Shadow "critics" dont like Marvels The Shadow 1941 but it really captured what Walter originally built the character from. Walter Gibson is my great-uncle. Im in the process of scanning a manuscript and updating it with info that was missing for the original author who constructed the book in 1998. It holds alot of what Walters mindset was really like durring those early days. Along with the rest of his life
I was born in 1948 and listen to the Shadow on the radio in the early fifties and I have always loved the hero’s from that era and I collect them on CD’s (from tapes) and movie serials whenever I can find them so this article was great to me
When I was a kid I read all of the radio plays in novel form, and then the local AM rock station had 4 hours of old time radio shows including The Shadow every Sunday. We wouldn't miss it, highlight of the week sometimes.
As a kid, my Dad watched the Serial based on The Shadow in the 30s! Plus I have a few of the Comics that came out in the 70s & early 80s! Plus The Batman was partially based on him.
My favorite pulp hero. I still have the '70s O'Neil/Kaluta comic run. The Nostalgia Ventures 2-for-1 reprints are nice too. Harlan Ellison and Philip Jose Farmer had some interesting things to say about the origins of The Shadow and his other identities.
Thoroughly enjoyed reading the books in the seventies the pulp books of the Shadow and doc savage were well written. The comics were also good to read.would again love to re read them if ever reprinted.
I've long thought the Baldwin movie was underrated. Personally, I think it didn't connect with early-90s audiences because its Cranston was SUCH a dark character, basically a psychopath behind a socially-acceptable mask. Nowadays, especially post-Dexter, I feel like that aspect plays better than it did at the time. We're more used to dark antiheroes these days.
@@whathedoug Yeah, that's fair. He was probably the weakest aspect. OTOH, we get Tim Curry camping it up as the secondary villain, and that's always fun.
@@jasonblalock4429 yeah but Tim can easily usurp a movie if the cast doesn’t have a strong anchor on each end. For example - if your protagonist was Alec Baldwin, and your antagonist was say, Christopher Walken, and the sub-villain adding flavor is Tim Curry … I don’t care what the script is, that’s gonna work in 199anything
From what I remember, it's been decades since I've seen it, it's a case of a movie with decent to good ideas rhat make it fun to watch but said ideas were executed in atleast somewhat questionable ways if not outright bad stops it from bring a "good" movie. That said I definitely enjoyed it and you can't hate a movie that had Tim Curry being Tim Curry.
I really thought that the Shadow originated in the pulps, and that his radio show was based on the pulp stories. Which it kind of was, and there's no doubt that his pulp magazine did really well for a while. But so was the radio show. Maybe I'm just turning into a crotchety old man (I'm 59!), but the older I get, the more shallow popular entertainment seems to be. It really seems like the reader or viewer is actually imposing their own views or interpretations on the work, and that's what gives the work an apparent depth that it doesn't actually have. This is in line with my view that the creator's intentions with work are not supreme, but that the viewer's interpretation is just as important as what the creator intended. In any case, I think the Shadow works best when set in the 1930s, because that's a big part of MY impression of him.
Sometimes I think of it in terms of … picking a band name. Man, there were a lot more to choose from in the 30s - it’s just harder to be original and creative when so much has been done and we have access to it all.
@@whathedoug I mean ALL popular entertainment, not just current popular entertainment. That includes the original Shadow stories and radio episodes, the books and comics I read when was 13, etc. As an adult, I've read some children's stories, like the first couple of Mary Poppins books or the first Wizard of Oz book (there's a whole series of them). And while I can kind of see how a kid reading them would enjoy them, they just don't have the same impact for me as other books I read as a kid. And I think the reason is that as a kid, I invested more into the story, imagining details that aren't really in there, but just in my mind. Obviously, some entertainment is better produced or better made than others, but it still requires an investment by the reader or viewer to really 'get into the story'.
@@macsnafu I think I’ve been relating to that sentiment since I was a child, honestly. Because I was such a prolific read as a kid that by the time my classmates were up to “Wizard of Oz” level reading, I already had things like Heart of Darkness and Don Quixote in the rear view mirror.
I definitely think they should try to make another movie. The character could definitely work. Maybe even give it to Sam Raimi since he wanted to do it but couldn't get the rights and changed it into Darkman, which is a pretty good movie too.
Also, the second episode of the new "Batman: Caped Crusader" animated series on Amazon features a villain who moves and dresses a lot like the classic Shadow, though it's a different character and has a disfigured face under his scarf, more like a Phantom of the Opera type. The rooftop chase is pretty cool.
Shadow is an interesting character obviously batman took inspiration from it.Also Orson wells became popular for playing the character shame about that film with Alec Baldwin
In recent years, there has also been a terribly stupid pair of novels ghost-written for James Patterson (!) by Brian Sitts, taking place in a future dystopia after The Shadow was frozen and reawakened decades later (like Captain America was, but dumber). Also handily frozen and reawakened was Margo Lane, and somehow the old "yellow peril" arch foe Shiwan Khan is the US President! Was he even IN the Maxwell Grant novels? Aside from comics and the 90's movie, I've never encountered this character. Along for the ride is a plucky Black girl who is a descendant of the Shadow and has Shadow Jr. powers. This is the novel where The Shadow suddenly pulls out of nowhere the magic ability to TURN INTO A CAT. Yes, you read that right. This novel is at best based on a flawed memory of the radio program "updated" with stupid new ideas. None of the sleuthing and amazing gun battles of the original pulp novels is here. It left me wondering why they even bothered licensing the character for this.
Remember the radio and comics and movies loved it all the hell with all this super bullshit I like the hero who destroys the mad guy and not the hole city.😎👍🏽🥃
Why are you talking so fast?!? Seems even more absurd when evoking a delivery as slow and sinister as Orson Welles. There are no pauses even for segues and new paragraphs. A script blurted rather than read.
The Shadow knows... Old radio is the best.
Old everything is the best! Can't agree more.
Pulp is the best
Shadow "critics" dont like Marvels The Shadow 1941 but it really captured what Walter originally built the character from. Walter Gibson is my great-uncle. Im in the process of scanning a manuscript and updating it with info that was missing for the original author who constructed the book in 1998.
It holds alot of what Walters mindset was really like durring those early days. Along with the rest of his life
I would be interested in making a follow up video focusing on that if you would like. Sounds like an interesting story.
I was born in 1948 and listen to the Shadow on the radio in the early fifties and I have always loved the hero’s from that era and I collect them on CD’s (from tapes) and movie serials whenever I can find them so this article was great to me
Disney 90s hit cartoon superhero Darkwing Duck and his archenemy Nega Duck , are clear parodies of The Shadow!
I love The Shadow so imagine my surprise when my artwork is the first thing that popped up after the title card. 😆
Hope that’s ok! I made this video originally years ago and basically just used all of my favorite pictures of him
@ I’m okay with it 🙂
When I was a kid I read all of the radio plays in novel form, and then the local AM rock station had 4 hours of old time radio shows including The Shadow every Sunday. We wouldn't miss it, highlight of the week sometimes.
The pulp version is one of my very favorite characters. I still re-read the stories frequently!
He’s timeless!
As a kid, my Dad watched the Serial based on The Shadow in the 30s! Plus I have a few of the Comics that came out in the 70s & early 80s!
Plus The Batman was partially based on him.
My favorite pulp hero. I still have the '70s O'Neil/Kaluta comic run. The Nostalgia Ventures 2-for-1 reprints are nice too. Harlan Ellison and Philip Jose Farmer had some interesting things to say about the origins of The Shadow and his other identities.
Love the Shadow! I need to pull my Shadow costume out for HeroesCon next year.
Thoroughly enjoyed reading the books in the seventies the pulp books of the Shadow and doc savage were well written. The comics were also good to read.would again love to re read them if ever reprinted.
Glad to see Shads being remembered.
Always!
I've long thought the Baldwin movie was underrated. Personally, I think it didn't connect with early-90s audiences because its Cranston was SUCH a dark character, basically a psychopath behind a socially-acceptable mask. Nowadays, especially post-Dexter, I feel like that aspect plays better than it did at the time. We're more used to dark antiheroes these days.
I think the villains casting was weak.
@@whathedoug Yeah, that's fair. He was probably the weakest aspect. OTOH, we get Tim Curry camping it up as the secondary villain, and that's always fun.
@@jasonblalock4429 yeah but Tim can easily usurp a movie if the cast doesn’t have a strong anchor on each end. For example - if your protagonist was Alec Baldwin, and your antagonist was say, Christopher Walken, and the sub-villain adding flavor is Tim Curry … I don’t care what the script is, that’s gonna work in 199anything
From what I remember, it's been decades since I've seen it, it's a case of a movie with decent to good ideas rhat make it fun to watch but said ideas were executed in atleast somewhat questionable ways if not outright bad stops it from bring a "good" movie. That said I definitely enjoyed it and you can't hate a movie that had Tim Curry being Tim Curry.
The Movie was Great Really !!! I don't belive critics I'd rather see something for myself and form my own opinion !!!!
Thanks need more coverage of this icon.
Couldn't agree more!
I really thought that the Shadow originated in the pulps, and that his radio show was based on the pulp stories. Which it kind of was, and there's no doubt that his pulp magazine did really well for a while. But so was the radio show.
Maybe I'm just turning into a crotchety old man (I'm 59!), but the older I get, the more shallow popular entertainment seems to be. It really seems like the reader or viewer is actually imposing their own views or interpretations on the work, and that's what gives the work an apparent depth that it doesn't actually have. This is in line with my view that the creator's intentions with work are not supreme, but that the viewer's interpretation is just as important as what the creator intended.
In any case, I think the Shadow works best when set in the 1930s, because that's a big part of MY impression of him.
Sometimes I think of it in terms of … picking a band name. Man, there were a lot more to choose from in the 30s - it’s just harder to be original and creative when so much has been done and we have access to it all.
@@whathedoug I mean ALL popular entertainment, not just current popular entertainment. That includes the original Shadow stories and radio episodes, the books and comics I read when was 13, etc.
As an adult, I've read some children's stories, like the first couple of Mary Poppins books or the first Wizard of Oz book (there's a whole series of them). And while I can kind of see how a kid reading them would enjoy them, they just don't have the same impact for me as other books I read as a kid. And I think the reason is that as a kid, I invested more into the story, imagining details that aren't really in there, but just in my mind.
Obviously, some entertainment is better produced or better made than others, but it still requires an investment by the reader or viewer to really 'get into the story'.
@@macsnafu I think I’ve been relating to that sentiment since I was a child, honestly. Because I was such a prolific read as a kid that by the time my classmates were up to “Wizard of Oz” level reading, I already had things like Heart of Darkness and Don Quixote in the rear view mirror.
Check out Will Murray's 2 (soon to be 3) non-fiction books on The Shadow.
X-minus one. Do that one next, best show ever. Mindwebs, also totally worth the listening.
Never heard of it - I'll have to check it out!
Missed the Dynamite comics issues. Not mentioned is "The Shadow vs. Grendel" graphic novel by Matt Wagner.
I definitely think they should try to make another movie. The character could definitely work. Maybe even give it to Sam Raimi since he wanted to do it but couldn't get the rights and changed it into Darkman, which is a pretty good movie too.
I used to have the Shadow Batman crossover. Unfortunately my comics were stolen.
All of them??? That sucks
I had that also it was in Detective Comics.Killer
Also, the second episode of the new "Batman: Caped Crusader" animated series on Amazon features a villain who moves and dresses a lot like the classic Shadow, though it's a different character and has a disfigured face under his scarf, more like a Phantom of the Opera type. The rooftop chase is pretty cool.
The Gray Ghost! Yeah I always just wanted that to be the shadow!
@@whathedoug No, that's the old animated series. I'm referring to the new Amazon series. Episode 2: "..And Be A Villain"
Shit, I don’t care what anyone says; I loved The Shadow 1994 movie
Gotta
You're not the only one.
Put respect on The Ghost Who Walks' name
The Shadow is a version of BATMAN Merry Christmas Blessings and HUGS MARANATHA! 👑💜🔯🎅
Shadow is an interesting character obviously batman took inspiration from it.Also Orson wells became popular for playing the character shame about that film with Alec Baldwin
In recent years, there has also been a terribly stupid pair of novels ghost-written for James Patterson (!) by Brian Sitts, taking place in a future dystopia after The Shadow was frozen and reawakened decades later (like Captain America was, but dumber). Also handily frozen and reawakened was Margo Lane, and somehow the old "yellow peril" arch foe Shiwan Khan is the US President! Was he even IN the Maxwell Grant novels? Aside from comics and the 90's movie, I've never encountered this character. Along for the ride is a plucky Black girl who is a descendant of the Shadow and has Shadow Jr. powers. This is the novel where The Shadow suddenly pulls out of nowhere the magic ability to TURN INTO A CAT. Yes, you read that right. This novel is at best based on a flawed memory of the radio program "updated" with stupid new ideas. None of the sleuthing and amazing gun battles of the original pulp novels is here. It left me wondering why they even bothered licensing the character for this.
The same creator made The Avenger. He took a pill to become invisible.
It was for the radio. I like The Phantom.
Huh?
The Shadow was created by Walter Gibson.
The Avenger was created by Paul Ernst. The Avenger did not become invisible.
Remember the radio and comics and movies loved it all the hell with all this super bullshit I like the hero who destroys the mad guy and not the hole city.😎👍🏽🥃
"who knows what lies in the hearts of men".
"Alec Baldwin knows."
@@theyearwas1473 we need a sequel where only his literal shadow is played by Baldwin
The Shadow knows...... Ha ha ha ha haaaaa
Why are you talking so fast?!? Seems even more absurd when evoking a delivery as slow and sinister as Orson Welles. There are no pauses even for segues and new paragraphs. A script blurted rather than read.
Cool. Shoot me the link to your video on The Shadow and I’ll shout it out on the end card.
@@whathedoug ????? . . . I mean, I'd be willing to do you a narration in the style and pace of Orson Welles . . .
You're free to create whatever content you want. This is what I made.