Friday, October 6, 2023

Nights Of The Shadow Four!


DC's The Shadow #3 is titled "The Kingdom of the Cobra". It's another Denny O'Neil and Mike Kaluta effort, but this time Berni Wrightson is on hand to assist with the artwork, and it's a bit hard to determine always what is him and what is Kaluta but Wrightson does a lot of this story.


The story is about a prison that's been taken over by The Cobra, a criminal mastermind who is letting prisoners out to commit crime then allowing them to return for complete safety. The Shadow gets onto this, goes into the prison undercover with Harry Vincent and Margot Lane and they eventually break up the scheme by rescuing the Warden and the one surviving guard. There is some really good explosions in this one and the Cobra blows himself up good, trying to take the Shadow along but of course fails.

This is a solid pulp adventure, very gritty. The slaughter of the prison guards (though we don't see it) is especially intense for a comic of this period. I love this cover on this one too, with Margot being led to the electric chair.

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

More to come.

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2 comments:

  1. This was the first issue of The Shadow that I bought. I still recall seeing it in my local newsagents during my lunch break and then rushing to buy it when the school day was over. Great story and art and a stunning cover. I think I may look my copy out and revisit it.

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    1. Glad to inspire you to dig out an old favorite. Those memories are sweet indeed.

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