Death's Masquerade

Very uninspired (and uninspiring) cover.  Cool title that could have produced interesting cover art, but it failed.  What's the story about?  Not sure, but you could check here to find out.

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Back to the clews

Right off the top of my head, I think this should be easy.

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Chain of Death

Classic cover.  This is how I see The Shadow.  Silently picking the lock so that he can get to the sash and quietly enter the person of interest's home and meld into the shadows where he may listen to the plans of the bad guys.  Of course, I don't see him getting caught in a spotlight but we have to let the artist have some leeway...  I haven't read the story but I'm guessing it's probably a classic!

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Clew part two

Not quite, Agent T.  Try this clew.

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Last clew before long weekend

Bon chance, mon ami.

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Merry Mrs. MacBeth

Ugly cover.Can't speak to the story but I really rue the direction that the cover art took in the final years.  Such a pity.  One can only wonder what Gibson could have done with the Cold War story line of the fifties.  Perhaps if the cover art had continued in the great tradition of Rozen the sales would have sustained themselves into the next decade.  Alas, what could have been.

"Fireworks" part 3

And now, the final chapter.

New clew fer yew

Don't hang yourself over this one.

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And so ends part two.  Tune in tomorrow for the beginning of the end.

The Blackest Mail

Nothing to say on this.  I'm only using this because it's part of the history of The Shadow.  Pardon the pun, but this cover is part of the darkest hour in The Dark Eagle's past.  Bruce Elliot penned tale with an equally bad cover to accompany it.  On a side note, I think the new Shadow comic may join this as a dark smudge on the long ledger that Burbank has faithfully recorded for eighty one years.

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A late clew

Have a great weekend, agents.

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Death Clew

I really love this cover.  This really would have intrigued me as a reader in the day, perusing the story for the clew hinted at by the cover.  That in and of itself would have kept my attention.  Man, what a time to be a kid, waiting for the next tale to come out every other week or so.  If I had a time machine I would go back and collect the run of The Shadow and many others.  Oh, yeah, I haven't read this tale but check out this review if you want to know a bit about the story submitted as "The Death Clue".  There is an explanation at the end of the review regarding the spelling of the word clew. 

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Luck clew?

I could have sworn that I had already featured this cover.  Alas, here is the "clew".

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The Cobra

  Fun story with a pretty nice cover.  I'm still not sold on the colored circles that played into more than a few covers in the early days.  Or maybe it just seems that way.
  I have read this story and I liked it a lot, even if I figured it out early on.  This may be because we have so much more access to stories via television and movies that are basically remakes of older tales that we recognize where things are going.  When this came out it may have been nearly a revelation.  Still, it's a fun ride.

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A bit more of a clew

Front end of the clew.

And the game continues

Rather abstract, ain't it?

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"The Shadow Strikes" update

For anyone following this blog for The Shadow Strikes posts I have corrected a mistake from yesterday.  I mistakenly posted page 18 instead of page 17.  If you'll scroll back down a couple of posts you'll see the correct page.  I hope this didn't cause too much confusion.

The Green Box

I'm going to let Agent T give today's commentary.

"THE GREEN BOX, one of my favorites, due to the blue pallor, bar shadows falling across The Shadow and background, and purple background. [My favorite color, perhaps.] Also like the orange lettering, never to be seen again w/the original logo...The big ring doesn't hurt, as I'm sure you'll agree! Just reread the story, and though it introduces Farrow, Hawkeye and Tapper, it's kind of one-note and draggy, with The Shadow not given much to do outside of the prison intro and train denouement. Too bad..."

If, like me, you haven't read this one check out this review for a slightly more in-depth analysis of the tale that sports quite an excellent cover.

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A clew in the shadows

Give this a try, Agent T(rapezoid)!

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The Death Triangle

I really like the rendering of The Shadow, just not crazy about the design.  I guess it's a natural with the title.  This is the 40th published novel in the series and, at least according to this review, it's a classic.  I know I'm looking forward to reading it if only because it references the famous ring and it's origin...
 "- a rare girasol. Once it belonged to the Russian Czar who -"   I love this stuff!

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Clewsday

Too easy, I know.

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The Crime Cult

Printed on a silver coating this is the first true portrait of The Shadow.  While not the best it does place all of the classic points (minus the ring) that we have come to expect of any painting of our hero, right down to the dual coloring of his face (so extreme that it almost looks like Two Face from the early days of Batman).  I love this cover for it's place in The Shadow's history.  I have read the story but that was back in the 70's and I look forward to the reprint.  As Agent T mused, will Anthony Tollin use this image as his cover when he reprints and will he print it on silver?  One can hope.

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Friday's clew

At last.

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Gangdom's Doom

Or "The Shadow Cleans Up Chicago".  Yeah, the published title is better.  This is the fifth novel in the historic 325 issue run of "The Shadow Magazine".  It's great to see The Shadow on the cover, it just hasn't gotten to the iconic stage just yet.  There really isn't much to say regarding this Jerome Rozen cover.  The familiar elements are here; the slouch hat, the crimson lined cloak, the black business suit and his gloves.  But that is all that indicates our hero.  We haven't yet seen the aquiline nose, piercing eyes and knitted eyebrows.  But that comes soon and an icon will be born.  The story?  Well, it is a rather famous one so if you haven't read it at least check out this synopsis.

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Take a stab at this, Agents

Early in the run.

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Mobsmen On The Spot

"The Shadow Fights The Rackets" was the submission title to the ninth published tale of The Shadow.  This is the second use of this artwork, the first appearing on the sixth story, The Death Tower.  I guess The Shadow Unmasks wasn't the first time we see our hero's face.  I do like the painting and we can see the basics of The Dark Eagle and the color palette that Rozen would employ in so many great covers.
This story introduces us to Cliff Marsland, the only agent to marry (that we know of).  I read Mobsmen when it was reprinted in the '70's.  I look forward to reading it again when Sanctum reprints it.

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