Nights Of The Shadow Five!

Next from DC we pulp fans got The Shadow #4. This is again written by Denny O'Neil and illustrated by Mike Kaluta. This issue has another outstanding cover, very dramatic image.

"Death is Bliss" deals with a scheme by a crooked undertaker who offers thugs a way out of their problems by plastic surgery and then a notable death, conveniently allowing the part of their deceased body to be played by a drunken bum from the Bowery who matches the description. The Shadow gets onto this scheme goes in undercover as Lamont Cranston to the Bliss Mission where the bums are acquired under the guise of helping them. He meets Homer Bliss, the mastermind, but soon is in trouble. He fights his way out and heads to Blissful Gardens, a cemetery and base of operations. Harry and Margot go undercover, and the action ensues. They are detected and Bliss intends to use them to take the place of some thugs, but before he can send their car over the cliff the Shadow shows up in the auto-gyro and saves the day. Bliss escapes but the Shadow and he fight in a small plane and Bliss falls to his death.

This one is okay, but seemed the most tame story overall since the debut issue. Whatever that pulp punch is, this one seemed a wee bit mild and missed it by a smidge. It does however remind me of Bela Lugosi's The Human Monster, another story about a mission fraud that took advantage of bums and others down on their luck.

Visit the Internet Archive to read this actual issue at this link. 

More to come.

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