Sat 4 Apr 2026
MAXWELL GRANT – The Living Shadow. The Shadow #1. Written by Walter Gibson. Bantam, paperback; 1st printing, June 1969. First published in The Shadow, a Detective Magazine. April-June 1931.
If this book were to be rated on its literary qualities, there would not be a great deal to talk about — except for the desire of every reader who finishes it to want more.
The problem is that the Shadow, while everywhere he is needed and when, cannot be pinned down to work at the crime;s solution, and indirect and artificial methods of story-telling must be used to locate him and his thoughts, His legwork is done by Harry Vincent, mysteriously saved from suicide, and the insurance broker, Claude Fellows. The crimes are jewel robberies, and the trail leads to Chinatown, with all of that area’s sinister reputation surrounding it.
There is mention, totally unconnected, of the Shadow’s radio program, that can’t be made to fit. Other occasional discrepancies interrupt the otherwise exciting flow of action, which is not helpful. But I do want more!
Rating: **
April 5th, 2026 at 8:29 am
I love the old pulp heroes! My very favorite was The Spider, mostly written by Norvell Page — I may be exaggerating but I firmly believe the total body count in those adventures equaled three times the world population.
Claiming second place in my heart was Doc Savage, most of whose adventures were penned by Lester Dent. Following closely at third place was Walter Gibson’s The Shadow; Gibson was good at plotting but pretty clunky at writing, otherwise The Shadow, otherwise that dude who knew what fear lurked in the hearts on men would have been vying for second place. A distant fourth pace goes to The Avenger, most often written by Paul Ernst; the ability of this character to change his malleable face was dropped (sadly) after a dozen stories; the paperback pastiches written by Ron Goulart in the 70s could not hold a candle to the original adventures.
And there are too many pother to mention. So many pulp heroes, so little time…
April 5th, 2026 at 3:57 pm
Like Jerry House, I’m a big fan of the Pulps! Thank goodness there are some small publishers who reprint those Pulp series. I’m with Jerry on THE SPIDER. Great fun, great action!
I’ve read dozens of DOC SAVAGE paperbacks. Uneven in quality, but still entertaining.
Reading THE SHADOW is like eating potato chips: you just can stop at one!
April 5th, 2026 at 8:19 pm
I’ve read more of the Shadow novels than any of the others you guys mention, mostly because of the connection to the radio show, which I grew up listening to. The Doc Savage stories were the first to come out in paperback, but when they did, I’ve never heard of him. Doc was OK, but his crew of assistants were just a little too wacky. The actual pulps cost more than I was willing to pay for them, even back then. They went for maybe five to ten dollars (the equivalent of what, $50 or $100 now, which I think they probably are). But the Shadow stories seemed to be the most serious of the bunch, clunky writing and all. They were clever as all get out, but two stars is all this first one got from me. Seems about right.
April 6th, 2026 at 3:29 am
I also read that Bantam reprint. I liked it a lot, as well as the next two books, but there after neither the character nor the plots really held my interest. I read all the Doc Savages, couldn’t get into The Spider either but lately I’ve become fond of The Black Bat, mostly because of the good use of his three aides.
April 17th, 2026 at 8:49 pm
Of the Bantam Shadow reprints, most with fine covers by Kossim, and starting with THE LIVING SHADOW, GANGLAND’S DOOM was probably the most representative of the series with that splendid scene in the roadhouse when the Shadow leaps up on the table cloak flowing and .45’s blazing. To this day it is how I imagine the character.