The Shadow #1 !

[positronic]

Fair warning -- I'm a die hard fan of the pulp novel Shadow, the one created and (mainly) written by Walter B. Gibson (writing as "Maxwell Grant"). So I come prepared to pick nits. Without further ado, let's get right to the differences, and there are many. No bones about it, this is Garth Ennis' Shadow, not Gibson's. That was apparent from the first few pages, narrated in the first person by the Shadow himself -- never, in all the novels, were any of them written from The Shadow's point of view. So there's that, right away. The next big thing here is Ennis' conception of "the power to cloud men's minds" as we are told in the famous radio show opening introduction. No, it isn't exactly the power of invisibility, as on the radio show, but again, it's something wholly different from the conception of The Shadow in the pulp novels. He has certain vague, unexplained, but most definitely mystical, mental abilities - among them the power to confuse and misdirect his foes, a certain amount of clairvoyance, and the ability to communicate with the minds of the newly (or nearly, it isn't precisely clear) deceased. This is Ennis' interpretation of the radio line "The Shadow knows". It was nice to see an off-panel appearance of Moe "Shrevvy" Shrevnitz (or his cab, at least) and a mention of Harry Vincent. None of the Shadow's other agents are in evidence or mentioned, the sole exception being Margo Lane. And what an exception. In the novels, she was another agent, and the Shadow used her as he did his other agents -- as chessmen on a board, to be utilized in a grandmaster game against his opponents. On the radio show, she was a "constant friend and companion", a damsel to be distressed, then rescued. And while their relationship was as chaste as you'd expect for a late 1930s to early 1950s radio show, they did refer to each other as "darling", indicating a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of thing. Here, Ennis makes no bones about the fact that while the Shadow will use her as he would any of his other agents, he also has... other uses for her as well. The relationship is practical as well as sexual, with nary a hint of romance. And this Shadow talks and acts in ways that Gibson's Shadow would never have done.

So with all of this being said, you might expect me to be calling thumbs down on DE's Shadow. But while it isn't Gibson's Shadow, it works well in the context of the kind of story Ennis wants to tell. It's well written, and the whole of Ennis's new conception of The Shadow does seem to hang together. There is more than a whiff to be found here of Howard Chaykin's version of the Shadow, retrofitted to the 1930s setting. The plot is off to a rollicking start, and the artwork is beautiful to behold. All in all, it's fair to say that Ennis's Shadow is to Gibson's pulps as Matt Wagner's Green Hornet Year One was to the original radio Green Hornet. And that's not a bad thing, differences notwithstanding.

Final score: It's a buy.

[Ghornet2]

Thanks for the near spoiler free review. What few 'spoilers' there were had nothing to do with story content but character issues. My LCS is holding it for pick up tomorrow. Would have been today but I had to get home and walk the dog But it almost sounds like it would have been worth the clean up after his 'accident'

[TheReader]

Awesome issue! I waited outside of my LCS for it this morning and was surprised when they had a nice little display/stand with #1's of this book all over it, I smiled and bought it and then read it in my car, it was really a great book.

Sign me up for issue #2 baby!

[Tulku]

I am going to give this a thumb's up. Like positronic, I prefer the original pulp novels (and really, you could spend a few decades just doing comic book adaptations of all of them!), but this take on the character is (so far) acceptable. I don't really like the mystical slant on the character, but so far it is not too obnoxious and can always be down played in later issues. As positronic said, the name checks for Moe Shrevnitz and Harry Vincent were welcome.

Actually my biggest gripe is a scene where the Shadow is shooting some foes and they are depicted being shot multiple times (both torso and head shots). No, no, no. The Shadow is a better shot than that and he does not waste his limited ammunition. One head shot, and no need to shoot the bodies any more. One shot through the heart and no need to blow away the head as well. He should not be depicted doing violence for the sake of a colorful splash page. He is an efficient killing machine. The pulp novels have regular scenes where he runs out of bullets and needs to use one of his back-up guns (I think he always carries a minimum of four--but if positronic corrects me, I accept that I could be wrong). He doesn't waste bullets when he can help it.

But that is a trivial gripe. Like TheReader said, sign me up for issue #2!

[positronic]

Actually my biggest gripe is a scene where the Shadow is shooting some foes and they are depicted being shot multiple times (both torso and head shots). No, no, no. The Shadow is a better shot than that and he does not waste his limited ammunition. One head shot, and no need to shoot the bodies any more. One shot through the heart and no need to blow away the head as well. He should not be depicted doing violence for the sake of a colorful splash page. He is an efficient killing machine. The pulp novels have regular scenes where he runs out of bullets and needs to use one of his back-up guns (I think he always carries a minimum of four--but if positronic corrects me, I accept that I could be wrong). He doesn't waste bullets when he can help it.

Good catch, I was so busy noticing all the other changes that I did not count the bullets. You're right about the 4 guns (although he lost some on occasion), and he probably had extra clips as well, although I can't recall a specific instance. One thing I did like about that scene though, is that while the rest of the gang dies in a hail of bullets, the one man who surrendered was spared. Shows the difference between The Shadow, and say, The Punisher (or The Spider, for that matter). Also proves that The Shadow is not just pumping lead in the general direction of his massed foes, but is able to shoot around the one man he considered redeemable. But you're right, The Shadow wouldn't waste ammunition -- one shot per thug is all he needs. I got the feeling that was more the artist's choice than Ennis' script. The Shadow doesn't revel in killing his foes, but neither does he have any hesitation or regrets about killing in the course of his mission. The victims of The Shadow's guns are necessary deaths who represent an immediate deadly threat to The Shadow or someone else.

[Ghornet2]

Read it last night. Yeah the opening sdene was a little over the top and I'm not sure I care for his treatment of Margo. There was an annoying coloring mistake in the cafe scene were Pat's suit went from green to gray and his hair to black from red making him look like Lamont. at the start of the radio should he did have limited mind reading powers and I think the man he was reaching for at the end of the first scene was dying and not dead. The glimpses of the future is just weird.