Back to work, agents

Hoping everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family, friends or just having a relaxing time fighting crime.  Here is a pretty easy clew to get back into the swing of things.

Steranko does The Shadow... again.

I probably would have hated this back in my early years of being a fan of The Shadow.  Now I love how it feels like he is kind of pulling himself out of the shadows and into the light where he is also kind of disappearing.  Fun little doodle.

Happy Thanksgiving

The blue light will now go out for a few days in honor of Thanksgiving.  Here's hoping all agents are planning to have a safe and joyful family holiday.

Reign of Terror

Well, there is a shadow on the cover.  About all I can say about this awful cover.  Still, not the worst of the series.  Apparently this one is the best of the worst.  This review may be all you need to read to satisfy your interest in reading all of the novels in The Shadow Magazine's run.  Pretty sad when a cover as bad as this is the highlight of the issue.  At least this was the last Elliott tales and Gibson would return for the final five.  Unfortunately, too little too late.

Short week clew

Stop thinking about turkey and focus on the clew.

Anthony Tollin colors The Shadow

Ah... the good old days before digital everything.

The Golden Master

Iconic cover for an iconic villain.  This cover works on every level.  Shiwan is in control yet the light of victory is being blotted out by The Shadow.  The rendering is beautiful and the color palette is wonderful.  This cover is a classic.  Graves Gladney at his best.  This is the first tale in the series of four novels that feature the villain that would most be associated with The Shadow as the years rolled on.  Check out this review to either familiarize yourself with the story or to refresh your memory.

? does The Shadow...

and The Bat-Man.  Love this little cartoon.  Would love to see a short story that explains this scene.

Reposting yesterday's clew

Just so we don't fall behind with missing clews.

The Ghost Murders

A little bit of confusion here.  I jumped the gun and posted a clew to another cover (Noose of Death) before tying up this one.  I now understand why Agent T was mystified by the clews apparently coming from different covers.  My bad.
I love this cover despite its problems.  The rendering isn't top notch but it has the secret code icons as wallpaper and there is the ring and the clock has struck twelve.  Kinda fun.  I haven't read this one but this review gives the tale top marks.  The original title was "The Cigarette Cipher" and that makes much more sense for this cover.  Of course having "Ghost" and "Murders" in the title is far more titillating  than "Cigarette".

Clew time

Should be no problem to identify this iconic cover.

Joe Rubinstein does The Shadow

Very 70's look to this drawing.  Joe was quite prominent in the industry when I was growing up.

Noose of Death

Absolutely awful cover.  So yellow and so poorly designed.  Not even worth talking about anymore.  I have not read the novel by Tinsley that was originally titled "The Circle A Mystery".  There had to be a better scene to illustrate.  Here is a link to a review of this particular tale.

Agent T... here is how the clews fit into the cover.

A little more of a clew...

with a little less yellow.  I'm sure this will help.

Toth

Simply elegant.  I love the work of Alex Toth.  I really wish he had done at least a short story featuring The Shadow.

Yellow

So much yellow.  ugh

George Perez does The Shadow

Hmmm.  Loved his Teen Titans stuff back in the day.

Frank Quitely does The Shadow

I may have posted this before but I really like Frank's drafting skills.  The hat could be a bit more "slouchy" but that is just quibbling.

Take your time with this clew

Hopefully this isn't too puzzling for the agents.

Murder in White

Murder is right!  The art director ordered a hit on this once great magazine when this artwork was commissioned and approved.  Not the worst cover of all time but a really bad one.  We are now in the Bruce Elliott era of The Dark Eagle and there ain't much else to say.  Here's a link to this sad chapter in the mostly glorious history of The Shadow.

Esad Ribic does The Shadow

Could be anyone.  Perhaps that is the idea?  Nah, we need the wide brimmed hat and the prominent nose with the piercing eyes to make this the Master of Men!

More, more, more...

Because you asked so nicely, Agent T.

New clew a red herring?

Perhaps...

The Money Master

Lot's of money on the table but not enough to buy off this reviewer, apparently.  I like this cover well enough, but can't rank it above more than average.

A rich clew

Will you be able to crack this clew?

Jerry Ordway does The Shadow

I have been a fan of Ordway's for a long time.  He did great work on Superman and Shazam (Captain Marvel).  Solid draftsman who would have been a terrific choice to succeed Eduardo Barreto.

The Condor

I agree, Agent T.  A boring cover.  I'll have to take your word and this reviewer's word for the excellence of the tale, as I have yet to read it.  Of course, it's an early novel so there is no reason to believe this is anything but a great Shadow mystery.