comic Books, Newspaper strips, Film Serials, and 1 feature length movie from the 1990s.

Back in the peak of his popularity, The Shadow was arguably just as Popular as Batman was at the peak of his popularity. Able to 'Cloud the minds of Men' to appear invisible, the Shadow's Maniacal laughter froze criminals in their tracks. Wearing a wide-brimmed black hat and a black, crimson-lined cloak with an upturned collar over a standard black business suit, it's clear that the Shadow was arguably the 'First' Superhero.

In most recent years, he stars alongside Batman in an ongoing DC Comic series.

I've known of the character for my entire life and am passingly familiar with him. But never read, watched, or listened to anything The Shadow.

Superman
 

How many people know about the original 'Superman'?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reign_of_the_Superman

I would recommend giving the 1940 Movie Serial a go, or giving the Radio series a go

Both are on YouTube. The 1940 Serial was my introduction to the character

Sadly my Shadow interactions are also very limited.

I have some of the wretched DC series from the 80s where he became a cyborg or whatever. :lol: But I've never actually read them. What the f*ck were they thinking? :lol:

I have read a few issues from waaay back, and heard one or two radio episodes. And the movie from the 90's, of course.

Robocop was big. Doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense in context, just as long as they cash in on it

Is the 90s Movie any good? I'm considering buying it

It was okay. Not great, but decent.

I guess that's indeed a fair point. I just remember the ads they were running in all of the DC books in '87/'88 or so made it look pretty good, really dark and gritty; you might've seen 'em, the "Guy with a giant hypodermic needle" one, they ran it everywhere. And then I read about it on Wikipedia or something a few years ago and the actual content sounded absolutely dreadful. Talk about a bait-and-switch! Nonetheless, I ended up with a few issues thanks to various grab bags and such, but I've never brought myself to actually read them.

Didn't DC do Shadow books in the 70s that were a lot more faithful? I swear I've seen those somewhere.

I think I'd really dig a new live-action film in the vein of "Sin City" or something like that. The character definitely deserves it. But I'm pretty sure the abysmal failure of movies like "The Spirit", "Green Hornet", and "The Lone Ranger" has pretty much killed both noir comic book films as well as any of "Your Granddaddy's Radio/Comic Strip" features for the foreseeable future.

Because it's not that those adaptations were simply bad, goodness knows; it's that anything "Too Old" simply won't sell because Millenials can't fathom a world from before the Internet and cell phones. :roll:

I mean, I guess I understand. I definitely wouldn't want to see a modern reinterpretation - I think the property works best as a period piece set firmly within the time of its conception - but snark aside, nobody under 40 is gonna sit through that. Which really sucks. But I can already hear the kids sassing it; "So instead of armor... dude wears a scarf?" It is what it is, I guess.

Orson Welles, who Voiced the Shadow early on the Radio (and who directed a little known Movie by the name of Citizen Kane), tried to make a Shadow movie in the 40s, but couldn't get the rights.

I also think the Character deserves a modern movie. But the Shadow's really obscure to modern audiences, that it probably wouldn't make an impact anyway

Shame really

It's kinda like John Carter; all the stuff that ripped it off went on to far greater fame, so when someone "reintroduces" it to a new audience, nobody cares because it all feels like a dated retread.

Real shame. People have no sense of history anymore.

America in the 1930s/1940s from a design and aesthetics view point, is one of my favorite time periods. Watching the 1940 Shadow Serial and seeing everyone drive around in those old style cars and the villains dressing in Suits and Ties with the bowler hats was really great to look at

Made me realize again that people dressed like that. it's easy to forget that stuff isn't just made up for movies and shows

A certain hair band from 1989 remembered The Shadow.

Probably my favorite episode yet of the Radio series

I know of him only because of the movie, which I really like still.
But aside from it, I am not familiar with the rest of his mythology.

I'd recommend the 1940 Serial, featuring Victor Jory as The Shadow.

I'm also working my way through the original Radio series, which the 1994 movie drew a lot of inspiration from in terms of style and tone

Modern versions include The Shadow: Year One, the current Batman crossover comics and from the 80s, there was The Shadow: Blood and Judgement (his equivalent of The Dark Knight Returns)

Just finished this. Really well done, although I find the art isn't all that great. A few twists and turns. No one really outshines anyone here.

James Patterson, Conde Nast Reviving The Shadow In New Original Book Series
 

I know this thread is a year old, but it looks like there's going to be new Shadow novels in the near future, penned by famous writer James Patterson

https://deadline.com/2020/07/james-p...NP1ZNgZ1dKsZ6Y

I almost loathe to mention this, given his recent trajectory in life, BUT, have you read The Shadow Strikes by Gerard Jones and Ed Barretto? Amazing Shadow stories but because of what Jones is doing these days (in prison for some despicable crimes) maybe he shouldn't be mentioned at all. The work is def. good tho.

31 issues plus 1 annual plus a crossover with DOC SAVAGE!

Oh, wow, I hadn't heard about that situation. I remember his name being all over some of my favorite books as a kid. Ooof. That sucks.

But yeah, nah, whatever else happened a person's work is their work and should be treated separately from the person. I always fall back on the Led Zeppelin defense: I forget if it was Page or Plant who kidnapped the 13-year old girl for Sex Slave purposes (just because she says it was the best time of her entire life doesn't mean it wasn't totally illegal and morally reprehensible), but regardless, "Stairway To Heaven" still gets played on the radio every hour and always will be. Guns N Roses is my favorite band, and the stories about half the girls backstage at their shows being well under 18 are legendary. I don't like it and can't defend it, but I'm never gonna throw out their CDs, avoid their music, or not mention them at all, that'd be silly. I just kinda sigh.

I don't believe in "canceling" things. I do believe that such things are worth being mentioned, however, so that people can at least be informed. But the work itself that these people do belongs to the world at large. We're finding out now more than ever that most writers, authors, athletes, actors and musicians are Total Scumbags who just happen to be good at entertaining us. And it's been like that for as long as "entertainment" has been around.

I kinda feel like that if you aren't mentally ill, you don't even lean towards the entertainment business or doing Creative Works. I feel like you can't actually be a "good" writer or musician or just an entertainer in general, if you aren't in some way "broken". Every single wrestler I know is mentally ill. Every writer, every athlete, every musician. All "broken". I would *hope* that they're not pedophiles or anything, but my point is that on some level, every single person who picks up a pen or gets on a stage is "broken", and the rest is all just a matter of degree.

Thus, if we applied the "This person did a Very Bad Thing, we can never look at their work again", there'd be nothing left. At best, we should enjoy their work while wagging our fingers at them in shame. That's fair enough.

Still, that sucks though. I noticed I hadn't seen that guy's name for a while, but had no idea why. Ouch. Although in clicking around, it seems like he stopped doing comics way before any of that came to light anyways.

I'm IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT! I was just testing the waters about Jones because uploading child porn videos to Youtube and possessing and possibly producing that $hit can get under a lot of people's skin in a bad way. Just wanted to ease into it for the benefit of others.

Yeah, I love his run on The Shadow. It's as good as Denny's 70's stuff and actually more historical.

But yeah, I'm a fan of GG Allin's music, so I know that entertainers can be completely mental!

Collecting them at the moment. I'll be collecting the 70s DC run when I can find them cheaper than what they are at the moment.

Oh, Headbands, I am so happy to hear that. Jones writes a lot of Shadow easter eggs and pulp history into his stories. If you know a lot about The Shadow's history, you will enjoy them.

:lol: GG Allin. Whatever you're into, man! :lol:

I hadn't heard all the details of why Jones was arrested other than possession. That's bad enough, but you gotta be brick-stupid to be uploading that sh*t and passing it around. Jesus.

Back in the day one'a my Dad's friends who he got porn from used to brag about having the movie Linda Lovelace made with the dog on Betamax, along with all the "vintage" Traci Lords stuff, which he apparently got from some collector or on an overseas trip or something where that stuff is legal. But it's not like he was making copies and passing them around to people because he wasn't a complete f*cking idiot. It's like okay, owning it is one thing but you gotta be pretty goddamn stupid to be putting it out there for other people. Jesus Christ. Why not just hang a sign on your door so the cops know who they're looking for?