What's the Difference Volume 55

Five (5) changes to this, in my opinion, odd cover.  Still, give it a go and report back with the answer.  Have a relaxing weekend, agents. (Unless crime is afoot then be prepared for a call from Burbank!)

Death Rises Out of the Sea!

A nice skeleton and lighthouse cover.  The noose is a nice touch as well.  Love the black background.  Truly, a great early Shadow Comics cover.

What cover? Not a pulp...

Ah, c'mon.  This is easy.  The art was even repurposed for an album cover.

The (Bee) Keeper's Gold revealed

"Agent J reports: Bee, prizez, knife handle, blood spots (extra), little star in the W, dense, Shadow's automatic, vertical line on door jam (beneath the D). I think I got them all!"

  Indeed you did get them all, Agent J.  (Perhaps this one was too easy.)

Found on Instagram

Francisco Francavilla.  Fun illustration.

Car 54 Where.... I mean, Puzzle 54

Eight (8) changes for y'all to find.  Have fun and give your answers before The Shadow bleeds to death.

Rembering Al Williamson

  Not Shadow related but Al was a huge figure in the pop culture world.  He was the heir to the Alex Raymond genre of comic strips.  His Flash Gordon work influenced George Lucas and Star Wars, of which he eventually took over the art chores for the daily strip.  His work has influenced countless artists down the decades, including me.  He was one of my teachers during my first year at The Joe Kubert School.  We became friends over the next five years.  I still miss him.  Today would've been his 89th birthday. 

An intriguing ad

Love the spot illustrations from the two magazines.  However, the fascinating thing I found in this ad is found in the upper right hand corner

"Residents of New York City should include the 2% sales tax for unemployment relief."

A little 80s Shadow

A sketch from Bill Sienkiewicz.  Not a fan of the hat but I did like the art he did on his six issue run of the DC book.  Can't say I liked the writing or characterizations of the agents or other classic characters that Gibson so carefully cultivated.  Thankfully they redeemed themselves with The Shadow Strikes and a return to the era our hero belongs to.

Differences revealed

"Agent J reports: The Shadow's ring, buttons on ladies skirt, jewel near ladies right fingers, gold in inside upper left corner of box, knot in rope near lady, ladies necklace,extra spire - that's all I can find!"

Agent J, pretty close.  I snuck a second change to the jewels in the box.  Gotta try and trip up the hawkeyed detectives out there.

Death in the Stars

You are absolutely right, Agent J.  The May 1st, 1940 issue of The Shadow Magazine is, indeed, the answer to the puzzle clews from last week.  Not my favorite cover but one that gets the point across...

Mystery abounds beneath this cover.  Do you dare to follow The Shadow into this latest adventure?

Or something like that

The Romanoff Jewels, our 53rd "What's the Difference" challenge

Eight (8) changes to this detailed Steranko cover for the classic tale of where The Shadow got his ring.  Of course, this scene is not in the tale (heaven forbid Gibson have a hot chick spilling her jewels all over our hero).  Good luck, agents.

Another clew to the cover

Pretty sure this clew gives it all away.

Could it be?

Martin Landau?  The Shadow?  Did our hero make it to the moon in 1999?  Perhaps...

#87 in our ongoing puzzle challenge

Okay agents, what classic(ish) cover is this?  Look to the night sky for a clew.

The answers.... REVEALED!!

"Agent J reports: 1936, extra bullet hole above Shadow's automatic, missing fold in red of Shadow's cloak, Shadow's automatic. That's all I can find."

Pretty good, Agent J.  I added a bit of mortar to the bricks behind our hero.  A bit sneaky but I thought that Gladney missed the symmetry there.  (Hey, OCD ain't that much fun to live with...)

What? Another skull? So original

Even the blurb on the cover points out the obvious.  I guess I wouldn't be so critical if the art were better.  Since I haven't read these comics I am giving them the benefit of the doubt and say that "Another Skull Murder!" links to some past tales or even an ongoing story arc.

What's The Difference #52

A classic cover and one of my personal favorites.  Five (5) changes to this one.  Can you find them?

Found this on Facebook

Thomas Gianni did this tribute to George Rozen's "The Book of Death".  Not bad.

March calendar

Apologies for the late posting of this.  Life got in the way.

The answers are...

"Agent J reports: axe design on chair, Shadow's ring, machine gun stock, missing buttons on chair near gangsters head, hole in skull, extra button/knob on chair leg."

Well done, Agent J!  Not my favorite cover by Steranko but it sure was fun to mess with.