It may have just been posted on the website but we plan on creating a radio drama based on the Dead Guardian comic. For a period in my childhood I used to listen to The Shadow religiously so I thought what better way to research the medium then dusting off my old tapes. After listening to about half a dozen programs I started to notice just how different the protagonist was compared to modern day “superheroes”. This got me thinking why was The Shadow so much different to what we have come to embrace today as a “hero”. Was he a product of the times and if so could he survive today’s market?

Let’s start by looking at The Shadow himself and who or what he was. In the radio drama The Shadow’s alter ego was Lamont Cranston and he was accompanied by his constant companion Margo Lane. As The Shadow Lamont dressed in a black coat or suit, black fedora, red scarf over part of his face, twin pistols, and a black crimson lined cape. The Shadow had the ability to cloud men’s minds to become “invisible” which he used to fight crime. Sounds pretty simple compared to the powers current characters have. The interesting thing is how he used these powers and appearance to his advantage. That’s about it, these were his tools and equipment for fighting crime or was it?

I now want to briefly to discuss his appearance which I think ties into another “power” he used to fight crime which was… fear. The Shadow’s appearance was that of a traditional villain dressed in all black with his face covered like a bank robber. Compare this to the brightly colored Mardis Grais esque outfits worn by modern day heroes or even Superman if you will whose costume hasn’t significantly changed since he appeared. When it comes to a nut putting on a costume to fight crime The Shadow’s is much more believable then tights or spandex. If we look at other pulp characters almost all of them wore everyday clothing, why this sudden change in all future heroes? I can’t pinpoint it but I have a feeling it’s a sign of the times and the environment when they were created. If we think about it the pulp heroes first appeared in the 30′s, a decade of grit and hardship hence their harsher look and approach. Time to get back to the whole fear aspect, this goes hand in hand with ability to become invisible. If you have never listened to the The Shadow radio dramas his voice was scary, especially for a child to hear! He would creep the s*** out of me but I loved it and kept coming back for more. His voice combined with the inability to see him would have for sure turned me off a life of crime if I were a criminal. These days there are heroes who use fear as a weapon but it is much more extreme and spelled out for you as opposed to fear of the unknown. This again ties back to the times with the great depression behind them a war brewing in Europe who knew what was around the corner. Today the character that is closet to that of the pulp heroes I feel is Batman (who was a partial rip off of The Shadow) but he has definitely changed with the times as well. When Batman appeared he was mysterious, a creature of the shadows, and carried a gun which he used! As with anyone who wants to stay in the media eye he had to change and adapt with the times be it from the goofy carefree silver age stories to the gloomy tales of the 80′s.

Batman’s ability to to stay relevant brings me to the question could The Shadow or other pulp heroes make it in comics today? My short answer is no, but why? and what other forms could they make a splash in? As a society we are not in the same place as we were when these characters first appeared and who knows when we will be again. The Shadow already had a film in the mid 90′s which was very forgettable and now on the horizon its been revealed that Sam Raimi will finally get to do his take on the character. Will the new film succeed where the last didn’t? Unfortunately I have to say I don’t think so, the movie going public doesn’t seem enticed by these adventures or characters anymore. An example of this is Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, a fantastic well made story which absolutely flopped at the box office. So movies may not be the right forum but what could work? I think The Shadow if done right could make a phenomenal stealth/action video game, think about it… A return to the air waves also seems ripe for the picking, can anybody say podcasts? We need to stop restricting these characters to comics and movies (or TV)! We are now in a multi-media age and need to think outside of the box.

My closing thought for this entry is that I feel many modern heroes seem to have lost their steam and should maybe take a break. What if Marvel stopped publishing Daredevil (just a random example) for a couple of years to give the character some time to rest and just do the odd guest appearance a few times a year in other titles. In time a demand would grow to see these characters back in their own ongoing monthly titles, perfect examples are Hal Jordan and Ollie Queen. I know the publishers would never do it but think about it.

Further Reading:
The Shadow’s Wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow
A site where you can download some old Shadow shows: www.oldtimeradiofans.com
A neat fan site: www.shadowsanctum.net

Matt Jowett
Contact: matt.jowett@3inq.com
Website: http://www.3inq.com