The Shadow Pulp Covers

 Any of these would have gotten my dime (or dime and a nickel) immediately and I'd be reading it was I walked away from the newsstand. 

The Shadow - Pulp Cover Gallery

My pulp reading continues.

 

The Shadow Novels vs Radio Shows

Over the past month I've read a couple of Classic Shadow pulp novels and I’ve been listening almost every night to old Shadow radio shows. This has, of course, caused me to compare and contrast and I have to say they are incredibly different animals. The radio show centers on Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane, his Girl Friday, but the pulps that I've read almost always have the shadow as a peripheral character. In the novels he is constantly stalking bad guys, listening and taking advantage of the weaknesses of various criminals and their gangs. On the page he is ably assisted by his huge network of helpers or undercover operatives. They occasionally make appearances in a way that push the story along or explain to the reader how certain pieces of information are being related back to the Shadow. I have to admit the two different versions of the Shadow that the radio play and the pulps provide are both very entertaining but I prefer the anthology nature of the pulp stories. I find that having the main focus on the bad guy characters who are being hunted down by the relentless Shadow with his blazing .45's to be much more entertaining. The Shadow radio show has a tendency to fall pretty squarely into the standard mystery or adventure radio shows of the 1930s with lots of bantering back and forth between Lamont and Margo. Of course, I guess it would be natural that you would need a couple of reoccurring characters who talked back and forth on a regular basis presenting different pieces of information and pushing things in the direction that a radio play would go. As I said, I've enjoyed them both and I will continue to do so but the pulp novels are grittier and more to my taste overall.

 

Pulp Covers - The Shadow

 

The Shadow - Joey's Christmas Story

Here's a Christmastime episode of The Shadow radio show from 1940! I know this kind of thing isn't everyone's cup of tea but I love listening to these tales from decades ago when audio dramas were the most popular form of entertainment. 

Pulp Covers from The Shadow!

Having re-watched the movie I'm now getting the urge to read some more tales from my stack of classic Shadow reprints! 

Re-viewing - THE SHADOW (1994)

The other night I revisited THE SHADOW for the first time since the late 1990s. The reason for this is because the film is now available on Blu-ray and I can hardly resist such a temptation. I was one of the millions of people who was disappointed by the film when it debuted in theaters in 1994. As a fan of heroic pulp fiction and The Shadow in particular I was let down by the fact that the film seemed to be a series of excellent sequences held together by a very thin story that often flew apart. At the time I felt that the script didn't allow the overall structure of the story to take shape well enough before another big set-piece came along to get the audience heart rate up again. Although across the 90s I watched the film several times I always came away frustrated that although the movie has a number of great scenes, a wonderful cast, some good action sequences, fine period detail and an excellent score it just didn't gel for me. And I have always felt that I could pinpoint the problem - the film's director.

Russell Mulcahy is an Australian director that got his start in music videos and far too often it shows. Mulcahy is in love with the constantly floating camera. If you've ever seen his 1986 film HIGHLANDER you'll recognize the style of camerawork I'm referencing. He shoots everything with the camera in motion and, while that can sometimes be interesting, it frequently draws attention to itself in a distracting way. In THE SHADOW he can't seem to stop himself from nonsensically circling the actors so much that I am surprised the cameraman didn't run into the actors. It's ridiculous! And it also draws attention to the points in the movie where bits of dialog has been edited out leaving a few holes that have to be ignored or papered over.

But, imagine my surprise when - 24 years after my initial viewing of this film - I revisit it and find myself really enjoying it. A lot! That's not to say that the irritating, flawed bits were less irritating but they took me out of the film less than in past viewings. I found myself really having fun - even some parts that I had previously been truly irritated by were interesting. The feel of the film is about 85% right and it looks fantastic. Maybe it is just that I was happy to see this story again after so long but I was truly glad to be watching this movie. And I'd love to see some deleted scenes if this ever gets another fancy release!

DC Comics' Shadow Covers

If i had unlimited funds I would own this entire run. I wish DC would reprint this comics in cheap trade paperback form. Now!