On the poor collective memory of comic book culture

Two creator-owned self-published books by well-known authors reached the end of their publication this month.

Rasl was created by Jeff Smith and began in 2008; it ran for 15 issues in total. Although it had good press when it launched and plenty of comments about the first issue, it quickly fell off the radar of the internet's comic book culture.

glamourpuss was created by Dave Sim and began in 2008; it ran for 26 issues in total. Although it had a decent amount of press when it launched, it quickly fell off the radar of the internet's comic book culture.

I feel Rasl was difficult for comic book mavens to discuss because it involved parallel worlds, quantum theory and various mysteries. It will almost certainly be vindicated over the years as people assess the collected series as a single story, rather than as irregular installments spaced over four years.

I feel glamourpuss was difficult for comic book pundits to discuss because a) it only barely concerned itself with narrative and b) was the work of Dave Sim, who is (to put it bluntly) reviled by much of the internet's comic book culture. Unlike Smith, Sim was unable to bring his series to a proper ending; he hopes to eventually finish the segments featuring "the Strange Death of Alex Raymond" as a graphic novel, but was left uncertain about his future in the comics industry.

The recent brouhaha surrounding Before Watchmen has had an interesting effect on the creator-owned comic book business as publishers of creator-owned material (notably, Image's Eric Stephenson) have publicly called out the exploitation of employees by Marvel & DC. Just this week there was a piece in Dark Horse's comics encouraging readers to support creator-owned books. It's fine that publishing groups like Image, Dark Horse & IDW can put up a united front, but what about the self-publishing creators? Smith & Sim are both perfect 10s on the scale of creators rights.

And yet, it's so easy to forget creators like Smith & Sim are on the marketplace because they don't have the marketing resources of the publishing groups. It's also easier for comic book fans and retailers to focus their attention on products they understand, not challenging material like Rasl and glamourpuss. There has been no dearth of Batman comic books for the previous 70 years (I think there's been at least one Batman comic per week for the last 20 years?) so one would think "Batman, chapter 2,096 of Infinity" wouldn't be newsworthy. However, the numbers don't lie: our comic book culture has room for books like Rasl and glamourpuss to co-exist with Batman, but overall, we'd much rather have Batman; we understand Batman.

None of this thinking is doing wonders for my sense of optimism regarding comics. Still, something will come along to take the place of Rasl and glamourpuss, just as these books followed Bone and Cerebus. At least this has been a fun journey!

Happy birthday, Jack Kirby!

Having died 18 years ago, Jack Kirby is hardly in a position to care whether we still observe his birthday - but as one of the single most influential men to ever venture into the world of comic book art, we owe him more than he ever received in his lifetime.

I didn't really begin to examine how I felt about Kirby until I discovered the Eternals. During my earliest days on the internet, I was there writing up summaries of the Kirby series on message boards and writing a Geocities page on the characters and their world. Above is the splash page to Eternals#13, my favourite issue of the series. Three teams of astronauts venture into space where the great mothership of the Celestials lies: one team is there to explore; one team seeks the Celestials' destruction; the third has come to save the world.

Check out the Comics Reporter for some nice samples of the King's art!

The enlightened man, circa 1935

Beware - non-PC language below!

From One Night on TV is Worth Weeks at the Paramount : Popular Music on Early Television, by Murray Forman:

"We should eliminate the word 'nigger' whenever possible. Of course, these darkies put a lot of pressure on us and they are sometimes too exacting, and there are certain songs where the word 'nigger' must be used. However, it is wise to cut it out as much as possible."

-John Royal, vice president of programs at NBC, 1935.

Bitter Fruit: wrapping up Archie's Shadow comics

My series "Bitter Fruit" ran for 12 installments on this blog, ultimately detailing the contents of all eight issues of Archie's 1964-65 Shadow comic book; obviously, I named it after the 1930-50s Shadow radio program phrase: "the weed of crime bears bitter fruit!"

1. "The Shadow vs. the RXG Spymaster!!"
2. "The Eyes of the Tiger!"
3. "Shiwan Khan's Murderous Master-Plan!"
4. "Margo Lane's Honeymoon!"
5. "Shiwan Khan's House of Horrors!"
6. "The Princess of Death"
7. "The Diabolical Dr. Demon!"
8. "The Human Bomb!"
9. "Menace of Radiation Rogue!"
10. "The Incredible Alliance of Shiwan Khan and Attila the Hunter!"
11. "The Shadow Battles... the Brute!"
12. "The Shadow Versus: ...Radiation Rogue, Dr. Demon, Attila the Hunter, the Insidious Elasto and the Diabolical Dimensionoid in the Game of Death!"

What exactly was I hoping to accomplish by looking back at the series? I suppose my interest came primarily from being a fan of the Shadow radio program and having heard in a few places how Archie's Shadow was one of the worst comic books of the 1960s. As I noted in the first review, I read each story for the first time as I reviewed it (I composed each paragraph after reading a page or more of the story). My hope was to discover either:

A) Archie's the Shadow wasn't nearly as terrible as people claimed!

Or:

B) Archie's the Shadow is terrible - but in a fun way!

It probably comes through at least some of the time during my reviews - I tried to either make light of the proceedings or attempt to find something good about the comic. But never mind my hopes... what is my final judgment of the Shadow#1-8?

It is a textbook example of a bad comic book series.

First, take our protagonist... please!

As a fan of the radio program, I'm used to the Shadow being Lamont Cranston, "well-to do young man about town," an amateur sleuth who secretly fights crime as the Shadow by "clouding men's mind so that they cannot see him." Instead, this comic book version of Lamont Cranston is a wealthy playboy who owns a bank and museum and is secretly an agent of the US government (originally the Secret Service, later changed to C.H.I.E.F.), but extra-secretly is the Shadow, with the power to cloud men's minds so that they cannot see him, read men's minds, erase memories, plant hypnotic suggestions and fabricate elaborate illusions; plus, he carries a variety of special gadgets, from his multi-purpose Shadow-Gun to boots which let him fly.

I think "wealthy man who is secretly a super hero" is a sufficient hook for a super hero book; the secret agent material adds almost nothing to the series, except to occasionally give Lamont superiors who send him on assignments. The series was incredibly inconsistent in using the Shadow's powers; he almost never seems to think of the appropriate time to become invisible or read his foe's mind. The addition of gadgets in later issues only make his Shadow powers superfluous - instead of "remembering" he has powers to get out of a bind, he "remembers" he's carrying a gadget which is precisely suited to resolving the problem.

The Shadow's greatest hurdle in these issues is that he doesn't struggle; he has allies, powers and gadgets beyond reckoning, but no personal troubles. His money offers no burdens, his secret agent and super hero work never interfere with his own desires, he can solve any problem without needing someone else's help (even if he has to mind-control someone into dying, re: "the Brute") and he treats his supporting cast as (at best) nuisances who get in the way of his work. Which brings me to...

If a hero is as rich as their supporting cast... Lamont Cranston is a pauper.

But who does make up the Shadow's supporting cast? There's his chauffeur Shrevy up above, along with his secretary Margo Lane, both familiar characters from the radio dramas. Further, Lamont's superior intelligence agent, Weston, is another person heard on the radio. Beyond that, Lamont had agents of his own (in "the Brute," at least) to gather intelligence. None of these characters know Lamont is the Shadow (even though Margo held his confidence on radio).

Lamont cares about his friends to the extent that he'll save them from his foes; however, he also erases their memories and manipulates their actions (re: "the Human Bomb") when it suits his needs. It isn't clear why Margo or Shrevy care for Lamont beyond their duties as his employees. Lamont treats them as subordinates. But the supporting cast's lack of impact on the series could be mitigated by the use of antagonists.

Every good hero deserves to fight the same villain every month?

Out of 8 issues, only one doesn't feature an appearance by Shiwan Khan. In 12 stories total, the Shadow battles Shiwan Khan 7 times; Attila the Hunter, Radiation Rogue and Dr. Demon each twice; the Human Bomb, Dimensionoid, Elasto and the Brute each once. He's also allied with Princess Lua in one story and pit against her in another; plus, there's a vast collection of minor thieves and spies.

Shiwan Khan was the only villain who originated in the Shadow's pulp novels; he appeared four times within two years, yet developed a reputation as the Shadow's greatest foe, even though the Shadow had made more than 300 novels by the time of the Archie comic. Using Shiwan Khan demonstrates the creators had some interest in the character's published history, but I don't see why he needed to be in 7/8 issues; surely the Shadow had other pulp villains who were worth revisiting? Although many other villains were introduced in the comics, usually they served as an accomplice to Shiwan Khan and were eventually betrayed by Khan.

Because the Shadow is repeatedly shown as exceedingly capable - with a gadget to stop anyone - it's hard to imagine his enemies giving him any real difficulty. Even the Brute, the one foe who overcomes everything the Shadow throws at him, is ultimately defeated by the Shadow's mental powers. Some of the Shadow's enemies do have ideas about evading his powers, such as wearing special goggles (Dr. Demon) or painting eyeballs on their eyelids to fool the Shadow (Khan, in "Radiation Rogue"). However, the Shadows powers and gadgets ultimately win out and the villains are often at each other's throats; even when the stakes are high (Khan having nuclear weapons in "Master-Plan"), the Shadow sleepwalks his way through their schemes. And boy, such schemes...

But I haven't even started on the plotting, such as it is.

The series was initially written by Robert Bernstein (issues#1-3, stories #1-6), later by Jerry Siegel (issues#4-8, stories #7-12). I don't know what the workings of Archie Comics would have been at the time - did they use full scripts or "Marvel method?" How much involvement did the editor have over the finished product? Actually, I don't even have the writing credits because Archie didn't supply any; the Grand Comics Database claims Bernstein & Siegel wrote these comics, but they don't explain where their source of information came from.

Under Bernstein, the series was an average secret agent comic book where the author was seemingly forced to make his protagonist an old pulp hero. In Bernstein's last issue, the transition to super hero was made complete; perhaps it had something to do with Bernstein's departure? Perhaps Bernstein's stories were originally written for a secret agent comic but were rewritten to include uses of the Shadow powers and appearances by familiar pulp characters?

By the time Siegel arrived, the series was a super hero extravaganza. Siegel, as co-creator of Superman, really ought to have been up to the concept; after all, at the time he had 25+ years of experience writing comic book, most of them super heroes; he'd worked for every major publisher and self-published. He was not only one of the fathers of the super hero genre, he was one of the fathers of comic book storytelling - full stop! And yet, one wouldn't assume the Shadow#4-8 were written by an experienced professional. The storytelling is so crude it could have been published in 1940, when the medium was young. At times, Siegel's storytelling suggests he has contempt for the very comic he's been hired to write (see the image at the top of this post). The last two issues are filled with smarmy dialogue suggesting the writer can't believe he's wasted 25+ years writing forgettable nonsense for children. And this led to...

The series struggled to extricate the hero from dilemmas without resorting to contrivances.

Even under Bernstein, the Shadow would seemingly forget his powers, especially his trademark power - to become invisible - and thus ignore obvious solutions to his problems. Under Siegel, the situation worsened as the Shadow would use his powers in ridiculous ways (the porcupine-man illusion from "Radiation Rogue") or spring out a variety of gadgets, most of which were not properly set up in advance. The Shadow's Shadow-Gun, belt buckle ray beam, "weakness gas," spring-loaded boots and jet boots would appear as the Shadow needed some quick means to get out of a problem. Other villains have an Achilles heel which isn't brought up until the Shadow exploits it (as in "Game of Death," above). I submit that when the protagonist has vast mental powers and sleuthing abilities, he shouldn't need a deus ex machina to overcome every obstacle. Even if I could forgive the short-cuts in plotting...

Artwork was, at the best of times, functional.

The GCD identified the artist of the first three stories as John Rosenberger; Paul Reinman drew all of the covers and the stories from the fourth on up. Initially, I was very pleased to have a little Reinman art because he demonstrated a minor Kirby influence. However, looking back, Rosenberger was the most consistent artist in terms of panel-to-panel continuity. When Reinman became the artist, important events kept happening off-panel and the lines of perspectives between characters and objects were skewed (such as the size-changing house in "Game of Death"). At times, Reinman could be quite stylish, but for a man of his experience (he'd been in comics almost as long as Siegel), there's no excuse for the quick short-cuts he would take in storytelling (unless it was to match the short-cuts Siegel was making in the plotting). It seems as though Reinman was trying to work outside his limitations, perhaps penciling/inking more pages than he was comfortable with; Kirby had the talent to take on multiple assignments at once without suffering too much (depending on who finished his art), but Reinman seems to be cast adrift on the Shadow, becoming sloppier as he goes (such as the above sequence where the missile's location relative to Dr. Demon changes between panels). Perhaps a good inker could have saved some of Reinman's dignity. But even then...

The series' dialogue becomes increasingly erratic as the book continues.

In my ignorance of the process around how these comics were made, I wonder how much of the awkward dialogue came about because the artists weren't delivering what the plotter asked for. Perhaps the plotter's stories weren't paced properly for the artist, perhaps the plotter forgot certain details he'd intended for the artists to employ. Whatever the reason, dialogue in latter issues of the Shadow is practically at war with the images on the page. In the above sequence from "the Brute," the villain suddenly emits gas to counter the Shadow's gas attack. The Brute had not previously been seen carrying gas cannisters and thus the script has just one panel to establish the Brute has gas and it works to counter the Shadow's. Also, the Brute has to climb out of the pit, all in a single panel!

"The Brute" also has some of the laziest scripting, such as the panel which establishes the location of one scene as "you-know-where" when the audience does not, in fact, know where the scene is set. It's a clumsy attempt at the ingratiating style Stan Lee employed in his scripts, but only serves to highlight how little interest the scripter has in telling the story.

In conclusion

The greatest value of Archie's Shadow is to illustrate how many things can go wrong with a comic book. Between these eight issues, you can find failures in just about everything shy of lettering and colouring. It stands as a curious artifact from the period where Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko were challenging the cliches of the medium while most of their peers were simply clueless.

But is this one of the worst comic books ever made? Not exactly... it is entirely readable. I think a large part of why this comic book developed its reputation is because when the 1960s comic book revolution was occurring, it was stuck in the past; further, it put the Shadow into a ridiculous spandex costume, which no self-proclaimed Shadow fan could sit still for. But heck, the silly tights weren't the worst thing about this comic, as I've observed. The Shadow would eventually star in a number of well-received DC comic books from the 70s to the 90s, then return for the current Dynamite series; he's lived down this blip in his career rather well. As to Siegel and Reinman ...well, some people still give them grief for their other, better-known Archie super hero comics, which have also been called "worst of the 60s" or "worst of all-time." The best thing we can say about Siegel & Reinman is: no one talks about this particular side trip in their otherwise-respected careers.

Charming & troubling: Archer & Armstrong#1

I confess, there's something comforting about Valiant's new Archer & Armstrong#1. I haven't read anything of (or about) the original series, but since I stopped reading Marvel & DC earlier this year, this is the first I've seen of familiar "Big Two" talent like writer Fred Van Lente, artist Clayton Henry and colourist Matt Milla in some time. With the book's evident mismatched buddy comedy setup, it even seems like a natural substitute for fans of Van Lente's Incredible Hercules. However... well, first let's discuss the premise.

Obadiah Archer was raised in a creationist amusement park (that is, a park which depicts humans and dinosaurs side-by-side as young Earth creationists maintain) along with more than a dozen foster brothers and sisters. Having been trained as an expert fighter, Obadiah is chosen to seek out his parents' greatest enemy: a mysterious man called Armstrong who could be thousands of years old, but these days is a drunken poetry-quoting bouncer (at an establishment which apparently can't afford sober security). By the climax of the tale, Archer learns his parents are allies of the 1%, a secret cabal who literally worship Mammon and seek to destroy Greece.

One hopes the first issue of an ongoing series will give you some idea of what to expect on a regular basis. Based on this first issue, I can only assume what the series will be like; Archer & Armstrong will surely become allies at some point, but they aren't such by the end of the issue. We'll eventually learn who and what Armstrong is, but for the purposes of the introduction, he's an old drunken poet. Archer will probably learn to acclimate to the world outside his parents' amusement park with hilarious, tragic and/or tragi-hilarious results. Archer is somewhat appealing as a naive sort as his point of view directs this issue's narrative, but at best he's a right-wing caricature like a Saturday Night Live Sarah Palin sketch.

My summary can't adequately describe the humour in this book. Beyond creationism (including the Great Flood) and the 1%, there are also jokes about obesity ("You can do the educational rides after second lunch!" get it? the joke refers to how overweight the average American is) and homeschooling, but every gag feels too entirely on the nose. It's essentially a one-joke premise: what if the exaggerated version of reality as seen on Fox News and ridiculed by the Colbert Report were the setting of a super hero comic?

I don't really identify with the fundamentalist Christian movement of the USA, so I'm game for a few good jokes about a creationist amusement park (in the real world, Kentucky's governor is trying to make this a reality). But the "joke" is as toothless as a 21st-century Simpsons episode: look! A creationist amusement park! That's it! That's the joke! Similarly, I thought the concept of the 1% would be very funny when I first heard of it, but when they finally emerge (on the last page), it's just to make the most obvious jokes about uber-privileged Americans (such as referencing Wall Street). The only moment I found genuinely amusing was the 1%'s plot to destroy Greece in order to save the Euro, but it belongs in a panel from Van Lente's Action Philosophers! or Comic Book comics - it's too ridiculous for the rest of the book.

Since the humourous (quasi-satirical) premise of this series is presumably what will set it apart from other super hero books on the rack, I wish the comedy had been a little looser, less grounded in reality (just as the premise is exaggerated from reality). Henry is perfectly suited for a super hero comedy (he already has the comedy version of Alpha Flight on his resume), but he doesn't even sell the visual of the creationist amusement park as a comedic effect. His work here looks too entirely like Salvador Larroca or Greg Land, bereft of most backgrounds and relying on the colourist to fill in the details.

I'm willing to try the second issue of Archer & Armstrong out of interest in Van Lente's work, but if none of my concerns are addressed, it will be my last issue. At one point I thought, "what this comic needs to be more like Barack the Barbarian!" Then I thought, "...we're doomed."

Shockingly good: Godzilla - the Half-Century War#1

Here are two selling points: Godzilla and James Stokoe. To the former... I have a passing interest in Godzilla from the movies, but I consider myself a casual fan; I haven't really enjoyed any of the Godzilla comics I've sampled. The the latter... I haven't read any of Stokoe's books despite the rave reviews surrounding Orc Stain (by the time I changed my mind, the early issues were sold out).

However, people on the internet have been talking about IDW's Godzilla: the Half-Century War, so here was a potentially good point to jump into Stokoe's work and find out what I'd been missing. I was prepared to be unmoved by this comic, but I was not prepared to fall head-over-heels in love.

Even a lightweight Godzilla fan such as I can see how much love Stokoe has for the franchise. My favourite Godzilla films are Godzilla 1985 (1984) and Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002). I find the worst part of a Godzilla film is usually whatever plot the human characters are involved in, but these two pictures have very good human plots with characters you actually root for as they stand up against Godzilla (as opposed to yelling at the screen, "Eat them all Godzilla! They're too stupid to live!"). Similarly, Stokoe's Godzilla: the Half-Century War is grounded from the perspective of Ota Murakami, a hapless tank crew member who finds himself living through the events of the original Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956).

Stokoe is a... what, quadruple threat? Writer, artist, colourist, letterer. His Godzilla is loaded with details, but it doesn't overwhelm the characters or the action. Appropriately, some of his cues are from manga (ie, facial expressions, some dialogue balloons). As a minor fan, I certainly appreciated the "krsh!" sound effect as Godzilla powers up his atomic breath...

...But where I caved in was the depiction of Godzilla's roar. It seems Stokoe drew it in the same shape as the wave pattern from an audio recording of Godzilla roaring in the films. This is... wow. Oh, wow. How often do I get to see something done with the language of comic books that's new to me? Something I haven't seen done before? Outstanding.

Godzilla: the Half-Century War will only run five issues, but promises to feature different versions of Godzilla from over the decades. I'm committed to seeing this one through; beautiful art, lettering, colours and likeable characters; I only wish this were an ongoing series! Once again, IDW has a winner in my eyes; the sooner the industry starts taking cues from them, the sooner we can get back fun, quality books of merit across the line.

History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

Found in 15 Disturbing Things We Need to Know:

"Yet to displace [the Democratic Party] with a Republican regime embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to this nation. The nation sorely needs a Republican victory. But I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny — Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear."

"I doubt if the Republican Party could - simply because I don't believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest."

- Margaret Chase Smith, 1950.

A tale of two movies

Objective, Burma! (1945)

It was about... How the USA drove Japan from Burma during World War 2.

Except... The USA had very little to do with the real life events, it was a British operation.

The reaction was... Outrage in British newspapers and censure from PM Winston Churchill.

Therefore, ultimately... The film was pulled from theaters in the UK. When it did return to the UK, it came packaged with a apologetic opening message. It was nominated for 3 Academy Awards, but didn't win any. Decades later it found a new life on VHS & DVD.

U-571 (2000)

It was about... How the USA captured an Enigma machine from a German submarine during World War 2.

Except... The USA had nothing to do with the real life events, it was a British operation.

The reaction was... Outrage in international newspapers and censure from PM Tony Blair.

Therefore, ultimately... The film remained in theaters with a post-script disclaimer explaining the truth about the events. It was nominated for 2 Academy Awards and won one; it also won a BMI award, among many other nominations. It quickly found a new life on the soon-obsolete VHS, then DVD, then the quickly-abandoned HD-DVD and now Blu-Ray.

I think in about 45 years we can expect a film about how the USA won the Battle of Britain. I imagine with the right disclaimer, it could sweep the Oscars!

The horrific strangeness of Charley's War

One of the perks of being a librarian is that every so often, something crosses your work space which is tied directly to your personal interests. Certainly, whenever something related to comic books arrives, I take a few (or more than a few) moments to appreciate the item. However, when it comes to the occasional black & white British war comic... I'm happy to move them along the assembly line to one of my colleagues.

My ever-insightful friend Colin Smith talked about the apprehensions regarding such material in a brilliant article about Charley's War found here. Certainly it reflected on my own reluctance to crack open a British war comic; they look cheaply made and have an air of being either immensely juvenile or exploitative. Trusting in Colin's summation of the series, I felt I owed it to myself to try at least the first volume of Charley's War, as collected by Titan Books.

The artwork of Joe Colquhoun took some getting used to, but I think by the second chapter of the book I was already immensely impressed at the amount of detail placed into recreating World War I in all its misery. The odd typeset font was even more challenging, but one grows accustomed to it. What I found most impressive was writer Pat Mills' efforts to make war believeable; it isn't all chest-thumping heroics or hell on Earth - moments such as when the naive Charley mistakes smoke from shelling for poisonous fumes feels authentic.

As the rain falls on the just and unjust alike, there's a memorable sequence where a German flamethrower kills the men operating it. Scenes such as these reinforce the brutality and senseless aspects of war, but make it seem slightly ridiculous as well. The horrific strangeness of war.

Surely the strangest and most surreal part of Charley's War are the letters to and from home which are constantly at odds with the events going on in the battlefield, never more so than a letter from Charley's abrupt and clueless Aunt Mabel.

Reading this first volume, I think the series was best served in its original format, serialized in a late 70s British war anthology series. Although combining the episodes together maintains the flow from chapter to chapter, probably the series' power with its original audience lay in not knowing how the series would pan out; the anthology could go on publishing for years and years, but there'd be no guarantee Charley's War would be within their pages; surely if Mad Mick or Pop could die so suddenly and easily, Charley Bourne could be no exception to the rule; knowing Charley's story carries on for another 100 pages at a time over a dozen more volumes deflates some of the tension of whether Charley survives; then again, as Erich Maria Remarque observed, even those who "escaped shells, were destroyed by the war."

Bitter Fruit#12: "The Shadow Versus:...Radiation Rogue, Dr. Demon, Attila the Hunter, the Insidious Elasto and the Diabolical Dimensionoid in the Game of Death!"

Greetings! This is the final review in my series "Bitter Fruit," an examination of Archie Comics' 1960s Shadow comic books, featuring the famous pulp hero as a spandex-wearing super dude. Today we're looking at the final issue, the Shadow#8: "The Shadow Versus:...Radiation Rogue, Dr. Demon, Attila the Hunter, the Insidious Elasto and the Diabolical Dimensionoid in the Game of Death!" is our overwritten title; check out the cover:

As with issue#7, the Shadow is featured in the left corner. The villain on the cover is evidently Elasto, who seems to have elongation powers and frequents haunted houses. It's interesting to note he's wearing the same clothing colours and white hair as Superman's foe Mr. Mxyzptlk. The Shadow doesn't seem too upset about being grabbed by an enormous hand; perhaps a speech balloon could have made this "action" seem a little more interesting.

We open on the title page and I suppose I should comment again on the title: some of you will recall we met Dr. Demon in issue #4, Radiation Rogue in issue#5 and Attila the Hunter in issue#6. One assumes we're about to meet Dimensionoid and Elasto; I do hope we may finally go one issue without Shiwan Khan! We open on a typical scene in Manhattan: a green alien is raising his fists at a New Yorker while the Shadow swings from... uh, above, upon a rope. We can only see the alien from behind, but the Shadow doubts he's a real alien because he uses "his fists, instead of some fantastic weapon," which is dubious logic. Perhaps he's a very strong alien? More to the point, it's an alien! Shouldn't this be a big deal?

As the alien backs the New Yorker into an alleyway, the Shadow's voice interrupts him and mentions the man being menaced is Peter Jordan, a wealthy heir. The Shadow enters the alleyway on foot, so you might wonder why he was riding a rope on the title page. As the Shadow explains to Peter he heard about his life being threatened in the newspapers, the alien pulls out a bolo (aha! we have "some fantastic weapon" at last!) and waxes poetically about its noise being a "symphony of doom!" The Shadow uses his hypnotic powers to make himself seem dazzlingly brilliant, blinding the alien so he misses the Shadow with his bolo. He could have simply become invisible, but this works too. However, Peter Jordan suddenly pulls out a gas gun and knocks the Shadow out with its fumes. The alien unmasks himself as someone named "Miguel."

Miguel wants to unmask the Shadow, but Peter kicks him in the hand, demanding he be left alone. A waiting car pulls up and an accomplice helps carry the Shadow aboard as they make way to "Destination K." As they drive, Peter muses about how the Shadow's "every fibre will be exerted in the defense of me, his secret opponent!" They end their trip at "an isolated vast estate on Long Island." A waiting security guard reminds Miguel to keep away from the fence because it's electrified; I wonder what this says about Miguel's intelligence? Peter wants to appear "manhandled," so he pays Miguel $1,000 in cash to punch him. This satisfies Peter who tells Miguel to leave with the truck while the truck driver helps carry the Shadow into the estate.

Within the estate's briefing room, the Shadow's still-slumbering form is brought before Radiation Rogue, Dr. Demon, Attila the Hunter, Elasto and the Diabolical Dimensionoid. Peter brags about how he's succeeded where they failed. Wait, what? Who are Elasto and the "Diabolical" Dimensionoid? And why are Radiation Rogue & Dr. Demon reappearing alive when they were last seen supposedly dying (Dr. Demon leapt from a castle to his death, Radiation Rogue was crushed under a wall and had only a brief amount of hours left anyway). Yes, it's an old cliche of the serial to have villains return from seeming death, but at least we had an explanation for Attila the Hunter's survival; if Radiation Rogue & Dr. Demon survived their deaths, then Shadow wasn't doing his job at the time to let them go.

Peter soon qualifies his statement, recalling only three of them have fought the Shadow before but "two of you thirst to achieve that distinction." Peter has agreed to pay each villain $1 million dollars, but he's arranged a "Game of Death" (starring Bruce Lee) wherein only the man who defeats the Shadow in battle can remove his mask, but Peter will be accompanying the Shadow throughout the game. Peter refuses to explain his motivation in all of this. Elasto then interrupts, declaring "I, the insidious Elasto, hate myself!!!" Dang, an emo super villain! He turned up at least 30 years too soon! Elasto regales all assembled with his origin: he was an FBI scientist exposed to a chemical explosion in his lab; the explosion split his personality so that his "evil nature" causes him to commit crimes; in a flashback, we see him rob a jewelry store, then burst into tears and apologize for it.

Peter asks the Dimensionoid about his motivation: the Dimensionoid reveals he's from the 13th Dimension and can reshape his rocky body into any form. He wants to join "the Fiends of Garnn, a cabal of ultra-villains" in his home dimension and destroying the Shadow is his initiation stunt. Peter declares the game has begun and soon the Shadow wakes up in a laboratory within the estate. Peter pretends to be afraid so the Shadow won't suspect him. The Shadow notices a painting of Radiation Rogue and recalls how the villain died; suddenly, Radiation Rogue bursts through the painting. Boy, he loves a good entrance!

The second chapter begins as Radiation Rogue takes off his right glove to unleash his radiation. However, the Shadow grabs the discarded glove to protect himself... wait, how does that work? How did he get past Radiation Rogue running at him with a bare radioactive hand, grab the glove, then turn to face him? Again, fight choreography is not this title's strong suit. Even with the glove, Radiation Rogue is still able to release enough radiation to weaken the Shadow, but the Shadow manages to kick him into a wall and knock him unconscious. He leaves Radiation Rogue lying behind a machine, gambling its lead parts will shield he and Peter from the radiation.

The Shadow tries to escort Peter out of the estate, but Peter claims he has the power of "super-intuition" and suggests they follow one of his hunches. This, naturally, leads them into another trap as a chute opens up from... something. One panel they're on solid ground, the next they're... falling? ...down a chute. Ugh. They land inside an arena filled with wax statue spectators. Attila the Hunter enters with a battle axe in hand and attacks the Shadow. The Shadow tries to trick Attila with the illusion of a guillotine, but Attila's having none of it. "Only a coward would hide behind magical weapons! Can you not fight like a man?" Attila asks. The Shadow agrees and instead pulls out a whistle and adjusts a dial so its "destructive vibrations" will destroy Attila's axe. In other words, it's a typical Shadow solution to a problem: pull a gadget out of nowhere. Attila grabs a mace to continue the fight, but Peter intervenes and quickly knocks out Attila. This surprises the Shadow, but Peter pretends to faint to maintain his charade of being timid.

The Shadow carries Peter out of the estate, but Peter "accidentally" calls out aloud, attracting the attention of Dr. Demon and his henchmen (I guess the henchmen weren't invited to the briefing room). Dr. Demon and his men are all wearing goggles to shield their eyes from the Shadow's powers and he has a ridiculous weapon: "der Targorang rocket!" The Shadow dodges the rocket by activating the springs in his boots (which he used last issue), but the rocket is trained to follow him wherever he goes. Thus, the Shadow activates air-jets in his boots so he can fly (because I guess he can do that now), lands on the rocket in a totally-not-suggestive image and alters its direction so it'll hit Dr. Demon.

Again, we have some terrible fight choreography. Dr. Demon sees the rocket flying towards him and orders one of his men to detonate the rocket immediately. One would think the explosion would kill him because its already so close, but instead the next panel shows the rocket exploding in the sky somewhere past Dr. Demon. One also wonders why Dr. Demon's henchman didn't simply detonate the rocket while the Shadow was riding it. At this, Dr. Demon and his henchmen transform into "real Shadow-Men," ink-black creatures who can drain "bodily energy" by touching the Shadow. However, the Shadow presses a button on his belt buckle and it emits a light which dissolves the "Shadow-Men." Does this mean Dr. Demon and his men are dead? As is often the case with the Shadow, I'm left asking, "what happened?"

The Shadow's boots are damaged (when did that happen?) so he can't fly over the fence, which Peter points out is electrified. Suddenly, the Dimensionoid appears and transfoms into a giant "destruction-ball." The Shadow and Peter hide behind the estate as the Dimensionoid plows into it, destroying the building. Does this mean Radiation Rogue & Attila were killed? Also, the building suddenly seems much smaller - the perspective in these panels is horrible. The Shadow runs to Dr. Demon's gadgets and fires a "flame-missile" at Dimensionoid, but the villain hollows out his middle to dodge the attack. Transforming into a wheel, the Dimensionoid tries to run over Peter, but the Shadow hypnotizes him into assuming a form which just so happens is "the one shape" which will send the Dimensionoid back to the 13th Dimension, "never to return." Uh, whatever.

Peter starts talking about his intuition again and the Shadow agrees to follow (because it worked so well before), leading them into the ambush of Elasto! Mirroring the cover, Elasto increases his hand size to crush the Shadow, all the while declaring how he abhors violence and pities having to use his power against the Shadow.

We now enter the final chapter. As Elasto mentions he has "unlimited stretching abilities," the Shadow challenges him to stretching himself "as high as the ionosphere in Earth's upper atmosphere." Because super villains operate on fairy tale logic, Elasto agrees and then decides to overachieve, stretching above the ionosphere until he runs out of oxygen; he quickly reverts to his normal length and collapses from oxygen deprivation. Peter again offers to guide the Shadow and leads him into a swimming pool, then through a tube-exit on the bottom of the pool. When they emerge on the other side of the estate's fence, the Shadow finally reveals he knows Peter is his enemy and has known since Peter defeated Attila in combat.

Peter now finally explains his motivation: he's extremely bored and thought having the Shadow battle all these criminals at his side would be exciting. The Shadow declares "You're sickening! You'd better see a psychiatrist!" However, Peter pulls a gun on the Shadow and threatens to kill him, but the Shadow merely laughs. Having looked into Peter's mind, the Shadow knows he can't bring himself to murder anyone. The Shadow simply walks away as Peter finds he's right: he can't pull the trigger. Peter muses the Shadow has won the game of death (but like Bruce Lee, this is his final performance).

Hooray! We made it through an issue without Shiwan Khan!

This issue was again created by Jerry Siegel & Paul Reinman. What does this issue get right? Seeing so many super villains (none of them Shiwan Khan) is a nice change and the Shadow's ultimate solution to the matter, simply reading Peter Jordan's mind to see he's not a killer, is nicely executed.

What does this issue get wrong? Pretty much everything else. Again, the Shadow's gadgets appear and disappear as the plot demands. Perspective, action and sequential storytelling in general is abysmal. Characters are simplistic, dialogue is dull. Other than that, how was the show, Mrs. Lincoln?

This issue features yet another "Adventures of the Shadow" text story. The last entry broke off as Lamont Cranston entered Weston's cottage and found himself looking "into the face of Death." It turns out he's facing an "Oriental" with a gun. Weston is now described as an agent of the American Secret Service, the first agency he was linked to, rather than C.H.I.E.F. (which was made into a major plot element in issue #5, then forgotten). The Oriental turns out to be Shiwan Khan. Since Khan is a Fu Manchu rip-off, the author indulges in ripping off Sax Rohmer's famous description of Fu Manchu: "Visualize, atop the mighty physique, a huge bald head with an enormous cranium. See, crafty, squinting eyes glaring madly out of a cruel, harsh face..." etc. Shiwan Khan demands to learn everything Lamont knows about the Shadow, and there the story ends.

Next time: I'm done reviewing the issues, but I'll soon be back to discuss the series as a whole; what went wrong? Is it, ultimately, as bad as people claim? You may already know the answers.