Remembering the Master

I was remiss in noting that December 6th marked the twenty fifth anniversary of the passing of Walter B. Gibson. Without Mr. Gibson there would never have been a Maxwell Grant, Kent Allard, Lamont Cranston, Dark Eagle or Ying Ko. Street & Smith tasked the young writer with getting a couple of tales onto the newsstands so that they would not lose the copyright to the narrator of a radio version of one of their magazines. Who would've thought (I'm sure the editors didn't) that Walter would not only create (yes, I said "create") one of the most popular characters in American culture, but also become one of the most prolific writers in pulps. If not for Mrs. Gibson's little boy, I can say that I would be a different person. There would never have been a Batman, the character that led me to The Shadow. I probably would never have been introduced to OTR. I may never have gone into art since I was driven by a love of comics, which I may never have felt if it weren't for Batman, who wouldn't exist if it weren't for Walter B. Gibson. I know this all sounds like "A Sound of Thunder" but I don't know where I'd be if Mr. Gibson hadn't been given that assignment nearly eighty years ago. I know I wouldn't be sitting in front of my computer making a blog entry for a site called "Under the Blue Light", that's for sure.