REVIEW: The Shadowed Circle Compendium
The Shadowed Circle Compendium
Edited by Steve Donos
180 pages/Renaissance Arts Press/$30 softcover, $50 hardcover)
There is no excuse for why this review is so late, and I owe editor Steve Donoso a major apology.
The Shadow has endured for 92 years, first as a radio voice, then in pulp magazine exploits, selling so furiously that it came out twice a month. He has been adapted for movie serials, feature films, and comic books. His influence endures and is acknowledged as one of the key inspirations for Batman. That’s what fans generally know about the character.
One of the last true fanzines, The Shadowed Circle, carries on the tradition of exploring the character in all his permutations with unbridled joy. The Compendium takes the best of its first seven issues and sprinkles in several new pieces to make for a fine collectible. It’s not the only contemporary publication to study the Shadow mythos, as author/historian Will Murray released last summer’s Knight of Darkness: The Legend of The Shadow, the third volume of his studies.
This review is so late that Donoso is about to launch a Kickstarter campaign for the second Compendium.
So, what do we find here? There is a foreword from Murray, followed by an introduction from former Shadow comic book writer Michael Uslan (who also has an article tracing his time as a Shadow scribe). We kick off with a fine essay from twentysomething fan Russell M. Moran, explaining how the cloaked vigilante remains relevant.
Nooks and crannies of history are explored, from the failed 1950s television pilot to the final radio broadcast on December 26, 1954. There’s also an index of all 325 magazine stories, crediting the authors all hiding behind the Maxwell Grant house name, as well as which volume of Sanctum Books’ facsimiles they were reprinted in.
One of the more imaginative pieces is Dick Myers’ posthumously published essay, written in the early 1970s—as Pyramid was reprinting selected stories under new Steranko covers—trying to figure out the economics of the Shadow’s operation from buying hats and cloaks in bulk to the cost of the automobiles and airplanes used and damaged in the cause of justice; from the stipends and salaries of his agents, and where did the money to fund the operation for decades come from.
Walter Gibson looms large over the entire volume, given his role as a radio narrator for Street & Smith’s detective stories and his ability to turn him into a captivating figure. Elements can be traced to other pulps and similar dashing tales, but there was enough of a twist and originality to make him wholly original. None of the other ghosts could add as much to the lore as Gibson, a former magician turned prolific writer, did. After all, not only did we get this crimefighting figure, but we got his network of agents, including Burbank, the first man in the chair, as detailed in Tim King’s essay.
If you’ve read some of the books, enjoyed the Alec Baldwin film, or comic stories, you might find this an enriching experience. The love and detail in each piece make for an enjoyable reading experience.
