A review of "The Shadowed Circle"

 I will start this spoiler free review with a high recommendation to get your hands (flesh or digital) on a copy of "The Shadowed Circle".  Steve Donoso has spearheaded a great addition to the world of The Shadow with this 50 page journal chock full of diverse articles & artwork from some highly recognizable and some unknown (to me) names.  Also, a caveat before I begin.  I am not a writer or journalist, I just like to keep the blue light on in the Sanctum with my little blog.  If this review rambles or doesn't quite paint a cohesive picture blame it on a lack of training in the fine art of writing. Now let's see what is sandwiched between the front cover by  John Jamilkowski and the back cover featuring "The Creeping Death" by George Rozen.

After the credits we are given a nice explanation as to the genesis of the magazine by the publisher, Steve Donoso.  We are then given a real treat with "The Final Sanctum Shadow Intermission" by Will Murray.  For all of you who collected the reprints from Sanctum Books (a true labor of love by Anthony Tollin and his crew that I, for one, can never thank them enough for) you will be familiar with the Intermission articles by Mr. Murray that gave invaluable insight into the back stories of the two or three novels that were featured that month.  When Condé Nast told Anthony Tollin to wrap it up there was no way to get all of the novels reprinted.  These are the Intermissions that never saw print until now.  A great coup for Steve and crew to be able to publish them.

We are then given a fun article on how John L. French chooses to approach the Bruce Elliott penned adventures of The Shadow.  Generally regarded as the unwanted step children of the series we are given a new way to (possibly) appreciate these stories.  Perhaps I'll take his advice... some day.

Next up is "Eight Questions for James Patterson", an interview with the most recent raconteur of our hero.  Whether you liked the latest novel or not, this is a nice little look into the thought process that brought about the latest book.  Mr. Patterson answers five questions re: The Shadow (and drops a nugget about Doc Savage) and three other questions that give a bit of insight into the author.  I appreciate Mr. Donoso's truthful opinion of the book to open the article as it made me feel it wasn't going to be a fluff piece.  It didn't change my view of the book but it made me more appreciative of the writer himself.

We follow the question and answers with a review of the novel by Henry Lopez.  He went more in depth than I did on this blog but ultimately came up with a familiar opinion about this Patterson/Sitts effort.  I'll let you guess what that is.  If you choose not to read the book then this review does a really good job of hitting the high points (such as they are) and giving you a pretty good understanding of the novel.

This is followed by a fun article entitled "Under 30: A Twenty Something’s Relationship With The Shadow" that follows the discovery by Russell M. Moran of The Shadow through the Kenner toy line from the 1994 film starring Alec Baldwin & John Lone.  I have to admit that I have a couple of the figures (gifts from my step daughters) in my studio.  I had a lot more when my son was young and would buy them for him.  It's an interesting look at a different generation's introduction to this classic character.

I'm going to stop at this, the halfway point and publish this.  Come back tomorrow for the second half of this review.