Jim Steranko also did pre-production artwork for Raiders of the Last Ark. He designed the distinctive look of Indiana Jones, wearing the beaten up fedora and leather jacket brandishing his bullwhip. Jim Steranko also has another link to Walter B Gibson, who was an accomplished magician and expert on magic and illusions. Prior to becoming a commercial artist and comic book artist, Steranko performed as a magician and escape artist. Jack Kirby reportedly based his character, Mr Miracle, on Steranko.
I loved this series. I bought them all and the subsequent follow up printing. Also, in the 70s-80s I hunted down and bought the whole Doc Savage series in used book stores. Very proud of having done that.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Thank you. I am very proud of it. Like you I went thru old used book stores. It took me 2-3 years and determination. The last ones were printed with two then three stories and I bought them brand new. I envy your overall collection-We have VERY SIMILAR TASTES. My favorite author is Robert E. Howard. You do a great job. I just found you and I watch most of your videos, Especially REH & ERB. I'd love to see you do a broadcast on Raymond Chandler. Love you Dashiell Hammett vid.
You are correct! "The Mobsmen on the Spot" was the only Pyramid-Jove cover NOT done by Steranko. It is, indeed, a repurposed cover from the old pulp magazine, the May 1, 1940 issue of The Shadow magazine, illustrated by George Rozen. Rozen did a bunch of the old Shadow covers, as well as Doc Savage, Captain Future and a couple Planet Stories covers from the late '30s into the '40s.
Excellent - I love The Shadow in all forms and remember the DC books very fondly. A few Pyramids showed up in a local shop a few years ago and I snaffled them, lovely book.
I found out about Doc Savage and the Shadow in the sixties when I was in middle school. The school librarian was a great fan of SF and somehow arranged to have some of these books up for sale to the students. I was totally hooked! Another short-lived paperback series that I truly enjoyed was The Phantom as by Lee Falk who was actually a popular SF author of the time although I can't recall his true name. It was only much later that I found out about the comic book stories.
Great video! I love hearing about all the incarnations of the Shadow. I’ve got a lot of the other reprints that are pulp sized and some of the mmpbs. The covers are always so great. And Steranko’s are the best.
I’m a huge Shadow fan and have collected most of the Sanctum reprints. The radio series and film are also excellent. It’s always great to hear more people discuss the Knight of Darkness and especially Gibson’s immense creativity. These paperbacks are really cool and you rarely see them out and about. I do have one Avenger paperback from this era and that’s it. Unfortunately no DC Shadows have been reprinted save for the 80’s relaunch series that Dynamite reprinted. I’d like to get the Private files collection but it’s pretty expensive. I’ve gotten most of the original issues in decent shape over the years.
Thanks for the great look at the Pyramid reprint series of the mysterious crimefighter. I have only MOX in that edition. On the other hand, I have volumes 1 through 139 in the Nostalgia Ventures / Sanctum Books series edited by Anthony Tollin, and have read about half of those so far. So yeah, I’m a big fan. I’m looking forward to reports on the novels in your weekly wrap-ups later this year.
I’m now creasing up at the idea that he couldn’t see what evil lurked in the hearts of women It goes without saying that I REALLY want to read all of these
This series might make for an excellent recommendation to the publisher Hard Case Crime. They reprint books like this. I think they tell you how to make a suggestion in their contacts on the HCC website. Thanks again.
My mom was born in 1923 and loved to quote the opening line from the Shadow radio shows. I know all those shows are available free on the internet somewhere. Not the best sound quality but still out there.
Unfortunately, although the shows may still be some out there, I believe that they are still under copyright so they would be illegal. At one point a text version of the Shadow series (all 270 some stories) was also available for free but again there is that pesky copyright issue. Really too bad. 😢😢😢
@@StevenEverett7 I found them. They're all availble via OTR, Old Time Radio website. You can legally access and play them over their site. I beleive the shows are in the public domain due to their age. Much like project Gutenberg. Very cool, check it out.
I love that there were around 30 of these stories reprinted in the 70s but I hate that they actually missed several stories and printed them out of order
Years ago my friend bought a box of black and white crime noir movies, there was a couple of Shadow films, definately the radio version, we enjoyed them. That DC cover is good, I like Kaluta artwork, he did one of my favourite Madame Xanadu covers too. Never seen that Case Files of the Shadow comicbook, if it ever gets reprinted again I'd love a copy, the only Shadow book I have is a team up with Batman. Enjoyed the showing of the excellent novel covers, thank you.
Sometime in the 2000's I was getting double novel reprints from The Shadow and Doc Savage. I don't recall the company but based on the length believe it was just stuff originally printed in pulps. I dropped picking them up when I got behind in my reading. I'm not even sure where I put them since was getting them through my comics orders I may have them in a longbox rather than with the rest of my regular books.
Greetings, Michael K Vaughan. I am Sandra Vaughan. My interest in your book reviews began because of the spelling of your last name. Most people spell it without the a. Since you like sci-fi, we read books of different genres. It was thanks to your mention of Lovecraft that I was able to answer a question on Jeopardy. As an avid reader, I enjoy all kinds of books except horror and science fiction. I am reading the Sacketts Series by Louis L'Amour, which begins with Sackett's Land, The Sacketts Series, Book 1. You did a good job explaining the Shadow in your video. Last year, I finished James Patterson's The Shadow. Have you read it yet?
“He had a couple of 45s”. IIRC he actually carried two pairs of 45s, so that when the first pair ran out of ammo he could just toss them aside and draw the second pair and so not waste time reloading.
Cool collection! Hopefully you'll get around to talking about the Spider, Green Lama, Domino Lady and Doc Savage at some point. Incidentally, any thoughts on James Patterson's reboots of the Shadow and Doc Savage?
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Wait a second... It's almost like you are... fdskjfgsjldgljksdjkg Well, my keyboard is so clean now, and as I write this comment I feel temptation to be your verymost loyal subscriber from now on till eternity! I almost feel like I owe you my life sir!
Now I’m wondering if Roger ran into any of the Weird Heroes crew that Byron Preiss oversaw in the 1970s. Did you ever come across them? Some sun reading, and some gorgeous art by Alex Nino and others.
Michael, are you familiar with the Doc Savage/The Shadow combination character known as Richard Benson - The Avenger and sometimes Justice Inc? They appeared under the house author name Kenneth Robeson. This character flourished 1940-1942 but was discontinued due to the huge number of action heroes at the time. I have not been able to track down many of the original series, although there are newer stories (1970s) as well. Of course they are "pulpish", but I thought that they were pretty good.
I pick these up whenever I run into one in good condition, that is, without considering the publisher. I can see how you like the Pyramids. I only have Green Eyes. My Living Shadow is a Bantam. I have three Joves and three Belmonts. The Belmonts have titles that do not appear in your review (The Night of the Shadow, Mark of the Shadow, and Shadow - Go Mad!), so maybe there are more than it seems if these count. I just placed Living Shadows on the stack of stuff to read. Haven't read one before, so I look forward. Thanks for the inspiration. I have The Death Giver. Based on the cover art, I might have entitled it The Acetylene Torturer. Kinda poetic. I finished Prisoner of Zenda. Cool book!
My friends were into Doc Savage but I preferred The Shadow. I had (and read) all of those first-design covers, when they were coming out, with the magnificent Sterenko covers. When the logo changed, my acquisition became more erratic. I too noticed the change in publisher name. They _were_ (as you say) hard to come by. Actually, the later covers with the damsel-in-distress got to feel a little cliched. And gradually my interest waned. For a _long_ period of time you couldn’t get reprints, and by the time they were reprinted, I had moved on. But not from Gibson, really. His _oeuvre_ is quite astounding. Books on magic; I think I even found a book on yoga that he wrote. I’m sorry that I got rid of all my Shadow paraphernalia. Not long after I watched your previous video on The Shadow, I went on eBay, and lo and behold! there was a complete set on offer for a very reasonable price. I thought about it, and gnashed teeth, but decided, if I do buy them, it may lead to me having to do a 500-book challenge one day, who knows. So I said naw: it’s not my proclivity to go back. I think I had one LP with a few radio shows-which were amusing for a one-time listen-but you said it, Gibson’s stories were where it was at!
My dad was able to collect most of the paperback reprints of The Shadow, Doc Savage, G8, Conan, I'm thankful he was able to pass them on to me. As a kid I ended up reading more pulp reprints than modern comics. What do you think about James Patterson taking up the franchise?
I'm happy someone is talking about old radio shows. The stories and characters are so fun. My favorite is The Whistler.
I watch all the Whister on an old movie channel one night. I loved them.
Jim Steranko also did pre-production artwork for Raiders of the Last Ark. He designed the distinctive look of Indiana Jones, wearing the beaten up fedora and leather jacket brandishing his bullwhip.
Jim Steranko also has another link to Walter B Gibson, who was an accomplished magician and expert on magic and illusions. Prior to becoming a commercial artist and comic book artist, Steranko performed as a magician and escape artist. Jack Kirby reportedly based his character, Mr Miracle, on Steranko.
I loved this series. I bought them all and the subsequent follow up printing. Also, in the 70s-80s I hunted down and bought the whole Doc Savage series in used book stores. Very proud of having done that.
I envy you your Doc Savage collection!
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Thank you. I am very proud of it. Like you I went thru old used book stores. It took me 2-3 years and determination. The last ones were printed with two then three stories and I bought them brand new. I envy your overall collection-We have VERY SIMILAR TASTES. My favorite author is Robert E. Howard. You do a great job. I just found you and I watch most of your videos, Especially REH & ERB. I'd love to see
you do a broadcast on Raymond Chandler. Love you Dashiell Hammett vid.
I love the old time radio Shadow shows! I liked hearing about the books. Thanks, as always!
You are correct! "The Mobsmen on the Spot" was the only Pyramid-Jove cover NOT done by Steranko. It is, indeed, a repurposed cover from the old pulp magazine, the May 1, 1940 issue of The Shadow magazine, illustrated by George Rozen. Rozen did a bunch of the old Shadow covers, as well as Doc Savage, Captain Future and a couple Planet Stories covers from the late '30s into the '40s.
Thanks! I knew you would know!
If the print on demand companies ever get their act together, we should be able to get replicas of all the old stuff.
Let’s hope they do!
Excellent - I love The Shadow in all forms and remember the DC books very fondly. A few Pyramids showed up in a local shop a few years ago and I snaffled them, lovely book.
I’m afraid to ask what “snaffled” means!
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Who knows what snaffling lurks in the hearts of men... (=acquired)
I found out about Doc Savage and the Shadow in the sixties when I was in middle school. The school librarian was a great fan of SF and somehow arranged to have some of these books up for sale to the students. I was totally hooked!
Another short-lived paperback series that I truly enjoyed was The Phantom as by Lee Falk who was actually a popular SF author of the time although I can't recall his true name. It was only much later that I found out about the comic book stories.
I really like The Phantom, actually.
Great video! I love hearing about all the incarnations of the Shadow. I’ve got a lot of the other reprints that are pulp sized and some of the mmpbs. The covers are always so great. And Steranko’s are the best.
I’m a huge Shadow fan and have collected most of the Sanctum reprints. The radio series and film are also excellent. It’s always great to hear more people discuss the Knight of Darkness and especially Gibson’s immense creativity. These paperbacks are really cool and you rarely see them out and about. I do have one Avenger paperback from this era and that’s it.
Unfortunately no DC Shadows have been reprinted save for the 80’s relaunch series that Dynamite reprinted. I’d like to get the Private files collection but it’s pretty expensive. I’ve gotten most of the original issues in decent shape over the years.
Thanks for the great look at the Pyramid reprint series of the mysterious crimefighter. I have only MOX in that edition. On the other hand, I have volumes 1 through 139 in the Nostalgia Ventures / Sanctum Books series edited by Anthony Tollin, and have read about half of those so far. So yeah, I’m a big fan.
I’m looking forward to reports on the novels in your weekly wrap-ups later this year.
I’m now creasing up at the idea that he couldn’t see what evil lurked in the hearts of women
It goes without saying that I REALLY want to read all of these
You must be joking but men in this case applies for 'humanity' obviously 😂
This series might make for an excellent recommendation to the publisher Hard Case Crime. They reprint books like this. I think they tell you how to make a suggestion in their contacts on the HCC website. Thanks again.
I have the first Shadow book but they are hard to track down in the UK.
The Alec Baldwin movie is a guilty pleasure of mine.
A terrific series with amazing Steranko art!
Great discussion of The Shadow. Interesting character.
My mom was born in 1923 and loved to quote the opening line from the Shadow radio shows. I know all those shows are available free on the internet somewhere. Not the best sound quality but still out there.
Unfortunately, although the shows may still be some out there, I believe that they are still under copyright so they would be illegal.
At one point a text version of the Shadow series (all 270 some stories) was also available for free but again there is that pesky copyright issue. Really too bad. 😢😢😢
@@StevenEverett7 I found them. They're all availble via OTR, Old Time Radio website. You can legally access and play them over their site. I beleive the shows are in the public domain due to their age. Much like project Gutenberg. Very cool, check it out.
@@benriley6716 Thanks for the reply Ben. Much appreciated!
Love The Shadow.... Interesting that the Shadow character influenced the development of the Batman character.
If only I weren't on a book buying ban I would seek these out immediately
I love that there were around 30 of these stories reprinted in the 70s but I hate that they actually missed several stories and printed them out of order
Years ago my friend bought a box of black and white crime noir movies, there was a couple of Shadow films, definately the radio version, we enjoyed them. That DC cover is good, I like Kaluta artwork, he did one of my favourite Madame Xanadu covers too. Never seen that Case Files of the Shadow comicbook, if it ever gets reprinted again I'd love a copy, the only Shadow book I have is a team up with Batman. Enjoyed the showing of the excellent novel covers, thank you.
I met Jim Steranko at a comic con in Ohio a few years ago. Really interesting guy and much shorter than I expected haha
Great one. I just did a Shadow video myself from that 70s DC run. Great Character and I love the radio show which is available free with various apps.
Sometime in the 2000's I was getting double novel reprints from The Shadow and Doc Savage. I don't recall the company but based on the length believe it was just stuff originally printed in pulps.
I dropped picking them up when I got behind in my reading. I'm not even sure where I put them since was getting them through my comics orders I may have them in a longbox rather than with the rest of my regular books.
I have a copy of "Grove of Doom" The Weird Adventures of The Shadow by Tempo Books. And Bantam edition of "The Living Shadow". Both from 1969.
Ha!
I have that DC Shadow comic!
I agree, there aren't enough scantily clad damsels in books. I think it's the answer to world peace. 😉
Definitely!
Greetings, Michael K Vaughan. I am Sandra Vaughan. My interest in your book reviews began because of the spelling of your last name. Most people spell it without the a. Since you like sci-fi, we read books of different genres. It was thanks to your mention of Lovecraft that I was able to answer a question on Jeopardy.
As an avid reader, I enjoy all kinds of books except horror and science fiction. I am reading the Sacketts Series by Louis L'Amour, which begins with Sackett's Land, The Sacketts Series, Book 1.
You did a good job explaining the Shadow in your video. Last year, I finished James Patterson's The Shadow. Have you read it yet?
“He had a couple of 45s”. IIRC he actually carried two pairs of 45s, so that when the first pair ran out of ammo he could just toss them aside and draw the second pair and so not waste time reloading.
A very interesting video!
Cool collection!
Hopefully you'll get around to talking about the Spider, Green Lama, Domino Lady and Doc Savage at some point.
Incidentally, any thoughts on James Patterson's reboots of the Shadow and Doc Savage?
Jame’s Patterson’s Shadow and Doc are abominations.
With your vids you almost always read my mind. I had just looked at Rageaholic podcast of the shadow and there you go with this vid lol.
You discovered my psychic powers!
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Wait a second... It's almost like you are... fdskjfgsjldgljksdjkg
Well, my keyboard is so clean now, and as I write this comment I feel temptation to be your verymost loyal subscriber from now on till eternity! I almost feel like I owe you my life sir!
Now I’m wondering if Roger ran into any of the Weird Heroes crew that Byron Preiss oversaw in the 1970s. Did you ever come across them? Some sun reading, and some gorgeous art by Alex Nino and others.
Michael, are you familiar with the Doc Savage/The Shadow combination character known as Richard Benson - The Avenger and sometimes Justice Inc? They appeared under the house author name Kenneth Robeson. This character flourished 1940-1942 but was discontinued due to the huge number of action heroes at the time. I have not been able to track down many of the original series, although there are newer stories (1970s) as well. Of course they are "pulpish", but I thought that they were pretty good.
I know the avenger got a few paperback reprints but I’ve never read any.
I need to read The Shadow.
Yes you do!
I pick these up whenever I run into one in good condition, that is, without considering the publisher. I can see how you like the Pyramids. I only have Green Eyes. My Living Shadow is a Bantam. I have three Joves and three Belmonts.
The Belmonts have titles that do not appear in your review (The Night of the Shadow, Mark of the Shadow, and Shadow - Go Mad!), so maybe there are more than it seems if these count.
I just placed Living Shadows on the stack of stuff to read. Haven't read one before, so I look forward. Thanks for the inspiration.
I have The Death Giver. Based on the cover art, I might have entitled it The Acetylene Torturer. Kinda poetic.
I finished Prisoner of Zenda. Cool book!
I’ve never run across any of the Belmonts.
My friends were into Doc Savage but I preferred The Shadow. I had (and read) all of those first-design covers, when they were coming out, with the magnificent Sterenko covers. When the logo changed, my acquisition became more erratic. I too noticed the change in publisher name. They _were_ (as you say) hard to come by. Actually, the later covers with the damsel-in-distress got to feel a little cliched. And gradually my interest waned. For a _long_ period of time you couldn’t get reprints, and by the time they were reprinted, I had moved on. But not from Gibson, really. His _oeuvre_ is quite astounding. Books on magic; I think I even found a book on yoga that he wrote.
I’m sorry that I got rid of all my Shadow paraphernalia. Not long after I watched your previous video on The Shadow, I went on eBay, and lo and behold! there was a complete set on offer for a very reasonable price. I thought about it, and gnashed teeth, but decided, if I do buy them, it may lead to me having to do a 500-book challenge one day, who knows. So I said naw: it’s not my proclivity to go back.
I think I had one LP with a few radio shows-which were amusing for a one-time listen-but you said it, Gibson’s stories were where it was at!
You definitely want to avoid those 500 book challenges!
The Belmont series from the 1960s had a new writer and re-envisioned the character as a sort of spy.
One of my Shadow paperbacks is autographed by Sterenko. I don’t remember which one.
Awesome!
My dad was able to collect most of the paperback reprints of The Shadow, Doc Savage, G8, Conan, I'm thankful he was able to pass them on to me. As a kid I ended up reading more pulp reprints than modern comics. What do you think about James Patterson taking up the franchise?
James Patterson is a terrible writer who wrote a terrible version of The Shadow.
Did I miss it or did you get through this entire video without a reference to the Lamont Cranston Band? 🤔
You didn’t miss it.