Pulp-Powered Comics: Howard Chaykin's The Shadow: Blood & Judgment

The character of the Shadow was one of my first links to the world of pulp fiction. I became a huge fan of the character when central Iowa radio station WHO started playing the old radio serials irregularly between 9 and 10 p.m. Already a superhero fan, I quickly took to the Shadow even though, thanks to Ron Fortier’s comic at Now, I was more familiar with the characters in the Green Hornet episodes they also played. The movie would soon come out and continue my fandom. But the Shadow’s days in comic were pretty much past already (not counting one or two Dark Horse issues).

It wasn’t until the last couple months that I finally stumbled across a copy of Howard Chaykin’s 1986 Shadow miniseries. Published at the height of DC’s move to edgier material (the same year as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen), it strived to do something few would ever dare to do. It brought the Shadow in to the eighties.

In the process, Chaykin finally gave the Shadow a detailed origin. Though it feels more than a little clipped from the Green Lama’s background, the origin works perfectly to explain both where Kent Allard received his powers and why he assumed the name of Lamont Cranston.

We meet the older versions of his classic forties sidekicks, some of which quickly die. Harry Vincent and Margo Lane would still play prominent roles as would Harry’s daughter, a thoroughly modern woman proved a little more old-fashioned than she thinks by the Shadow.

The “Suggested for Mature Readers” title charged the Shadow with more sex and violence than even his old pulps allowed while still crafting an entertaining tale of the classic character reborn.

Sadly, the follow up series would quickly derail the character’s modern day take. The character fell in to the trap of being violent for violence’s sake while not giving enough Shadow to really please the classic fans. Not even art from the likes of Bill Sienkiewicz and Kyle Baker could save it. The Shadow would disappear for a while from DC comics before being relaunched in a new forties-era series called The Shadow Strikes.

Nonetheless, Chaykin’s “Blood & Judgment” is worth a read. Give it a looksy if you can find it in a used book store or comic shop. Recommended.

Living Legends 23 Notes

We close out Living Legends for the year with the second part of our Christmas stories.

Big clue as to the identity of Dominique, one you might have already connected if you have been reading Tales of the Living Legends, our webcomic companion.

While working through a lot of the Golden Age comics I have downloaded (thumbs up to public domain download site Golden Age Comics), I stumbled across a second Captain Fearless, this one a powerless sea captain. I instantly realized even without his powers, Ernesto didn’t need to be retired. So watch for him to return to action in a subsequent chapter.

A little bit of fun with Ghost Woman and Green Lama. I have been digging through old Green Lama stories in the last few months, and the one thing that seems perfectly clear to me is that he may be one of the biggest dicks in Golden Age comics. Don’t get me wrong, he is still definitely a hero, but I do not really see the calm, collected Buddhist monk of his other modern interpretations. I have mellowed him a little (decades stuck in the Abyss Sphere would do that to any man), but I want to keep some of that spunk. This chapter really shows that.

Welcome to Christmas baby Gabriel Blake. The poor kid is going to have a hard life right from the start. We will get to that very soon, as we will come at you twice again next month.

Tales of the Living Legends: The Green Lama

Tales of the Living Legends starts a new story today, this one featuring the Green Lama versus a gang of goons on the city docks.

I do not know exactly what it is that draws me to the Green Lama, but I do know I thoroughly enjoy the simply designed costume but utter coolness of the character. Back in the golden age, the Lama was a fairly popular figure. He first appeared in the pulps as a more powerful variation of the Shadow (albeit much happier) before transitioning both in to comics and radio. He lasted well in to the late forties before disappearing along with the rest of his ilk.

Jethro Dumont often plays second fiddle to a lot of golden age revivals, usually either to Black Terror or Daredevil. But while I have used both those characters in Out For Vengeance and Living Legends, I think the Lama may be the most versatile. His powers open up a lot of room for storytelling which is why I think his stories range so freely between Batman-style street violence to cosmic craziness.

Expect the Lama to pop up semi-regularly in the pages of Tales as well as in future chapters of Living Legends. He has a big future ahead of him in the Quadrant Universe.

Living Legends 19 Notes

This is it: the chapter we finally see what happened to the heroes trapped in the abyss sphere.

Ghost Woman’s powers and identity get taken to a new level as we realize she is far more than we ever expected from her previous appearances. Her identity crisis and alter egos will become a major part of Living Legends in the months to come.

Blackout gets his own cure as the abyss sphere somehow remedies his loss of intelligence. The mute Blackout will also get to do more than act like an animal upon his return to the real world.

Hey, remember when Marcus Bennett was another spy for Dominique? No? Well, he is, the no good dirty rat! But now Doctor Frost is beginning to get the clues he needs to finally figure out the mystery behind Dominique and her allies. I think Frost has really started to gain a voice with this issue, even if that voice is Jack Bauer.

And it all comes down to the Green Lama. I’ve waited eighteen issues to finally introduce one of my favorite Golden Age characters to the story of Living Legends. Originally, I planned to make Lama one of the initial Legends, but as I worked my way through the characters I realized he could be far too powerful among the initial eighteen. We wouldn’t want him to show up Atoman, nor did I want to make a second hero in trouble with the government. So Lama got pushed back. But Jethro Dumont is finally here, and he is here to stay.

Next month, it is back to the characters in the real world as we begin the progression in to the next stage of the mystery of the time-jump.