I had posted previously on Teel James Glenn‘s New Pulp hero, Dr. Shadows, who was originally Dr. Anton Chadeaux.
Similar to The Avenger, he is a gray-skinned avenger of evil, with a group of associates set in the 1930s. While I thought he had disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the ’50s, apparently not as he had a son Jon Shadows in the ’60s and passed away in the ’80s or so who carries on his legacy. While his mother is not named, she is someone we met in the Dr. Shadows stories and not who I thought he’d hook up with. The latest novel gives some explanation for what happened.
Jon had issues with the legacy of his father, but time as a Marine, where he was a military policeman, helped. He is trained in both his father’s martial arts of Sulsa Do and his mother’s ninjitsu. He has his father’s white hair, and is also a lawyer. He now runs The Shadows Foundation for Justice, which was the group his father founded. Jon helps those who need help. But we aren’t told who else is part of this group, and his adventures are pretty much him by himself, oftentime undercover. We are told he was married, but no longer, and there is no steady girlfriend.
I would prefer a mix of stories where he works with others, and as well as when he’s solo.
He has appeared in two works. The first is Three Deadly Shadows, which came out in 2015 from Books for a Buck. Killing Shadows just came out from Airship 27. Sadly, it seems that the first work is now out of print, as that company seems out of business. I hope someone brings it back, as well as Glenn’s other works they carried.
In Three Deadly Shadows, we get three stories. The first takes Jon to New Orleans where he meets up with a friend who is a well-known local singer, and related to a mysterious woman named Mambo Arnoux. They get involved in matters when someone is killed in front of them that involves theft and more, and puts them at risk. Jon is able to figure out what is going on in time.
Then we get a very short tale where Jon goes after an unpleasent bail jumper that takes him to a neo-Nazi bar. But he gets his man, so to speak.
Finally we get a larger work that is available separately in ebook form, “The Warlord of Wall Street,” also known as “Secret of Wolf Island.” When an female Marine he knew during his tours is killed under mysterious circumstances while working for a strange genius playboy, Jon takes a look into things. It seems this playboy has his own private island in the Hudson River, and his friend was involved in his virtual-reality game as one of its most well-known characters. But it turns out to be much more than he thought when he finds the playboy has come up with a new and very dangerous bit of technology and seems to be building a secret army. Will he be able to save himself, much less put an end to things?
In Killing Shadows, which has Jon working with the Department of Homeland Security at the beginning to stop some human traffickers, he is soon contacted by an old flame. She is in fear of her life from her husband, a tech billionnaire. She wants to divorce him and wants Jon’s help. But she is being threatened by someone. Turns out to be Yakuza who are able to kill Jon’s cousin, and threatened Jon as well. Helping her out, she is killed, and Jon goes after her ex-husband. But he’ll soon work out what is really going on.
It’s interesting to see second- and third-generation New Pulp heroes. I’d like to see more stories with both Dr. Shadows and Jon, as well as see Glenn’s other New Pulp characters, like Skullmask, back in print. I did find it strange that most of Glenn’s recent works has been coming from Pro Se Press, but Killing Shadows came from Airship 27. Will we see more coming from them?
