There are three books I think every fan of The Shadow should have:
- “Gangland’s Doom,” Frank Eisgruber Jr. (1973, 1985, 2007)
- “The Shadow Scrapbook,” Walter Gibson and Anthony Tollin (1979)
- “The Duende History of The Shadow Magazine,” Will Murray, et al (1980, 1984)
Frank Eisgruber’s “Gandland’s Doom” was the first book-length work on The Shadow. Printed years ago (Pulp Classics #1 in 1973, then a Starmont House reprint in 1985), it was thankfully reprinted in a new edition by Altus Press, which fixes some errors and has updates.
We get several chapters looking at all aspects of The Shadow. We first get one on his real identity and background (as given in the pulp), then on his several false identities like Lamont Cranston and Henry Arnaud.
Next we look at his agents and allies. Then we take a look at his sanctums, the major villains and his travels to other locations. We also get an chapter looking at Philip José Farmer‘s claim that The Shadow, The Spider and G-8 were the same man (though overlooked is that Farmer backed off from that, instead later saying the three men were related). Overall it’s a very good overview of the character.
“The Shadow Scrapbook” was created by Walter Gibson with Anthony Tollin. Published by HBJ, it was aimed at the general audience. The bulk of the work is by Gibson. We get a good introduction to The Shadow, followed by Gibson explaining how he wrote The Shadow. There is an interesting chapter on the evolution of the image of The Shadow over time on the pulp covers, something most fans are not aware of. We get a chapter on the agents and the interior artwork of The Shadow pulps. There are chapters on the Shadow in other media: radio, comic books, comics, movies, and movie serials. As part of this we get a listing of all The Shadow radio shows (the only one I’ve seen) and a reprint of a Shadow comic strip story (uncertain of the title and date).
Other interesting items include a color section of Shadow covers, a chapter on codes in The Shadow stories, followed by a chapter looking at codes worked into the covers.
A bonus of this volume is a new Shadow story by Gibson, the short story “The Riddle of the Rangoon Ruby.” Written after his last novel, “The Return of the Shadow,” this was to be the first of a series of syndicated new short stories of The Shadow. But only this one and another were written.
Tollin’s Sanctum Books plans on reprinting this one, and I look forward to that, as this is a great work.
The first book on The Shadow I ever got was “The Duende History of The Shadow Magazine.” I got it before I even had the chance to read any Shadow novels. This is a great collection of information on The Shadow put together by Will Murray.
The first article is a great overview of The Shadow stories, organizing the magazine into different phases, then taking a look at the different stories and how the character changes, and secondary characters and villains that came and went. There is an article looking at how Gibson revamped Lester Dent’s Shadow novel, “The Golden Vulture.” An article by Robert Sampson looks at The Shadow novels by Theodore Tinsley, followed by an interview with Tinsley. Then we get another article by Sampson on Bruce Elliott‘s tenure on The Shadow. A bonus of the volume is the last new Shadow story by Gibson, the short story “Blackmail Bay.” The volume is rounded out by several other articles and artwork by Frank Hamilton and others.
I really wish this volume would be reprinted. It would be a great addition to anyone’s library.
This article would have been “Four Books for Shadow Fans” had I had one additional work. That one is Robert Sampson’s book-length work on The Shadow, “The Night Master.” Sadly, I don’t have a copy and am still waiting for Black Dog Books to reprint this. Hopefully they will do so soon.
A fifth book I’d recommend would be Rick Lai‘s “Chronology of Shadows,” which I covered in my posting on pulp chronologies.
So there you have it: Three great works on The Shadow. If you are a real Shadow fan, you hopefully already have them.
