When I was little, my mom used to tell me stories about when she was a little girl and how she was terrified by re-broadcasts of The Shadow on the radio-- "That laugh and the voice," she would say. "WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN? THE SHADOW KNOWS!"
The way she described him, I thought he was a ghost or a monster, not the ground-breaking pulp character I discovered later through comics and the 1990s Alec Baldwin tour-de-farce "film." At the time, I loved it, and it introduced me to characters from 50-60 years earlier that inspired a lot of what I obsessed over-- Batman, and, oh, you know, comic books in general. As laughably cheesy as it is, this piece probably wouldn't even exist without it.
Completed in June 2013, this project has been in the planning stages for a decade. Works in progress go back to when I was using GI Joe A Real American Hero parts, and it all started with one piece: the head. Lamont Cranston (or Kent Allard, depending on which continuity you're going with) here consists primarily of a Marvel Universe Professor X figure with an Overkill GI Joe head and Indiana Jones fedora. The pistols and cape are just repainted accessories from my Fodder Graveyard.
The Shadow is the newest addition to my series of pulp characters (both vintage and modern) started with The Batman, The Rocketeer, The Phantom, and Indiana Jones. I'm hoping to expand with childhood favorites like The Green Hornet & Kato, some members of the BPRD, and maybe even The Shadow's friend & ally Doc Savage, The Man of Bronze... and what good are pulp heroes without villains?
My take on The Shadow is, much like The Batman of Gotham, The Shadow is a dark hero that uses intimidation, fear, mind games, hypnosis, and clouds of hallucinogenic gas in his war on New York's criminal underworld. A gangland horror story of mythic proportions, mobsters, small-timers, and psychos have come to know and fear THE SHADOW! Though considered a vigilante by law enforcement and the U.S. government, he's also proven himself as a hero and true patriot, so he's being courted-- rather than pursued...
"Your mind is clouded... AND BELONGS TO ME!"
COMING UP: THE COOL, CRUEL CAPTAIN COLD...
