The Shadow and the Golden Master

The Shadow and the Golden Master is a hardback book which published in 1984 by The Mysterious Press.  It was written by Walter B. Gibson, who wrote The Shadow stories using the pen-name Maxwell Grant.  

The book itself collects The Shadow's first encounters with the master villain Shiwan Khan as originally published in the September 15, 1939 (The Golden Master) and December 1, 1939 (Shiwan Khan Returns) issues of The Shadow magazine.  As it states on the inside flyleaf, "Reproduced in facsimile from their original pulp magazine publication, these two full-length novels are for all who recall the thrilling adventures of The Shadow, and for all those who love tales of non-stop excitement."

Graves Gladney's artwork for the September 15, 1939 issue of The Shadow is used as the cover for the book.  On the back of the book is a picture of Walter B. Gibson.

Here are a few examples of pages inside the 114 page book.

The story The Golden Master was used as a basis for the 1994 The Shadow movie!  This is a great hardback collection of two stories that pit The Shadow against a master villain.  If you get an opportunity to add this book to your Shadow collection, I highly recommend you do so!!

The Shadow Magazine #181

I've been able to add a new issue to my The Shadow magazine collection.  It's the September 1, 1939 issue (the 181st issue in The Shadow series) which featured the story, "The Crime Ray."

What really got my attention was the cover (art by Graves Gladney).  The cover features Lamont Cranston getting the third degree from Detective Joe Cardona!  The cover proclaims, "Not even Joe Cardona thought of connecting Lamont Cranston, being grilled under the glaring light, with The Shadow!"  The cover price was 10 cents.

cover close-up

The table of contents indicate there is a complete Shadow novel as told to Maxwell Grant!  It also includes three "thrilling stories" and regular Shadow magazine features of The Shadow Club, Codes, and Highlights on The Shadow.

Here are some pages from the inside of the magazine.  

The back page is a full page ad for Lucky Strikes cigarettes.

There are a couple of interesting things about this issue.  First, in the Highlights on The Shadow section it talks about the upcoming issue of The Shadow that readers won't want to miss, for the next issue will be the premier of Shiwan Khan!  They also say that readers will want to get the cover, painted by Graves Gladney, and frame it!  

The second item of interest is the mention of a Shadow photo that would be available to readers, they just had to mail in a 3 cent stamp to receive it.  However, prior to that, readers would have to cut out and mail in 3 coupons for the picture.   It says, "you'll have a nice print suitable for framing to put in your room, den, or club rooms.  The Shadow's signature is printed in the bottom corner, and the picture is on card stock strong enough to be tacked to a wall without a frame."  This is my first time hearing of such a photo - do any Shadow fans know what this photo looked like?

I hope you enjoy this brief look at the September 1, 1939 issue of The Shadow magazine!