The Shadow
I find it interesting that both The British AND The Australian publishers, took the US Shadow character, and adapted him to their own, somewhat different character set in non-American settings. I also didn't know that Archie Comics, in 1964-65, and DC Comics, 1973-75, long after Street and Smith stopped publishing new stories (1949), bought the copyright for their own series with that character. And Marvel Comics DID publish one single Graphic Novel, using thais character, in 1988, and Dark Horse Comics had a series starring him, from 1993-95, with one last issue in 2014.
The Australian Shadow 83
Yes, the artwork reminds me a little of that in some of the Dutch Beeldromansen. This is the 83rd issue of "The Shadow" series, and yet they included a brief narrative introduction/biography, touching on his origin story for the readers, which takes up the entire first page. It is interesting that his alter-ego, Jimmy Gray (NOT Lamont Cranston???) is a layabout playboy, who inherited a large fortune from his father (somewhat like Batman), and he seems to butt into Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Drummond (Bulldog Drummond worked a Longggggg time!) cases. But, luckily, the aged senile chief detective has no idea that The Shadow is Jimmy Gray. Despite having several people wh help him in his "war on crime", he is also his own main undercover agent, spying on London's criminals disguised as a disabled old man who doesn't disapprove of their illegal activities, and is a bit of a crook, himself. He finds out when crimes are planned to be committed, and nips them in the bud. He seems to take on more roles than most GA crime fighters (including what could have been handled by a sidekick.
I already notice a mistake by the storywriter and/or artist. There is no time break in the transition from the introduction of "The Shadow" character to the beginning of the story. That would have incensed every one of the editors for whom I've worked to the point of questioning the writer's level of professionalism, and one more error of that level would probably assure that that writer would no longer work for that publisher in future. The artist (if he or she was not also the writer) should have informed the editor when noticing the error, to have a narrative time and location change indicator. The story starts in a panel showing a car passing a building, with no narrative or indication of the location. I've read thousands of comics stories, and I can't remember ever encountering such a situation before this occasion.
Out of the blue, Inspector Drummond tells filthy-rich, lazy playboy, Jimmy Gray about Scotland Yard's National Police's plan to have its agents (operatives) spy on a suspected British citizen , working (as a traitor) for a foreign (hinted to be USSR (Communist)) spy ring, and also thatr Drummond plans to accompany a British diplomat to Berlin, as his bodyguard. There is no explanation as to why Gray was consulted, which is rather exasperating, given that Gray's/The Shadow's disguise is of a useless lazy playboy. This implies that Gray must be known as being of some use to The Police. But, the reader was told, in the story's introduction, that Drummond did NOT know that Gray was The Shadow.
So Gray decides to go along on that official trip (joining it later in process) to help prevent the murder, and nab the potential murderers. He meets Drummond and the planned victim on their train, and invites himself to join them in their cabin. The Inspector doesn't object that a "useless" civilian butts in to a police case. When the lights suddenly turn off, Gray puts on his mask (becoming The Shadow), grabs the "victim" and removes him from danger, aftershooting the assailant's gun from his hand. The Shadow disappears, and the victim returns to the cabin. The Shadow follows the traitor, as we see the latter telephoning his organisation's headquarters in Paris telling them to kill the British diplomat as his car passes by their building. The Shadow arrives there befor Drummond and the victim. He finds The Communist spies' headquarters, beats up several of there agents, telephones The Paris Police, to have them come and arrest the foreign agents. The Shadow arrives in Berlin before Drummond and the victim. He kills scores of enemy agents, with a stolen machine gun and stolen hand grenades, saving the British diplomat and leaving the scene, undetected.
This story had lots of action, but a lot of it made little sense, and was too unbelievable for me to enjoy. The artwork is passable, but reasonably crude, and nothing special. The book only provides 22 pages to tell what
would be best as a larger -scoped story, with many more pages to provide a better setting, more details, and better story pacing. All this, only in black and white, leaves reading this book a less enjoyable experience than it could have been. The overall general plot of this story is fine, and its scope could have been a better fit IF the Paris scenes were cut out and replaced with more setting detail, background information on The Communists' motivations, and The Shadow getting more help from his own regular operatives, and his finding out about the plot through being in disguise and overhearing their planning or receiving orders from their headquarters, as opposed to being the confidant of the chief police officer on a Police case, when he is thought to be a"useless" millionaire playboy with no official relationship with their organisation. None of the elements to which I object are necessary for this story.
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Topic: Reading Group #330 - The gritty side of golden (Read 696 times)
