The Shadow

For all those who live in the Chicago-land area, the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention is coming up in a month folks! This convention offers it all, from classic pulp novels, to science fiction, OTR (Old Time Radio) and so much more. So I've decided to do a series of posts about famous pulp novel characters, their creators, and some of the other things that are showcased at the convention. Today's is about one of the more legendary characters of the pulp novels, the master of the night and stalker of crime, The Shadow! Created by Walter Gibson, under the pseudonym Maxwell Grant, the character actually first appeared as host of The Detective Story Hour radio show in the early 1930's. Pulp publishing house Street and Smith, assigned Gibson to do a pulp story on the character and in 1931, The Shadow magazine hit the stands, and hit hard. The character became instantly popular, gaining his own radio show in the late 30's (with Orson Wells playing the lead character for awhile) and being the subject over the years of films, comic books, comic strips etc. The Shadow is the alter ego of Lamont Cranston, wealthy young man about town, who uses the hypnosis he mastered in the Orient to fight crime as the Shadow. But in fact, the Shadow is famed fictional WWI aviator Kent Allard, who uses Cranston's identity as a cover for his own, due to Cranston being abroad so much. With a network of agents, the men and women he has saved and put into his service as his eyes and ears, the Shadow has let the underworld know fear for the past century and continues to do so in the hearts and minds of all who love adventure and mystery. If anyone who reads this blog wishes to know more about this character and his adventures, Sanctum Books is publishing a series of reprints of the classic Shadow pulp stories, two to a volume, with the original artwork and articles related to the character or aspects of him and his world. Visit http://members.cox.net/comingattractions3/SanctumBooks.html to order the books, and if you wish to listen to episodes of the classic radio show, check either Itunes, http://www.radiospirits.com/ or any other website that sells collections of classic radio shows on cd, cassette tape etc. Don't hesitate, become a fan of the Shadow today!