THE SHADOW & GHOST Part 1

You've seen The Shadow with both The Batman and The Avenger...

...now lets' look at his never-reprinted one-shot team-up with an already-deceased (but extremely-active) heroine!

The story concludes tomorrow on our "sister" blog, Heroines™!

Like many cross-over stories featuring licensed characters, this Dark Horse Comics one-shot from 1995 has never been reprinted.

Written by Doug Moench (who had previously scripted the acclaimed b/w Doc Savage magazine for Marvel in the 1970s), penciled by HM Baker, and inked by Bernard Kolle, this book was the last appearance for Dark Horse's version of the Shadow after the Alec Baldwin feature film tanked.

The Shadow can be found in his own title from Dynamite Entertainment!

Details HERE!

Ghost has been appearing in the anthology Dark Horse Presents, and returns in her own title later this month!

Details HERE!

Buy them at your local comic shop!

THE SHADOW "Night of the Avenger" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

Art by Mike Kaluta

Somebody is assembling enough arms and men to form a small army.

Who?

A team of assassins lead by Smitty, one of The Avenger's aides, attempts to kill The Shadow.

Why?

Margo Lane, aide and confidante to The Shadow attempts to kill The Avenger.

What?

Clues lead both The Shadow (and his aides) and The Avenger (and his aides) to a lonely stretch of New Jersey beachfront where a massive weapons cache is discovered.
When the two groups meet, each believes the arms depot belongs to the other, and...

In the 1970s, both Marvel and DC revived pulp characters whose paperback reprints were selling very well.

Marvel licensed Doc Savage, and DC grabbed both The Shadow and The Avenger.
Due to the fact Marvel had trademarked The Avengers, DC's Avenger book was titled Justice, Inc. (the name of The Avenger's organization.)*
The Shadow lasted 12 issues, Justice, Inc. only 4.
While some of the 1970s Shadow run, specifically the issues superbly-illustrated by Mike Kaluta, have been reprinted in book form, this issue has not.
*Similarly, when a comic based on the British TV spy series The Avengers was done in the late 1960s, it was called John Steed & Mrs. Peel!

Next Week:

Sherlock Holmes Returns!

THE SHADOW "Night of the Avenger" Part 1

Recipe for mayhem; take two heroes, add one arch-villain...

...mix with assorted aides and assistants, stir, and serve HOT!

Next Week...

Action!

Suspense!

Secrets REVEALED!

Don't Miss It!

THE BATMAN & THE SHADOW "Night of the Shadow" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

Bruce Wayne is the kid on the right. Art by Nick Cardy.

25 years ago, Dr Thomas Wayne and his young son Bruce were caught in the crossfire between a gang of jewel thieves led by Willie Hank Stamper and the mysterious figure known as The Shadow.

Stamper was imprisoned.

The Shadow disappeared.

Bruce Wayne later became The Batman after another encounter with a criminal left his parents dead.

Willie Stamper served his time and was released.

Now Stamper seeks to recover his ill-gotten gains, restart his career as the "Genius of Crime" and avenge himself on those who he feels caused his imprisonment...including Bruce Wayne!

One of the basic tropes of pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Batman (except for a couple of early Golden Age tales) was that The Batman never uses firearms (grapnel, flare, and water guns notwithstanding).

While it's always been a noble concept, and The Batman is equipped with enough non-lethal weaponry to deal with almost anything, it's never really been explained, except in a general "I hate guns" way.

Denny O'Neil found a way to both explain it, and justify the fact that The Batman, while idolizing The Shadow, didn't want to follow in his "the only good crook is a dead crook" methods.
The dedication at the end to writer Bill Finger was an unofficial way to acknowledge his co-creation of The Batman as well as the fact that The Shadow (both the magazine and radio versions) heavily-influenced the way Batman finally appeared from Detective Comics #27 onward...
Art by Irv Novick and Dick Giordano.

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THE BATMAN & THE SHADOW "Night of the Shadow" Part 1

Here's another classic crossover story that will never be reprinted...

...because after it was published in Batman #259 (1974), DC lost the rights to The Shadow!

We (and Bruce Wayne / Batman) will find out next week!

This was the second (and final) crossover between The Batman and The Shadow.

Shortly after this tale, DC Comics lost the rights to The Shadow, which they had licensed from Conde Nast.

DC would regain the rights in the 1980s, along with Doc Savage (whom Marvel licensed at the same time DC licensed The Shadow and The Avenger in the 1970s), resulting in the first Shadow/Doc Savage team-up. (The two had appeared together in a Supersnipe story in the 1940s, but not as a team.)

Like the previous Batman / Shadow tale, this story has never been reprinted in any hardcover or trade paperback, nor will it.

So, unless you already have a copy, or can scrounge one up from the back issue boxes, this is the only time you'll see it.

Support Small Business

Visit the

 Comics Collectibles Shop 

for goodies featuring other Silver Age heroes, besides The Batman and The Shadow!