The Shadow's Rival

A giant metal frisbee?  Is he jumping down the manhole and into the sewer? Is he hot on the trail of his rival?  Guess we'll have to read the story to find out.  I'm not crazy about this cover but it does have a great sense of action even if his left hand and arm don't quite look right.  Nice colors and good lighting make this one that would catch the eye and that is the real reason for any of these covers.  We have just been lucky that The Shadow Magazine sported so many timeless covers over it's long run.

Abstract clew

All will be revealed tomorrow.

Gimme five

Giving a hand to the fans of The Shadow.

Walt Simonson does The Shadow

There are a lot of characters that Simonson has done over the decades that I love, most notably The Manhunter series from Detective Comics in the 70s.  However, this is not one of those characters I'm happy to see Walt work on.  Yeah, it's just a sketch but it's just not a good rendition.

Judge Lawless

A fun cover although not a favorite of mine.  A lot going on here as The Shadow appears to be rendering his verdict on the defendant (who is apparently defending himself with a pistol).  Is that his public defender being used as a human shield?  I guess we have to read this tale and find out for ourselves.  On a personal note, pretty disappointed in the missing ring that should be prominent on The Shadow's left hand.  Justice may be blind but I'm not!!!!

A clew to get you into the weekend

Hey, I'm not putting a gun to your head but give this a try anyhow.

The Golden Masks

Classic cover and a great story under this cover.  What more can you ask from a Shadow tale.  I love the dark background with the hat and cloak blending into the blue.  The mask pops and pretty well is a straight forward illustration of the title.  My complaint isn't with the nose so much as the right hand, Agent T.  It just looks a bit small compared to the left which sports the fabulous girasol ring.  Haven't read it?  Check out the review.

Another clew to this classic cover

A golden clew, for sure.

Back to the clews

Always watching...

Simon Bisley does The Shadow

The Biz!  A pretty bad@$$ version of The Shadow.  Not the version in my head but one for the new world Chaykin introduced us to.

Always a favorite

I stole this from "The Shadow Knows" FB page but I just wanted to make sure it was here for all time.  I wish I had an actual print of this but all I have is what I can get to print off of my desktop printer.  May see if my good friend can make me a print from a large format commercial printer.

King of the Black Market

Where's The Shadow?!  'nuff said 'bout this cover.  The story?  Well, this review says it's worth the time to read it.

More clew for yew

Okay, it ain't a classic but it must be done.

Clewsday

Youse knows what ta do.

Christian Wildgoose does The Shadow

Very clean and comic like version of The Shadow.  Not enough spotting of blacks for my taste.

Declan Shavley does The Shadow

I like the composition of this one.  I wish there was some graytone used on this.  At least there is a ring...

The House That Vanished

An okay cover although I like the signs (probably because they remind me of M*A*S*H and the similar signpost in their camp) and, of course, the ring.  Since I haven't read this one I don't know what the cover illustration refers to so I, as always, wander over to The Shadow in Review for an overview of the story.  If you are keen to read it (and the review seems to make that a probability) then you can find the reprint from Sanctum Books in issue #46.  Enjoy.

More of a clew

Answer tomorrow.  Tune in.

Oops...

I meant to post this yesterday.  Gettin' old and losin' focus.

Becky Cloonan does The Shadow

Nice design and very simple.  This is a really good little drawing of our hero.  Except for the white hatband.

Happy 85th Anniversary

Thank you, Walter.  Thank you, Street & Smith.  Thank you, Orson.  Without yours and many others contributions, The Shadow would not be a part of American lore or a part of many of our lives.