A Critical Analysis of The Shadow and his Significance in Popular Culture

The Shadow, as a popular entertainment entity, in American and possibly even International Culture, probably ranks right up there with comedy and music, for the simple fact that he was by all accounts the first popular superhero character to exist. Sure, he had influences that consisted mainly of villainous monsters (Bram Stoker's Dracula) and pre-war detective types (Sherlock Holmes) than anything else, but he eventually became - in what was undoubtedly a long and scrupulous process - the blueprint for what society perceives as the superhero from comic books and films.

So what exactly is a superhero? Where do they come from, what do they stand for, and who are they? Well quite simply, they were created as an American art form to fill the pages of comic books and pulp magazines during the early 20th century. The Shadow was simply the first of these heroic, daring, confident and, at times, awkward characters. Sadly, over a period of 60-odd years, these literary characters have not evolved to encompass much else, even if they have been in nearly all forms of media, from comic books, to radio serials, to film, in limited amounts. Some of the more popular, or modern superheroes, such as DC Comics' Batman (who was directly influenced by The Shadow) and Superman, or Marvel Comics' Spider-Man, have grown so accessible that they can be seen in every form of media imaginable. The popularity of superheroes is owed by in large to comic books, but the superhero archetype is owed much more to The Shadow. Most, if not all superheroes possess secret identities that are seemingly normal. The alter ego, the other identity is the stuff of fantasy. Whether they are vigilantes, as is the case of characters like The Shadow, Batman, Marvel Comics' Daredevil, the pulp-inspired Green Hornet, or just all around do-gooders like Superman, heroes clearly stand for all that is right and good in the world.

Clearly, The Shadow has influenced every kind of superhero character, but what about The Shadow himself? He was conceived originally as a mysterious hooded radio show announcer for Detective Story Hour, a popular radio program from the 1930's. But fans loved the character so much that they requested a magazine. The said magazine came in the form of the Shadow pulps that were mainly written by Walter Gibson under the pseudonym of Maxwell Grant. These stories painted a picture of a dark, vigilant, judge-like character with a pair of .45 automatic pistols, who righted wrongs and made all sorts of ill-mannered foul pay for their transgressions. Most often, death was the norm for anyone who was planning to go up against The Shadow. His secret identity was that of Lamont Cranston, who was really an explorer named Kent Allard, who basically paid the real Lamont Cranston for infinite use of his identity. That was the pulps, but there was yet another medium that made The Shadow a household name.

Radio shows were clearly the television of their day, from the 1930's to the 1950's. For about two decades, families across America tuned in weekly (and sometimes bi-weekly) for what would become one of radio's defining programs. This show gave a radically different character to an audience that may not have appreciated someone as dark and foreboding as a gunfighter with a vendetta against the ills of society. This character was wealthy, young man about town, Lamont Cranston, who while loosely based on the pulp version, rarely if ever used a gun and could "cloud men's mind's so they cannot see him". Yes, this Shadow could become invisible, which probably wasn't too hard to imagine, given the medium that was involved.

While the pulps and the radio dazzled audiences with adventures of this mysterious masked enemy of crime, there was also a short lived Shadow comic book that was published by the same company who published the pulps, Street & Smith. This was only fitting, having the first superhero participate in what has largely become a medium populated by superheroes. But even that didn't last long. The pulps ran 325 issues, the radio program was cancelled in 1952, and because of this the comics eventually stopped circulating. It seemed that The Shadow was finished. But it wasn't an overzealous mobster or a mad doctor who had beaten him. No, over time he was simply regarded as "yesterday's news". He would be remembered fondly, but to some he was dated, and as time went on, people demanded more of their heroes than simple omniscient, merciless justice. A new breed of heroes took shape and as time went on, heroes became darker, evermore sinister and racy than anyone from The Shadow's generation could've imagined. It seemed that with the advent of television, radio was a thing of the past. The Shadow's comic appearances from his heyday might have even been forgotten by most, but with the advent of the 1970's, he would make yet another appearance in the comic books. DC Comics brought The Shadow back from literary limbo. He got various runs in the 80's by both DC and Marvel, and by 1994, he was on the big screen. This movie sparked a small resurgence of interest, that lead to more comic book appearances from Dark Horse comics, but again the character to beat all characters would sink back into oblivion, but never completely.

The real reason that this character has endured and been so successful, is because there are people out there who have passion for a simple, no holds barred crime fighter, who is not too flashy, and mysterious enough to keep folks interested. True Shadow fans still keep this gun-toting master of mayhem alive and dear to their hearts. To people like that, he's not just a dated pulp character, but one of the greatest superheroes to ever grace any piece of literary fiction. It is to the credit of fans that run websites, make documentaries and write their own enthusiastic stories based on the character, that he still endures and is still as fresh and exciting as he was 70-odd years ago, especially for a character who has some trouble staying in public consciousness. To quote Herman Melville, "to write a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme;" that seems to be just what Walter Gibson did all those years ago. He chose a character for that mighty theme, and that theme continues to be that one man can make a difference, in the war-torn, horrifically crime infested world of the 1930's and 40's. So, next time someone says that crime does not pay, it can always be remembered that The Shadow knows!