Calling it: That terrible comic with The Shadow lecturing school shooters on toxic masculinity will be hailed as a "brave new direction" that just "came too early" and that people "weren't ready" for.
I've always seen a Shadow TV show as starring Harry Vincent following instructions on the usual mission, but also trying to figure out who the Shadow is, with all the false leads you could toss at him. Even a proto Voodoo Master sugesting Harry is the Shadow via split personality, and if you want to get cheeky, sugestions he's passed as Margo Lane.
Thanks for another great episode. "The Laughing Corpse" is certainly a favorite among many radio fans (myself included). Two other favorites of mine that really delved into the mystery/horror elements was "The House That Death Built" and "The Carnival Of Death". Both episodes were released on one LP record and boy was that a highlight item in my old time radio collection.
Loving your videos! Im a comic writer and i have a character inspired by the pulpness of the shadow, i actually crowdfunded over 30k on the book. id love for you to read some of my work! These videos are helping me understand abd explore the genre. Also what a shame for then dropping "hearts of MEN" is nothing is sacred. That is a huge reason we are making our own comics and heroes.
I listened to the laughing corpse, and I couldn't help imagine a version of it with time travelers instead of chemists and two juvenile words replacing the cryptic message: Domestic Booty #Anthem #DomesticBootyDay
If I'm not mistaken Isaac Coffran, Ezekiel Bingham, the lawyer from the first book and Mike Borrango, the mob boss from the fifth book are the only villains from the first five books that just run away and never come back. They included one of those guys in the 2015 shadow Doc Savage book and its a satisfying conclusion.
I love him using a borrowed identity. My opinion here isn’t popular but I’ve always preferred the real Lamont Cranston being more of a villain in the comics only because The Shadow stealing an innocent man’s identity & threatening to ruin his life if he tries to expose The Shadow as a fraud comes off as very evil to me especially for an objectivist who only performs evil on evildoers.
Considering the Shadow's penchant for using a villian's own brand of evil on them in turn, I think it would be a rather appropriate storyline for a confrontation with Lamont Cranston revealing that he is some sort of identity thief. For example, His various vacations involve finding a lookalike, impersonating him, and robbing him blind.
Bill Johnstone, I feel, is something of a Roger Moore of the Shadow radio show: the guy who had the longest tenure (EDIT: Not in the case of Johnstone, thanks for the correction) during which the plots got more humorous and outlandish and who gets some unfair bad rep from the fans because of it. While neither Moore nor Johnstone are my favorites in their respective roles, I still say they did a respectable job with the material they were given and deserve to be commended for that. ---------------------------------------- Oh man, no comment on the synopsis of the first Patterson novel that got out on the Shadow Knows facebook page awhile ago? It was absolutely goddamn abhorrent, it's basically the Si Spurrier comics run all over again. With a novel like this, changing the classic tagline is all the more appropriate because it's clear that none of those behind this travesty qualify as men - none of them have the balls to just have The Shadow be The Shadow.
@@TheRageaholic Right, my bad. Still, you catch my drift. On a side note, it's a shame how many Morrison episodes were lost. Here's hoping more will resurface in the future.
So what the hell didn't bob kane and bill finger steal? Cuz at this point it feels like Walter B. Gibson should rise from the grave and take a creative shit on Bob Kane's grave.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas. If you wanted to write your own Shadow novel, how would you do it? I'd go with him meeting Mr A and think they'd be allies. Take care of yourself this year and the next. Godspeed!
I agree with you that Shadow Laughs lets down the early series. I'd go a little farther though, and say that it *is* a dud, in that I don't think it would be worth reading if not for the brief moments you mentioned where some significant building of the character was done. The part you glossed over is how much of the book is Harry hanging out with a group of strangers playing pool and cards for days on end, not knowing which of them is the enemy, and I found that whole section incredibly tedious. I think if someone weren't set on being a completist and just wanted to read the most enjoyable and significant parts, they could read Cranston Talks to Himself and the segments where the real Cranston starts to uncover something strange going on, then move on without missing anything important.
I'd add that the climax was quite good, even if Isaac Coffran gets away at the end. I did enjoy The Shadow Laughs when I read it for the first time, possibly a bit more than The Eyes of The Shadow. I do plan to re-read the first 10 pulps when I've worked through my other pulp reprints.
Hi The Shadowcast, all my life I've been a Batman fan (Batman 89, Batman Returns, and Batman Strange Apparitions are probably my three favorite Batman stories) just had a question hoping that either you or your fellow "agents" could help me with I've heard of a story called "Death's Harlequin" and it features a Killer Crime Clown and since Joker is one of my favorite villains I would like to know are there other influences this story had on Joker ex: psychological, design, attitude, sense of humor or was it just a superficial coincidence but with The Shadow and Batman very few things turn out to be coincidence plus love the idea of a clown something that is supposed to make people happy can hide a horrible monster behind the painted smile either way would love to know more about "Death's Harlequin" and remember "Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Hearts Of Men ? The Shadow Knows HAHAHAHA
The concept of a criminal clown is really all there is to the joker, since there have been many versions of the character and several aren't even alike, they just change him according to the times. But the design was ripped off from Paul Leni's The man who laughs film. Joker is just a hugely overrated character with a lame origin who's just a lowest common denominator's favorite character ever since the Nolan's version hit theaters.
@@heroesytumbas see that's exactly why I didn't love Ledger or Joaquin both were trying way too hard to be edgelord jokers I always liked a joker that was 50% whacky clown and 50% homicidal/ serial killer (Nicholson/Mark Hamill)
@@michaelsgambati9764 Disagree. Nolan's Joker was the first time most people took the Joker seriously and it wasn't because of edgyness, and 2019 Joker wasn't even a villain. Burton's joker was more on the ridiculous side and the animated series joker was an often easily intimidated weakling. Then there is the 60's version, the one with dreadlocks, the Leto version and others the less I talk about the better. But at the end of the day is just a goofy looking character that thrives simply because nobody never wants to actually deal with him, which would be easy to do. He's almost like an sjw in that sense... Is funny to me they have even made him a fighting game character, as if the guy could ever hold his own even against non superpowered characters that actually wanted to end him in a one on one. There's a reason he's one of the most popular characters among no taste millennials... And btw, you can look for the Death's harlequin (story is number 173), on the internet and read it yourself.
@@michaelsgambati9764 Not really. Not a batman or superhero guy in general, except in 90's arcade games where I like Sabertooth, Omega Red, Magneto and Dr. Doom. But I liked killer croc and the (2nd design) scarecrow when I was a kid, the ones from TAS; I always found the other rogues kinda silly tbh.
It may have been a missed opportunity to not have Det. Cardona be the character who tries to capture The Shadow, like Sam Gerard from the fugitive or even Jack Mcgee from The Incredible Hulk. There could have been untapped tension between the two leaving the readers to wonder 'will Joe get the shadow this time?' Something to ponder.
There is a Batman comic book about 3 competing scientists and one turns out to be a mad one. That was Detective Comics #27, they even remade the same story in modern standards of comic book production. Yeah, I learned not to trust Bob Kane a while ago.
The Sanctum reprints. All but 3 of the stories were reprinted in near perfect replicas of the original magazine issues. It's best to read the first ten issues. The order in which they were reprinted is listed here: The Living Shadow - Sanctum Books #47 The Eyes of The Shadow - Sanctum Books #48 The Shadow Laughs - Sanctum Books #49 The Red Menace - Sanctum Books #91 Gangdom's Doom - Sanctum Books #101 The Death Tower - Sanctum Books #125 The Silent Seven - Sanctum Books #125 The Black Master - Sanctum Books Shadow Annual #2 Mobsmen on the Spot - Sanctum Books #129 Hands in the Dark - Sanctum Books #130
Conde Nast had some controversies regarding "diversity" recently, especially in their internet presence. So to me it looks like they are overcompensating and going full SJW.
You know what's gonna happen? Focusing on gender politics is gonna make the books suck and for that reason, sell little. So CN is gonna think that people don't like the Shadow and they are gonna bury it again for twenty years until there's a new attempt to make it popular again. And of course, blame the fans. I hate how they are trying to modernize the Shadow when there are so many shows set in different eras of history. Vikings, Peaky Blinders, Stranger Things, F is for Family. A bunch of good shows that don't have to tackle whatever the hell these SJW want to talk about. Let's just have a Shadow operate in his era, hell, just adapt de pulps, there's more than enough material to extract from. They have the catalog by one of the most proficient American writers in history and they are just ignoring it. Or even better, let's have someone that really cares about the IP to buy it. But that's just me dreaming.
I've watched Vikings and Peaky blinders and they have clear sjw stuff... So not really good examples. As for strangers things is a show made of 80's pop cliches for people that didn't lived in the 80's or don't even like real 80's stuff like metal or manly action films.
Getting close to 100 years... Feels like a breath of friggin' fresh air. Good stuff, Razor.
“Lamont Cranston talks to himself” not gonna lie, I laughed when I heard that chapter name, BRILLIANT!
This show and Razorfist are two of the reasons I keep youtube. These get better and better.
In my college days I adapted "The Laughing Corpse" as a project. It holds a special place in my heart.
Sweet! A new Shadowcast.
Shadow Claus gave us a visit.
That excerpt you read was excellent. You have helped in making me a Shadow fan for life.
Calling it: That terrible comic with The Shadow lecturing school shooters on toxic masculinity will be hailed as a "brave new direction" that just "came too early" and that people "weren't ready" for.
I've read some shit comics in my day but, whoo boy, that Shadow run is going to remain infamous for the rest of my days. 🤮
Aahhh! A most welcome conclusion to an otherwise quiet holiday weekend! Thanks for this, Razorfist!
Best podcast out there! Thanks for the great content
The Joker also stole The Murder Master's gimmick as well, with his whole method of announcing his crimes before they happen
I too love the early Gibson novels. Read Will Murray’s “Sinister Shadow” novel for more on Isaac Coffran and Spotter
I've always seen a Shadow TV show as starring Harry Vincent following instructions on the usual mission, but also trying to figure out who the Shadow is, with all the false leads you could toss at him. Even a proto Voodoo Master sugesting Harry is the Shadow via split personality, and if you want to get cheeky, sugestions he's passed as Margo Lane.
Merry Shadowmas.
What a nice Christmas present, a NEW Shadowcast episode. Thanks Razor, HAA HA Happy New Year.
Cool a late Christmas gift from the shadow!
Thanks for another great episode. "The Laughing Corpse" is certainly a favorite among many radio fans (myself included). Two other favorites of mine that really delved into the mystery/horror elements was "The House That Death Built" and "The Carnival Of Death". Both episodes were released on one LP record and boy was that a highlight item in my old time radio collection.
Thanks for the Christmas present razor.
Last time I was this early, they just hired Frank Readick Jr. to replace James LaCurto.
Loving your videos! Im a comic writer and i have a character inspired by the pulpness of the shadow, i actually crowdfunded over 30k on the book. id love for you to read some of my work! These videos are helping me understand abd explore the genre. Also what a shame for then dropping "hearts of MEN" is nothing is sacred. That is a huge reason we are making our own comics and heroes.
I listened to the laughing corpse, and I couldn't help imagine a version of it with time travelers instead of chemists and two juvenile words replacing the cryptic message:
Domestic Booty
#Anthem #DomesticBootyDay
If I'm not mistaken Isaac Coffran, Ezekiel Bingham, the lawyer from the first book and Mike Borrango, the mob boss from the fifth book are the only villains from the first five books that just run away and never come back. They included one of those guys in the 2015 shadow Doc Savage book and its a satisfying conclusion.
I love him using a borrowed identity. My opinion here isn’t popular but I’ve always preferred the real Lamont Cranston being more of a villain in the comics only because The Shadow stealing an innocent man’s identity & threatening to ruin his life if he tries to expose The Shadow as a fraud comes off as very evil to me especially for an objectivist who only performs evil on evildoers.
Having the real Cranston be a corrupt piece of garbage makes more sense to me.
Considering the Shadow's penchant for using a villian's own brand of evil on them in turn, I think it would be a rather appropriate storyline for a confrontation with Lamont Cranston revealing that he is some sort of identity thief. For example, His various vacations involve finding a lookalike, impersonating him, and robbing him blind.
So excited, was waiting for a quiet moment to enjoy this!
It’d be cool if you read some of the old pulps audiobook style. I’m reading “The House that Vanished” right now.
How do you order from shadows sanctum? I get you have to email them but do what do you write in the email?
Bill Johnstone, I feel, is something of a Roger Moore of the Shadow radio show: the guy who had the longest tenure (EDIT: Not in the case of Johnstone, thanks for the correction) during which the plots got more humorous and outlandish and who gets some unfair bad rep from the fans because of it. While neither Moore nor Johnstone are my favorites in their respective roles, I still say they did a respectable job with the material they were given and deserve to be commended for that.
----------------------------------------
Oh man, no comment on the synopsis of the first Patterson novel that got out on the Shadow Knows facebook page awhile ago? It was absolutely goddamn abhorrent, it's basically the Si Spurrier comics run all over again. With a novel like this, changing the classic tagline is all the more appropriate because it's clear that none of those behind this travesty qualify as men - none of them have the balls to just have The Shadow be The Shadow.
But Johnstone didn't do the role longest. That would be Bret Morrison.
@@TheRageaholic Right, my bad. Still, you catch my drift.
On a side note, it's a shame how many Morrison episodes were lost. Here's hoping more will resurface in the future.
So what the hell didn't bob kane and bill finger steal? Cuz at this point it feels like Walter B. Gibson should rise from the grave and take a creative shit on Bob Kane's grave.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas. If you wanted to write your own Shadow novel, how would you do it? I'd go with him meeting Mr A and think they'd be allies. Take care of yourself this year and the next. Godspeed!
Is this "Shadow" store a brick and mortar type, and if so, where is it located? If not, is it on the internet, or in a catalog, or what?
The laugh from “the laughing corpse” kinda sounds like zacherley.
The sun is shining.
I agree with you that Shadow Laughs lets down the early series. I'd go a little farther though, and say that it *is* a dud, in that I don't think it would be worth reading if not for the brief moments you mentioned where some significant building of the character was done. The part you glossed over is how much of the book is Harry hanging out with a group of strangers playing pool and cards for days on end, not knowing which of them is the enemy, and I found that whole section incredibly tedious. I think if someone weren't set on being a completist and just wanted to read the most enjoyable and significant parts, they could read Cranston Talks to Himself and the segments where the real Cranston starts to uncover something strange going on, then move on without missing anything important.
I'd add that the climax was quite good, even if Isaac Coffran gets away at the end.
I did enjoy The Shadow Laughs when I read it for the first time, possibly a bit more than The Eyes of The Shadow. I do plan to re-read the first 10 pulps when I've worked through my other pulp reprints.
Where is the full trilogy available at?
Quick question, what’s your favorite slip up on the villains part you’ve witnessed on the shadow?
This thread will contain spoilers.
My favorite
The fake Shadow in the volume 2 radio show who thought he hypnotized the shadow, only to be return Hypnoed
Hi The Shadowcast, all my life I've been a Batman fan (Batman 89, Batman Returns, and Batman Strange Apparitions are probably my three favorite Batman stories) just had a question hoping that either you or your fellow "agents" could help me with I've heard of a story called "Death's Harlequin" and it features a Killer Crime Clown and since Joker is one of my favorite villains I would like to know are there other influences this story had on Joker ex: psychological, design, attitude, sense of humor or was it just a superficial coincidence but with The Shadow and Batman very few things turn out to be coincidence plus love the idea of a clown something that is supposed to make people happy can hide a horrible monster behind the painted smile either way would love to know more about "Death's Harlequin" and remember "Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Hearts Of Men ? The Shadow Knows HAHAHAHA
The concept of a criminal clown is really all there is to the joker, since there have been many versions of the character and several aren't even alike, they just change him according to the times. But the design was ripped off from Paul Leni's The man who laughs film. Joker is just a hugely overrated character with a lame origin who's just a lowest common denominator's favorite character ever since the Nolan's version hit theaters.
@@heroesytumbas see that's exactly why I didn't love Ledger or Joaquin both were trying way too hard to be edgelord jokers I always liked a joker that was 50% whacky clown and 50% homicidal/ serial killer (Nicholson/Mark Hamill)
@@michaelsgambati9764 Disagree. Nolan's Joker was the first time most people took the Joker seriously and it wasn't because of edgyness, and 2019 Joker wasn't even a villain. Burton's joker was more on the ridiculous side and the animated series joker was an often easily intimidated weakling. Then there is the 60's version, the one with dreadlocks, the Leto version and others the less I talk about the better. But at the end of the day is just a goofy looking character that thrives simply because nobody never wants to actually deal with him, which would be easy to do. He's almost like an sjw in that sense... Is funny to me they have even made him a fighting game character, as if the guy could ever hold his own even against non superpowered characters that actually wanted to end him in a one on one. There's a reason he's one of the most popular characters among no taste millennials... And btw, you can look for the Death's harlequin (story is number 173), on the internet and read it yourself.
@@heroesytumbas wow I agree btw do you have any Batman stories you'd recommend ? Or do you like any Batman villains ?
@@michaelsgambati9764 Not really. Not a batman or superhero guy in general, except in 90's arcade games where I like Sabertooth, Omega Red, Magneto and Dr. Doom. But I liked killer croc and the (2nd design) scarecrow when I was a kid, the ones from TAS; I always found the other rogues kinda silly tbh.
Alot of us in the Philly area will get to visit the Philly morgue
It may have been a missed opportunity to not have Det. Cardona be the character who tries to capture The Shadow, like Sam Gerard from the fugitive or even Jack Mcgee from The Incredible Hulk. There could have been untapped tension between the two leaving the readers to wonder 'will Joe get the shadow this time?'
Something to ponder.
There is a Batman comic book about 3 competing scientists and one turns out to be a mad one. That was Detective Comics #27, they even remade the same story in modern standards of comic book production. Yeah, I learned not to trust Bob Kane a while ago.
49:50 where can we complain?
Where it counts, i.e. not supporting, buying anything of it.
whats the bests way to get the pulps?
The Sanctum reprints. All but 3 of the stories were reprinted in near perfect replicas of the original magazine issues. It's best to read the first ten issues. The order in which they were reprinted is listed here:
The Living Shadow - Sanctum Books #47
The Eyes of The Shadow - Sanctum Books #48
The Shadow Laughs - Sanctum Books #49
The Red Menace - Sanctum Books #91
Gangdom's Doom - Sanctum Books #101
The Death Tower - Sanctum Books #125
The Silent Seven - Sanctum Books #125
The Black Master - Sanctum Books Shadow Annual #2
Mobsmen on the Spot - Sanctum Books #129
Hands in the Dark - Sanctum Books #130
And James Cameron gets another thrashing! :D
On a side note: Whoever played Dr Betruger in Doom 3 would do a great voice of The Shadow.
that would be cool but the guy has been dead since 2013
They have a merch store and I'm seriously tempted to buy, bullshit revisions or not I'm starving for some good shit.
You can buy custom made and support a local business, don't support sjws.
HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! 😈 🤣
Seriously?!??
That kinda change, changing the tag line of a character, just to make sales, is ridiculous.
Big no!
Conde Nast had some controversies regarding "diversity" recently, especially in their internet presence.
So to me it looks like they are overcompensating and going full SJW.
Well the sy spurrier comic was basically an sjw shadow
I don’t want Hollyweird and modern comic defilers touching ANY part of The Shadow.
Who knows what moral relativism tiktoks in the feelings of peoplekind."
Cünte nasty.
You know what's gonna happen? Focusing on gender politics is gonna make the books suck and for that reason, sell little. So CN is gonna think that people don't like the Shadow and they are gonna bury it again for twenty years until there's a new attempt to make it popular again. And of course, blame the fans.
I hate how they are trying to modernize the Shadow when there are so many shows set in different eras of history. Vikings, Peaky Blinders, Stranger Things, F is for Family. A bunch of good shows that don't have to tackle whatever the hell these SJW want to talk about. Let's just have a Shadow operate in his era, hell, just adapt de pulps, there's more than enough material to extract from. They have the catalog by one of the most proficient American writers in history and they are just ignoring it.
Or even better, let's have someone that really cares about the IP to buy it. But that's just me dreaming.
I've watched Vikings and Peaky blinders and they have clear sjw stuff... So not really good examples. As for strangers things is a show made of 80's pop cliches for people that didn't lived in the 80's or don't even like real 80's stuff like metal or manly action films.