Last clew of October

Happy Halloween, agents.  Be safe tonight.

The Devil Monsters

Hate this cover (sorry Agent T) and just would probably been reticent to hand over my dime as I would have no faith in what lay beneath this awful cover.  It is a tale by WBG and one that apparently has the misfortune of being labeled the worst of his Shadow tales.  However, in this review Mr. Olsen says he enjoyed this one so I guess this will fall into the different strokes category.  I can only comment on the artwork and I just don't like it from the perspective of it being a Shadow cover.  If I look at it for any redeeming values I would have to say I like the composition  and some of the rendering.  But that winged critter just ruins everything for me.

Short of posting the whole cover...

... this should be easy.

The Red Blot

I have read this one and can recommend it.  The cover is basic but fun but what caught my attention was the clock.  The ring and the unique clock are two of my favorite details in the Shadow mythos.  Mr. John Olsen had this to report about this mysterious clock from "The Red Blot".

"We also get a more complete look at the strange clock in The Shadow's sanctum. This strange clock was mentioned in various stories, but always the description was rather vague. It was always described as a clock of curious construction, in which the hands of a normal clock were replaced by three concentric circles. But in what way the clock operated was left unspecified. This story clears up the clock matter quite nicely. It gives a complete description of the clock and how it works.
The clock contains three concentric circles. These circles are stationary; they don't spin or rotate. The inner circle has numbers 1-12 for the hours. The middle ring is marked for minutes. The outer ring is marked for seconds. In the grooves separating these three sections are three small rings. The rings move around the dials, each revealing a single digit at a time.
One thing I found interesting about the clock is that it is digital, not analog. That is to say, the ring showing the hour always shows exactly one of the digits, it's never between digits. For example, at 1:15 the ring for the hour would not be partway between 1 and 2. It would be centered on the 1 continually until 1:59:59. When 2 o'clock arrives, then the ring would move from the 1 to the 2. Similarly the minute and second indicators move in increments, rather than smoothly."

Not a herring

Clew two.

Back to the clews

And back to a classic.

Have a great weekend, agents

A little sketch I found wandering the web.  I apologize that I don't know the artist's name (it looks to be Bichett) and if this has been found on other sites I apologize again.

Murder Lake

I'll let Agent T write the copy for this tale from Gibson originally titled "Iron Lake"...

  "Murder to look at, too.  Story is unknown to me.  Wish the cover was."

True dat!

More of a clew to get through this ugly cover

Please, end the pain.

Hmm... a clew for an ugly cover

This just has to be done.  Give it your best shot.

The Devil Master

Well done if not well printed cover.  Just not sure I like the comic book feel for this.  However, this review makes me want to read this Chinatown tale and put into practice the old adage "You can't judge a book by it's cover".

Nice towel

Looks like The Shadow has interrupted someone's shower.

Three Stamps of Death

Not even the shadow of The Shadow on this cover.  At least it is done well enough.  I have not read this one but this review says it is a short and enjoyable read so by the time I get to it I look forward to a decent tale from the latter stages of this great run.  And it is by W. B. G.

Post?

Clews abound.

One clew

Sigh... scraping the bottom.  Still, not the worst so give it your best.

The Vampire Murders

I really dislike this cover.  Too many issues to pick apart.  Not sure what the art director was thinking by either adding some of the elements or allowing them.  Just not a very well put together illustration.  I have yet to read this tale but the cover doesn't inspire me to want to.

The second clew...

... to get yew threw the weekend.  Have a better one, agents.

Another day another cover clew

Running out of covers so we are going with the, well, lesser art. Have fun with this one.

The Silver Scourge

Early Gibson goodness.  Early Rozen goodness.  Hey, this is an all around fun, early adventure of The Shadow.  Sure, who in their right mind would counterfeit nickles?  But the premise doesn't (for me at least) diminish the wonderful early pulp feel of this novel.  Look, the bad guys on the cover aren't rendered as well as Rozen would do later on in the run but the design is great.  All around, this is just pure pulp fun.

Second chance at this easy clew

Give this classic cover a try.

The blue light is back on

Back to the clews, agents.  We'll start out a bit easier.