Nights Of The Shadow Fourteen!

The Shadow #12 is the last issue in the run. Under a very moody Mike Kaluta cover is the story titled "Night of the Damned". It's written by Denny O'Neil and again illustrated by E.R.Cruz.

The tale begins with Margot Lane and Harry Vincent driving in to a town called New Gotham a place apparently famous for its Revolutionary War period design and feel. The car blows a tire, crashes, and they are set upon by hooded thugs who kidnap Margot and throw Harry into the river. The Shadow meanwhile is interviewing a Russian weightlifter about an arch-villain named Ivan Zaronovitch, a man in league it seems with the Devil himself. The Shadow heads out to New Gotham after offering a kind word to Shrevvy who has recovered from his wounds. The find Margot in a classic sacrificial ritual complete with hooded villains pitchforks. The Shadow intercedes, saves her and then finds Harry who it seems was saved by a local monk named Father Flotsky. Later Harry attacks both the Shadow and Margot and they then find themselves on a classic witch's dunking stool. The Shadow escapes the trap, frees Harry from his hypnotic trance, and reveals the true villain Father Flotsky to be the Russian arch-fied Zaronovitch who races up a belltower and then is killed when an inexplicable wind swings the bell and throws him to the ground, apparently indicating that God himself took a hand to assist the Shadow. The story ends with the Shadow's laughter.

And so ends the series.

I found the Shadow read to be more compelling than I actually expected. I'd read sample issues before, mostly the Kaluta stuff. It was fun, but I found as I read the whole run the pulp roots became more and more established, giving the whole experience a nice dark feeling. This is a surprisingly dark comic for its time. The Code is still in the cover and despite that death is not an uncommon feature of the book, though always the villains are dispatched by the last page, usually on the last page. There is a certain sameness to the storytelling which is seen clearly when several issues are read together. The villains often it seems fall their deaths. I didn't actually count, but it happens at least a half-dozen times in the twelve issues. Margot is in every issue. The single issue mentioning Kent Allard is a neat twist, and one I'd have missed if I'd read the issues when they first came out.

As for the art, I'd have to say Kaluta is the most successful. Frank Robbins offers up a very active Shadow, but the atmosphere isn't as rich under his hand. E.R.Cruz is an artist who I should like more than I do, and I'd have to say he's a decent choice for this title. His oily inks serve the mood well.

Denny O'Neil did a good job here translating The Shadow to comics. I got a real sense of his mystery and also a sense of the humanity of his team. There did seem to be a trend in the later issues to focus on the characters of the agents more, but always it's The Shadow we want to see. All in all a very good read, very fun.

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

O'Neill and Kaluta tackled the Shadow two more times together. That time they did one DC and one for Marvel. More to come. 

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