Two Year Anniversary!

Today marks the second anniversary of this Shadow blog.  I say thank you to each person who takes time out of their day to stop by my blog and look around.  I sincerely hope you find it worth your time!

Things have been busy for me the past several months so my posts have been pretty sporadic.  I hope to be able to get to a more regular cadence of posting.

A Shadow Comics Mystery - A Question of Character!

When Shadow Comics first began to be published, The Shadow character of the comics mirrored the character of the pulp magazine.  Many, if not all, of the first Shadow Comics were based on stories straight out of the pulps.  But then in the 11th edition of Shadow Comics (published April 25, 1941*) the editors let us know that The Shadow of the comics will now mirror the character from The Shadow radio show!

From Editors note in Shadow Comics 11 (sorry it's blurry!)

The editor tells the readers, "In this issue we show THE SHADOW in pictures for the first time doing the "invisible man" act.  THE SHADOW in the comics is now exactly the same as THE SHADOW over the radio.  You'll be thrilled by it!"  The story in Shadow Comics 11 is from the radio show as well - The Leopard Strikes (which aired on January 5, 1941.)!

This is a mystery to me!  The Shadow radio show was only in it's 4th season and while the radio show was very popular and successful, had it eclipsed the popularity of the pulp magazine?  Was The Shadow character of the radio show more popular than the character of the pulps?  Or could it be that The Shadow character of the radio show better lent itself to the pages of a comic book (and its intended audience) than did the character of the pulps?

I don't have an answer to this mystery but found it quite an interesting development in the history of The Shadow.


*Mike's Amazing World of Comics