Click

The blue light is off.  The master has given me an assignment that will take me away from my normal duties.  As soon as the immediate threat is eliminated I will resume my regular tasks.

Crime, Insured

Great cover with an even better story inside.  I have read this one, thanks to Sanctum reprints, and believe it to be one of the high points of a series filled with high points.  I won't go into the tale but if you haven't read it here is a synopsis.
Back to the cover.  The ring is prominent with a fairly 3D treatment of all the elements.  Back in the day if I had twenty cents available I would have bought two of these, one to read and one to keep clean and perfect.  I probably would have tried to copy the image with pencils and crayons.  Yeah, I love this cover.

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Clew to get you through the weekend

One of those covers I'm so fond of.

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Death Turrets

Well, not much we can say about this cover, is there.  The nose is pretty good but he looks, hmm, ordinary.  I'm not sure if I would have been excited or disappointed upon seeing this on the newsstand.  Disappointed that it surely isn't the hero from the pages of my beloved pulp.  Excited that The Shadow would be lurking in my neighborhood theatre soon.  Ah, the age of anticipation and limited entertainment options.
The story?  I couldn't tell you since I haven't read it yet but this review might whet your appetite for this 1937 entry, originally titled "House of Doom" into the annals of The Shadow.  I know it has me intrigued.

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A so so clew

Picture this in your mind and you'll get the answer.

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Chicago Crime

Not the best but at least we have The Shadow on the cover.  I have never liked having our hero wielding a revolver instead of his "huge smoke wagons".  Kind of standard fare, as far as covers go &, at least according to this review, as far as adventures go.

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MLK clew day

Forced, I know.  But, hey, it's Monday and I'm beat to my feet.  Good luck with the clew, agents.

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Crime Out of Mind

I guess there are shadows on the cover and funny enough there is the question posed... "WAS IT THE REAL SHADOW?".  Well this cover certainly isn't going to sway anyone to believe that inside these pages is the real Shadow!  Whereas it's rendered well, it just has nothing at all to do with the character we're hoping to share this adventure with.  I know that it was sixty seven years ago but it is still hard to watch the end of this great character.  It seems that The Shadow's enemies were hiding in plain sight, the art department, and they finally brought down crime's greatest foe.  It's too bad since this is the 300th issue and, according to this review, a very special tale.  It seems that there was no promotional hoopla associated with such a momentous issue.  Pair that up with the unShadow-like cover art and it seems the company just wasn't interested in keeping The Shadow a viable property for much longer.

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Back to the clews

Very easy... and unsatisfying.  But it must be done.

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Hands in the Dark

The Shadow unmasked before "The Shadow Unmasks!".  Symbol codes!  On the cover at that!  I love this cover.  As Agent T points out this is not yet the classic face we have come to know so well.  Very close and probably more along the lines of what I like (less of an enormous nose, more of the descriptive aqualine nose) but we know how it all turned out.  I read this story years ago when Pyramid published the paperback and I loved it.  I can't wait for Tollin to reprint this one and I hope he uses this cover.  If any of you haven't gotten the chance to read this and want a bit of insight, click here.  You can never go wrong with the early novels.

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Tuesday is Clewsday

The Shadow's eyes see all, know all.  Do you?

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Buried Evidence

  "I've got my eyes on YOU!" seems to be what The Shadow is conveying from this cover.  Whizzing along our hero leans out of the broken passenger window of Moe's cab and stares down the villain after loosing a volley or perhaps single, perfectly placed bullet to answer for the careless, random blasting of the hack.  Ah, very pulpy stuff.  I only wish the background looked a bit more like the scene took place at night.  But then the cover wouldn't have jumped off of the newsstand. Check out a review of this tale from 1937.

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Clew/Clue... who has one?

Simple is as simple does.  Have a great weekend, agents.  Stay warm.

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The Keeper's Gold

Not my favorite cover since I don't like seeing The Shadow injured.  It kind of makes him seem a bit too human.  I don't mind when he suffers a few injuries in the story, I just don't want to see it on the cover.  I haven't read the tale but you can find the review here.

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More of a clew, per your request

Should be easy enough.

"Who Is Number One?"

Another two parter begins today.

Monday clew

A bit of a different look.  Give it a shot.

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This ends Eduardo Barreto's run on "The Shadow Strikes".  I have to say that the book never looked as good again.  I love Kaluta's work on The Shadow but for pure drawing excellence and clear storytelling and give the nod to Barreto.  It's a shame that he is no longer with us.

Crime Over Casco

Wicked bad cover.  Okay, not as bad Happy Death Day, but pretty ugly.  I, as well as many older Shadow fans, read this when it was reprinted by Doubleday Crime Club.  It was very exciting at the time, as there wasn't a whole lot to read when I first became obsessed with The Shadow.
According to this review this is an important tale, if not for the best of reasons.  I admit, I don't remember the story at all and after reading the synopsis it seems that I can definitely wait to read it again.

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Sorry Agents...

but there are still a few of these, uh, less than stellar covers to get through.  Give this a try anyway.

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Twins of Crime

The cover of this story belies what this review says.  I think that I would probably be intrigued with this story just from the action on the cover.  It's not a great cover but it sure ain't the worst.

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