The fourth issue of the pulp fanzine The Shadowed Circle arrived recently.The focus is on The Shadow, and I subscribed for this and the following two issues. I will most likely review the next two issues together.
As before, The Shadowed Circle is 7- by 10-inches with color covers and black-&-white interiors on nice white paper (not slick). Subscribing does get you some extra perks, as I got a nice Shadow coaster.
Issue #4 (Fall/Winter 2022) again has a great collection of articles and artwork. We get the first part of several articles and the final of another.
Dick Myers was an old-time pulp fan who passed away several years back, leaving behind some unpublished articles. One of those focused on The Shadow’s organization, and on how he might have financed it. This is the first of a three-part series. When you think of it, there was a lot to what The Shadow was doing. There were the ongoing equipment costs, the various locations he had to have, not just his sanctum and dead-letter drop, and paying his agents, some of whom clearly worked for him full-time.
From the always excellent Will Murray is an article speculating on all the secrets of The Shadow that Walter Gibson took with him to the grave. Stuff that Will in hindsight wishes he had asked.
Tim King looks into the origin of a certain name within The Shadow series. Some may be aware that Walter Gibson created the house name of “Maxwell Grant” from two magic dealers, which is covered here. But I think many of us may have overlooked where the name of “B. Jonas,” which was the name on The Shadow’s dead-letter drop (which was not the location of his Sanctum). So maybe Gibson was also inspired by someone in the magic business.
We get the first of another three-part series, this one looking at The Shadow in the comics by Todd Severin. This part touches on the 1940s, and includes the comic strip, which I have posted on, as well as the Street & Smith comicbook series. This one also touches on other pulp publishers who got into comics, as well.
Another comic-related article is the first of a two-part article looking at the meetings between The Shadow and Doc Savage by Daryl Morrisey. This part looks at their brief meeting in the Street & Smith Comics and then their meeting in DC Comics in 1990, when they published Doc Savage and The Shadow Strikes.
Darby Kern provides the second and final part of his interview with Michael Uslan.
And John Olsen wraps things up with a look at the final Shadow radio show.
It’s another good issue. If you like The Shadow, get this, ideally by subscribing. This ensures this fanzine continues. I look forward to the next issues and hope they hit 10 issues and then some.
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