Possibly one of my new favorite series The Shadow is exactly what I was looking for when I was 12, I wish I would have discovered it earlier. I had heard the radio dramas, which are great, but still have a very "mass market" quality to them. Which makes sense, radio programs were product sponsored, the stories weren't only to entertain, but to entertain a specific demographic. Which turns out is why Margo Lane was created in the radio programs.
That's not to say that the pulp books are not "mass market" just in a different sense. They are the Hardy Boys fused with a Korean Gangster film. Great action, ridiculous briefly introduced scientific contraptions (the truth chair that only appears for a few pages in The Partners of Peril), and incredible gore, which, in ways, makes them both more indulgent and more potentially offensive. Although its hard to gauge what levels of violence were deemed excessive, this is before the mta rating system and Doctor Spock.
It makes sense that Batman was heavily influenced by The Shadow, from elements of his disguise, to the themes of the night, even the style of violence and the city backdrop both vigilantes share. Although The Shadow feels infinitely darker. His world is more violent, and more terminal, Batman doesn't kill as casually (although its always emphasized; The Shadow only kills out of necessity and even then only under pressure.)
What I find most appealing about The Shadow is the tone of the writing. The writing is fast and cliche, but it sets the tone of the piece perfectly, giving it more depth than The Spirit. The Shadow is always described in shades of black, and forms like wisps and vapors. The pacing is quick, but detailed, again more so than The Spirit, which takes 2 frames to tell an action that would make the story seem more fluid in 4 or more. The Shadow doesn't have this frame restraint, the action is thought out, and relatively complex, at least, again, in comparison to The Spirit. At times it is so complex that looking back on it seems ridiculous.
In The Partners of Peril around page 108 there is a scene in which Meriwether, superintendent to a chemical plant (because all comics from this period seem to be obsessed with chemicals) chases The Shadow. Both characters end up continuing the chase on trains loaded with explosives within a compound, that manufactures explosives. The superintendent eventually blows The Shadow's locomotive to smithereens, creating a crater within the compound. While I was reading this I wasn't at all phased, but seconds later, when the Superintendent was back in the office explaining the chase to the detective I realized how absurd the whole thing was. The only reason I was accepted it was the pacing of the story.
I thought that last part was really cool too, when the Powder Mill blows up with Merriweather in it and we're left confused for a second until we see he wasn't the one controlling the light beam. I don't know if it was the pacing that made me buy into the story though. For me it might have just been the complexity of the plot and how everything just.. ridiculously falls into place at the end. haha
ReplyDeleteI think you describing it as fast and cliche was a very accurate way of putting it. I don't know if I necessarily think that that gives it more depth than (original) The Spirit however. Too be honest I think they both could have used more depth but perhaps that is just the way it was at that time.
ReplyDeleteHah, I also felt like this was an absolutely ridiculous story. Can you imagine pitching this to someone?
ReplyDeleteChloe,
ReplyDeleteI found I had to make a TIME LINE concerning THE SHADOW as to how it evolved as a radio show, then as its own magazine and then another radio show. Here is what I came up with:
1. July 31st, 1930 -- The Shadow started out as a radio show narrator of the radio program, Detective Story. The Shadow was only a lead in narrator and not really a story figure.
2. But from July 31st, 1930 to March 31st, 1931, The Shadow narrative gained popularity with Detective Story radio listeners. They campaigned for having The Shadow becoming its own venue.
3. On April 1st, 1931 THE SHADOW MAGAZINE came out. It was a pulp magazine written by Walter Gibson under the name of Maxwell Grant.
4. THE SHADOW pulp magazine was so successful that people asked for a THE SHADOW radio show. The Shadow radio show premiered in September 26th, 1937. There were several actors who voiced the shadow, including the famous Orson Welles.
Cynthia