DC's The Shadow comics from the early 70's are some of the most handsome comics of the decade. These offer up some juicy Mike Kaluta artwork in the early issues and Denny O'Neil is the writer througout. Even the ad announcing the series features some lush Berni Wrightson work. Several months ago I finally completed my run on these pulp-comics classics and I want to share the reading experience.
The Shadow #1 has a cover date of November 1973 on it. It offers up a typical crime story called "The Doom Puzzle". We meet The Shadow, Lamont Cranston, Margo Lane, Shrevvy, Burbank, and Harry Vincent. The Shadow is up against a gang planning to rob a currency transfer from Wall Street to the Captiol. It involves submarines and all manner of henchmen. There is the usual mussem-up style of fisticuffs, Harry gets held hostage briefly, the Shadow gets a few with his pistols, and the auto-gyro comes into key performance giving the Shadow the chance to drop some depth-charges on the sub. The utlimate villain isn't that hard to detect, but the way he's dispatched is worthy.
All in all a solid Shadow adventure, compressed to comics size, but holding most of the key elements a fan familiar with the later Shadow tales might well expect. The text piece in this one tells the story of how Editor Denny O'Neil was contacted by the Shadow and more or less compelled to begin relating his stories. There's also a cool code and some code-breaking.
A solid comics package. I bought it off the stands way back when, but for some unknown reason I never bought another issue of The Shadow, at least for several decades.
More to come.
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