"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott
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"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." |
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By publishing their magazines (including Behind
the Mask & Action Adventure Stories, Detective Mystery Stories, and Echoes),
Tom and Ginger Johnson over the last 20 years have shone new light on
countless "lost" stories from the pulp heyday. The Johnsons' website offers a wealth of information on pulp history. Direct correspondence to Virginia E. Johnson or to editor@lifeloom.com. |
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15 August, 1938 |
The Shadow
The Shadow was the pulps' greatest crime fighter. Beginning in April 1931, shortly after the Wall Street crash of ’29, the character reached a reading public which was tired of the 1920s gangsters phase, and looking for a hero. Part-time magician and full time crime-reporter, Walter B. Gibson created the master crime fighter. The character was a man of mystery, master of disguise, who could detect unseen crime and unravel mysterious puzzles. But perhaps his most memorable cases involved criminal gangs with whom he fought. He prowled at night, wearing black clothes which included a long cape and slouch hat. In his hands was usually a pair of .45 automatics, and on his lips a weird, mocking laugh that taunted the underworld to do its best! There were 325 issues of The Shadow, each featuring a lead story with a crime to be solved by the intrepid crime fighter. Walter Gibson wrote the majority of these novels as Maxwell Grant, but the editors brought in other writers at times to keep Gibson from demanding more money for his stories. Usually the stories suffered at the hands of others. After all, Gibson knew his character best, and eventually got his way. Street & Smith published The Shadow. They had been around since the 1850s, the dime novels, and Nick Carter. They almost brought Nick Carter back as The Shadow. They were advertising Detective Mystery Hour on radio, when one of the narrators began calling himself The Shadow. Listeners started asking their local magazine distributor for “that Shadow magazine.” Street & Smith was in a hurry to copyright the name, and started to bring back dime novel detective Nick Carter stories to run as The Shadow. Thankfully, Walt Gibson showed up with a story and character that fit the image, and was given the job writing the lead stories of The Shadow. The publication of The Shadow brought many imitators from other publishers. But The Shadow outlasted them all, ending in the summer of 1949, after 18 years and 325 novels. Copyright 2005 by Virginia E. Johnson |
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"Oh
what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." |
