The Shadow Knows ...

[Three]

Hey there. With the rise of a lot of older properties coming back into comic form such as the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet, I have to wonder where is the Shadow? I am a fan of Lamont thanks to my father who grew up listening to the old radio show and continues to do so to this day. If any pulp figure would lend itself to a more modern take it would be the Shadow. I invision a grim and gritty take on the character much like the Dark Horse version from a long while back, but done in a Sin City type manner.

Any more Shadow agents out there waiting for a return as well? I was thinking about emailing Dynamite and suggesting that they look at this property to pick up.

[Kongzilla]

Why Dynamite for heaven's sake? The public domain part of the character is for EVERYONE. Dynamite have no more or less right to it than anyone else on God's green earth, in fact the more versions the better.

[Ed Love]

Excepting the Shadow is NOT public domain. Street & Smith was very good at renewing their copyrights. Didio at DC has mentioned that they were pursuing to use the Shadow as part of their pulp-Earth, but no other mention has been made while we've seen Doc Savage and notes on the Avenger.

[TwinPistols]

Why Dynamite for heaven's sake?

They're not the end all and be all of revitalizing properties like this, no. But they are very good. I've been picking up The Lone Ranger and Zorro in trade from them and they're being handled extremely well. So far, so good with Green Hornet, so they have a good track record for something like this.

I do agree that this character is well worth it. I've only seen the Alec Baldwin movie, which apparently everybody hated, but just the concept of the character alone is ultra-cool. I'd be interested in taking a look, regardless of who would ultimately wind up with the character.


-Pistols

[Kongzilla]

Excepting the Shadow is NOT public domain. Street & Smith was very good at renewing their copyrights. Didio at DC has mentioned that they were pursuing to use the Shadow as part of their pulp-Earth, but no other mention has been made while we've seen Doc Savage and notes on the Avenger.

Caution- fact check in progress.

The Shadow is most definitely in the public domain, as are many other characters, to the extent that certain pulps, novelisations, matinee serials and radio dramas are all in the public domain. The trademarked name is not useable, but anyone who can't think up a good name has no business attempting a resurrection in the first place.

Those public domain resources are absolutely beyond any doubt useable, quotable, rewriteable or what have you. One trademark check later, you can go for gold.

And as for trusting DC's word- they won't even pay for their own creator owned properties, they heisted many a public domain character into their horrible universe and now attempt to represent that public domain material as somehow theirs- eg their disgusting Kid Eternity parody... And the beat goes on.

Don't ask a fox for advice on chickens. It just won't end well.

[jsf]

I'm pretty sure Conde Nast owns the rights to the Shadow. Here's a link I found to a discussion about this vis-a-vis the status of Doc Savage:

http://boingboing.net/2006/04/08/con...sues-over.html

And I'd love to see Dynamite do a Shadow series. Get Brubaker to write it, and it'd be gold.

[Ed Love]

I've done research in this area at the Library of Congress. Street & Smith and Conde Nast were diligent in following up their copyrights and renewals for their pulps and comics. They even copyrighted and renewed their radio scripts, one of the few ways to nail down some protection for the radio shows.

There are pulps and radio shows are public domain, but it's either because of the passage of time aka Tarzan and John Carter of Mars who were published decades earlier or they didn't renew their copyrights as the case of Fiction House. Neither of these fit Shadow or Doc Savage (or the Spider and G-8 from another publisher who renewed their copyrights).

[Ben Akers]

While The Shadow would work at Dynamite, I think I'd rather see it as part of DC's First Wave pulp line. To see the character interact with Doc Savage, the Spirit and the "pulp" version of Batman would be incredibly exciting.

[HaroldAllnut]

Why Dynamite for heaven's sake? The public domain part of the character is for EVERYONE. Dynamite have no more or less right to it than anyone else on God's green earth, in fact the more versions the better.

I thought DC still holds the rights? Didn't Howard Chaykin do a Shadow mini for them a while back?

[Three]

I thought DC still holds the rights? Didn't Howard Chaykin do a Shadow mini for them a while back?

I do not believe so. The last Shadow "comic" to be published seemed to be from Enternity Comics back in 1997. I wish DC did hold the rights. More of THIS would be awesome.

[thwhtGuardian]

It's too bad Condé Nast Publications isn't doing anything with the shadow. It's weird, they're letting DC use Doc Savage but aren't doing anything with the Shadow. Or maybe it's not they're fault and that DC decided not to use the Shadow in favor of using Batman.

[fod_xp]

Man, I wish I could get the entire The Shadow radio show. As a history major and comic fan, I think that would be really cool!

[Ed Love]

The Shadow pulp stories are being reprinted with the original illustrations along with their other major pulp heroes Doc Savage, the Avenger and the Whisperer. The reprints often contain new essays by Will Murray and usually other extras like scripts from the radio show or other short stories that are related somehow. A movie has been in the works with talks of Sam Raimi involvement now that he's not doing Spider-Man IV. I'd say that's them doing something with the character.

I find it interesting DC felt the need to put the pulp characters on another Earth, in order for Doc Savage to be that Earth's Superman and then plop Batman on the same Earth. The problem with the main post-Crisis Earth is that every hero is made to be lesser than Superman and Batman by the creators and fans. If Superman is a problem for Doc Savage, then Batman is going to be a problem for him, the Avenger and the Shadow if they get around to him as well.

[jsf]

The Shadow pulp stories are being reprinted with the original illustrations along with their other major pulp heroes Doc Savage, the Avenger and the Whisperer. The reprints often contain new essays by Will Murray and usually other extras like scripts from the radio show or other short stories that are related somehow. A movie has been in the works with talks of Sam Raimi involvement now that he's not doing Spider-Man IV. I'd say that's them doing something with the character.

I find it interesting DC felt the need to put the pulp characters on another Earth, in order for Doc Savage to be that Earth's Superman and then plop Batman on the same Earth. The problem with the main post-Crisis Earth is that every hero is made to be lesser than Superman and Batman by the creators and fans. If Superman is a problem for Doc Savage, then Batman is going to be a problem for him, the Avenger and the Shadow if they get around to him as well.

I agree. They needed to simply assign a great creative team (which they did), and let that be the draw. At some point strong stories and good art have to be able to carry a book. But as soon as Batman shows up, it's just a variation of "Brave and the Bold".

[thwhtGuardian]

I agree. They needed to simply assign a great creative team (which they did), and let that be the draw. At some point strong stories and good art have to be able to carry a book. But as soon as Batman shows up, it's just a variation of "Brave and the Bold".

I don't think that's a fair assumption to make, I think they do have a great creative team for first wave, and if issue one and the Batman/Doc Savage story are anything to go by First Wave is going to be a really great read all on it's own, not just because it's Batman the Brave and the Bold.