{"id":2109,"date":"2013-01-23T18:00:45","date_gmt":"2013-01-23T23:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/?p=2109"},"modified":"2018-06-18T20:17:53","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T00:17:53","slug":"5-tips-for-writing-the-shadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/2013\/01\/23\/5-tips-for-writing-the-shadow\/","title":{"rendered":"5 tips for writing ‘The Shadow’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AlexIt looks like him, but that’s not The Shadow<\/a><\/strong> I know.<\/p>\n

I’ve read the first eight issues of Dynamite<\/a>‘s The Shadow<\/em> comic book recently. Funny, but I was expecting a great adaptation of the pulp character in graphic form.<\/p>\n

Dynamite put together a great team of artists for the covers — particularly Alex Ross<\/a><\/strong> and Francesco Francavilla<\/a><\/strong> — but Dynamite should have spent more time learning who The Shadow is.<\/p>\n

Instead of building on the tremendous history of the 325 Shadow<\/em> pulps, writers Garth Ennis<\/strong>, Victor Gischler<\/strong> and Tom Sniegoski<\/strong> simply took the names of some of the pulp’s characters and the physical appearance of The Shadow, then must have decided that was enough.<\/p>\n

What we ended up with is nothing more unique than any number of run-of-the-mill vigilante-themed series. There’s very little in the Dynamite series that makes The Shadow, The Shadow. In fact, he — and, as a result, the comic book — is wrongly named. Take out the whole supernatural element and this comic really should be titled The Spider<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

What you find in the Dynamite series is a blood-thirsty vigilante — forget judge and jury; this Shadow is simply executioner. Oh, and one who can interrogate the dead(?!)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Also, consider this from Dynamite’s own teaser<\/a> for The Shadow Special<\/em> #1: \u201c(Lamont<\/strong>) Cranston<\/strong>‘s justice serving alter ego must judge a man whose path to villainy began with their friendship!\u201d Uh, hello? Anyone at Dynamite ever read a Shadow<\/em> pulp? Cranston is a key character, but more often than not he<\/em> is being impersonated by The Shadow. Cranston is not<\/em> The Shadow.<\/p>\n

In the comics, The Shadow’s agents even openly speak of Cranston being The Shadow. In issue number 8, for instance, Cranston and Miles Crofton<\/strong> are seated at a French cafe. As a waiter stands by, Crofton says, “It’s just that your alter-ego has a funny idea of what constitutes a vacation.” So much for secret identities, or mystery for that matter.<\/p>\n

I won’t go into the romantic relationship between Cranston and Margot Lane<\/strong> (which did not exist in the pulps).<\/p>\n

Making matters much worse, the series is narrated by none other than The Shadow himself. This undermines one of the key elements of mystery in the pulp series.<\/p>\n

I wanted to bang my head against the desk every few panels while reading the series.<\/p>\n

For the Dynamite gang, here are five key tips for depicting The Shadow as he should be:<\/p>\n

1. Make the narrator one of The Shadow’s agents.<\/strong> For the most part, Harry Vincent<\/strong> is the reader’s surrogate in The Shadow<\/em> pulps. While Harry follows The Shadow’s orders and moves the plot forward through his investigations, The Shadow works behind the scenes — sifting clues, puzzling out the villain’s plot and pulling the strings for a final confrontation.<\/p>\n

2. Keep The Shadow mysterious.<\/strong> The Shadow wasn’t front and center. He was to the side of the stage, just out of focus. Who is The Shadow? That is an on-going mystery for both the pulp’s characters and its readers. By keeping The Shadow in the shadows, it heightens the enigma surrounding him. Sure, we are able to follow The Shadow during his outings, but we are never privy to his thoughts. The closest we get is when The Shadow holes up in his Sanctum, picks up his pen and lists the facts so far and possible actions to come.<\/p>\n

3. Forget the mystical, supernatural business.<\/strong> The Shadow of the pulps is just a man — a talented and skilled individual, but just a man. Writer Walter Gibson<\/a><\/strong> drew from his background in stage magic to have The Shadow project the illusion<\/em> of being supernatural in the eyes of those he battled. The Shadow uses the power of suggestion, hypnotism and sleight of hand — but he never reads people’s minds or “clouds” (despite the radio show) them so that he is invisible. He uses darkness, black clothing and subterfuge for concealment in much the same way that ninjas did.<\/p>\n

4. The Shadow isn’t a blood-thirsty killer.<\/strong> Robert Sampson<\/strong>, in his excellent book The Night Master<\/em><\/a>, writes: “The Shadow will become one of literature’s more deadly heroes. … Even during the most violent of his attacks, however, he does more hand-to-hand battle than shooting. Drives right into a batch of killers, slugging away with his automatics. This is not to save lives, but to conserve ammunition.” The Shadow metes out justice for the villain in the end, but it’s not the wholesale slaughter of every henchman of evil. Who will there be left to spread the word of The Shadow in the underworld?<\/p>\n

5. Lamont Cranston isn’t The Shadow.<\/strong> In “The Shadow Laughs” (October 1931), Lamont Cranston meets The Shadow: “Some people call me The Shadow. That is but one identity. I have other personalities that I assume, as easily as I don my black cloak and hat. One of my personalities is that of Lamont Cranston.” Not even The Shadow’s agents really know who he is, even after his “true identity” is revealed as pilot\/explorer Kent Allard in “The Shadow Unmasks” (Aug. 1, 1937). They all assume that each of them is an agent or, maybe, a disguise of The Shadow, rather than The Shadow himself.<\/p>\n

Dynamite, you’re taking the lazy route, making The Shadow<\/em> nothing more than a ubiquitous superhero comic book.<\/p>\n

You’ve got the look of The Shadow down. Now take some effort and get the characterization right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It looks like him, but that’s not The Shadow I know. I’ve read the first eight issues of Dynamite‘s The Shadow comic book recently. Funny, but I was expecting a great adaptation of the pulp character in graphic form. Dynamite put together a great team of artists for the covers — particularly Alex Ross and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[8,11,13],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-2109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","category-pulps","category-review"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2qgXO-y1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2109"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5534,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109\/revisions\/5534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2109"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=2109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}