KNIGHT OF DARKNESS: The Legend of the Shadow by Will Murray (2025)

 

The Shadow Master strikes again!

This is Will Murray’s THIRD fact-packed Shadow book of the past couple years (following Master of Mystery and Dark Avenger), and much as I enjoyed the first two, I have to say this is my favorite.

Why?  The one blazes a wide swath through the popular culture of earlier times—and our own. While the focus remains on all things Shadowiana, Mr. Murray examines them within the context of the various forms of media, and provides a wide-angle look at the careers and personalities of the people behind the various programs, publications, stories, artwork and films

In short, this volume paints a broad canvas, helping to bring our hero’s long and continuing career into even sharper focus.

The author begins even before the radio show, ruminating on the roots of the character concept, then delves into the life and career who came up with name for the radio voice, and takes us behind the scenes to Walter Gibson’s first encounter with the Shadow, well before his fabled visit to the offices of Street and Smith. Murray even and delves into the life and career of the man who chose Gibson to be the Shadow’s raconteur. These are subjects I’ve seen discussed nowhere else.

The whole book is like that. We’re treated to a lengthy and highly enlightening interview with Mr. Gibson, followed by articles on Gibson’s Shadow and non-Shadow work in the pulps, radio and comic books, and finally his efforts in later years to promote his hero’s revival.

Moving through the years, we take a dive into the Shadow’s first encounters with Batman, into the little-known TV pilot, relive the modern-age rebirth of Shadow comic books, and look at the making of the 1994 Universal film.

The result is over 300 pages of fascinating info, peppered with more than 50 fine illustrations by Mr. Michael Kaluta, one of the greatest Shadow artists of all time. It’s a must-have for all admirers of the Knight of Darkness!

The Wild Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Volume 5

Yes, Dr. Murray has done it again. These Sherlock adventures keep pouring from his wild imagination, and by his own count he’s only three stories and four novels behind Sir Arthur himself. Come on, Will. You can catch him!

This latest volume brings us ten fine tales culled from many of the prestigious Sherlockian anthologies the author has contributed to.

Two of the most intriguing stories feature a new rival by the name of Reynard Renbourne. Though the character, and the stories, bear no particular resemblance to the TV series “The Blacklist,” I have to wonder if the name was inspired by the equally intriguing Raymond Reddington. Rather than solve or prevent crimes, Renbourne advises would-be villains how to commit them without getting caught. Fun stuff.

This one also features the return of Giles Greengold, a baddie more in the Moriarty mode, who made his debut in an earlier volume, and the return of a sketchy art dealer we met way back in Volume 1. And Holmes has a particularly tough time when he’s poisoned by his own client.

One of the coolest—and most difficult—mysteries involves a phantom with huge white eyes and a pig’s snout, who comes out of the fog to accost unwary citizens. Who is he? What is he? Holmes is on the hunt, and won’t be satisfied until he finds out. And neither will you.

All ten cases present tough little problems, to which Holmes provides clever and often surprising solutions. The supporting characters, both high and low born, are consistently well-drawn, adding sugar and spice to the proceedings. And the familiar presence of Mrs. Hudson, Inspector Lestrade and Wiggins keep us grounded in Sherlock’s world

As always, though, the heart and soul of the stories rests upon the unique personalities and enduring friendship of Holmes and Watson themselves. Dr. Murray brings them alive on every page, and leaves us eager to spend more time with them.

Will we get to? The author says he’ll have to pen seven more stories to fill another volume. My message to him is, “Get busy!”

GANGLAND'S DOOM - The Shadow of the Pulps (50th Anniversary Edition)

Frank Eisgruber’s 1974 book GANGLAND’S DOOM was the result of a herculean effort—reading all 325 Shadow pulp novels and gathering his insights into a very readable narrative. I devoured that slim volume (see HERE) with great interest way back when, and have perused it again several times since, but this new 50th Anniversary Edition from the gang at The Shadowed Circle offers a whole new experience. First, it’s a lot easier to look at (the original was set in in tiny typewriter type). Second, it has a fair amount of new material (much of it provided by the author himself!) And finally, it has far more visual appeal, with eight fine new illustrations by Joseph Booth. Mr. Eisgruber’s groundbreaking work has finally been showcased in the format it deserves.      

Kicking things off are new introductions by publisher Steve Donoso, and the most renown Shadowologist of our time, Mr. Will Murray. Then, along with the original Preface by Robert Weinberg, we get a new one from Mr. Eisgruber himself, offering insight on how the book came to be, his own relationship the with the character. And as a bonus, the book is capped off with a new and enlightening interview with the author himself. It’s all great stuff. 

The first twenty pages take a deep dive into The Shadow himself, focusing on everything known—and unknown—about our hero’s personal history and true identity. Another dozen pages delve into The Shadow’s many guises, both real and assumed. 

More than forty pages are devoted to the agents and allies, detailing where they appeared, the roles they played and their importance to The Shadow’s operation. Further chapters focus on the recurring villains (there are eleven of them!), The Shadow’s Sanctum, and the surprising variety of story settings, stretching across the country and around the world. There’s also an all-new chapter noting some surprising “easter egg” type discoveries. 

Then it’s onto the Appendices: Eisgruber’s response to Philip Jose Farmer’s Wold Newton assertions, the rundown on the magazine’s three raconteurs, and a list of all 325 stories. And if that weren’t enough, we’re treated to two letters the author wrote not long after the publication of the original edition, dealing with his interaction with Walter B. Gibson and his reaction to Will Murray’s Duende History of the Shadow Magazine. Very cool stuff you won’t find anywhere else. 

This 50th Anniversary Edition is available in both hardcover and trade paperback, with two equally great covers. Can you resist owning them both? Only The Shadow knows!

PLEASE NOTE: Ordering directly from The Shadowed Circle at the link below will help support their fine journal.

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theshadowedcircle.com%2Findex.php%2Fother-books&data=05%7C02%7C%7C1fbba20890b54411231708ddbd79090e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638875049755178489%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=2p1C2kDf8MC66n2L95Bgl%2BXlBc%2BAUU%2Bp%2BMgDbM%2B5Sx8%3D&reserved=0

Will Murray Strikes Again! THE SPIDER and THE HANGMAN FROM HELL

Yikes! Will Murray’s brand-spanking-new Spider novel is another magnificent feast for pulp fans.

I got a charge out of the first few pages, where Will gives a sly nod to one my own favorite pulp writers—Frederick Nebel. But the real shocker came on page 12, when I realized this was prelude to everyone’s favorite pulp epic—THE PURPLE INVASION.

Will has already treated us to some truly audacious ideas (like teaming Doc and the Shadow), Doc and Tarzan with King Kong, and the Spider with G-8 and Operator #5), but to thrust the Spider into the “War and Peace of the Pulps” is audacity on an even grander scale.

What the Spider and his guest-star Operator #5 don’t know—but we do—is that no matter how hard they fight to stop the Invasion (and they fight very hard), it’s coming at the U.S.A. like a juggernaut, and once it begins the Purple Empire (a thinly disguised Germany) marches across country taking untold millions in casualties.

But the threat of the Purple Invasion is just the context. The meat of the book is the relationship between Richard Wentworth and his guest star Jimmy Christopher and their battle against the bloodcurdling new villain Will has invented to bedevil them.

First the relationship. These heroes have met before (in Will’s earlier novel The Doom Legion), and respect each other’s abilities. Under other circumstances they could be close friends. But the straightlaced Operator #5, who sees right and wrong in strictly black and white, cannot abide the freewheeling philosophy of Wentworth, who recognizes that law and justice can be two different things. And Christopher’s suspicion that Wenworth himself is the Spider makes him even more prickly. So while the enormity of the threat facing the country demands they work together, they must dance around their differences—a handicap that takes them to the brink of being mortal enemies.

As the for the villain, The Hangman is a merciless psychopath who’s the point of the spear for a civilian army of homegrown Purple fascists. His rope, as you’ll see on the cover, has a noose at one end and a scythe at the other, and he’s equally deadly with both.

And, of course, this wouldn’t be a Spider novel without a grisly menace to the city, and Will serves one up that Wentworth’s chief raconteur, Novell Page, would have envied. What is it? I’ll let you discover it for yourself (and shudder!), but having accompanied Doc, the Shadow, G-8, #5, the Spider and many lesser heroes on such doomsday missions, I can assure you this is one of the creepiest.

Can our heroes catch or kill the Hangman before he kills them? Can they save New York without killing each other? Can they stop the Purple Invasion in its infancy and spare the USA a coast-to-coast bloodbath? 

Only Mr. Murray—and those who have read The Hangman from Hell—know for sure! 

"The Diamond Wager" by Samuel Dashiell. NOT HAMMETT? Will Murray Makes the Case!

This story, from the Oct. 19, 1929 issue of Detective Fiction Weekly, has long been thought to be the work of Samuel Dashiell Hammett. Up until ten years ago, though, it had never been reprinted, so few living humans had actually read it. 

I was NOT one the few, and wanted to be. So, ten years ago, I got a muddy copy of the thing on microfilm from the Library of Congress and transcribed it, correcting several typos and making an educated guess at one mysterious word. I then posted it - with some reservation as to its true authorship - here on my blog. Soon after, it appeared in a couple of books and became even more accepted as Hammett's. 

Unfortunately, the all-seeing eye of Mr. Will Murray somehow missed it back then, and the story did not come to his attention until I posted a link on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. He wrote me immediately saying, "Not Hammett." How did he know? Well, Will just seems to know these things, and usually has a fistful of facts to back them up. 

In this case, he promptly pounded out an article for the prestigious internet mag Black Gate, and you're invited to peruse it for yourself. He presents a mighty strong case. What do you think?

You can read the story, as originally posted, here: "The Diamond Wager"

Will's article is here: A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Will Murray and the Diamond Wager Caper - Not Dashiell Hammett?

More WILD Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - by Will Murray

Have you read Will Murray’s first collection of WILD Holmes stories? If NO, my review of that one is HERE. If YES, you’ll be pleased to learn this second volume is even WILDER. Holmes and Watson face some of their strangest mysteries, and some even appear to cross over into the supernatural. Do they really? That’s for you to discover.

If you know Mr. Murray only as the worthy successor to Lester Dent (Doc Savage) and Novell Page (The Spider), you’ll enjoy seeing him put on his Conan Doyle pants and deliver the goods on Holmes and Watson. 

Particularly cool are three tales teaming our heroes with Algnernon Blackwood’s psychic investigator John Silence. With an intellect equal to Holmes’ own, Silence is both a partner and a rival, and these stories force Holmes to reexamine the boundaries between the possible and impossible. “The Adventure of the Abominable Adder” features a serpent-shaped ring (which may or may not have originated in ancient Egypt) that seems to bite the wearer. “The Adventure of the Sorrowing Mudlark” finds the ghost of a long-dead lady haunting the Thames riverbed at night. And in “The Adventure of the Emerald Urchin,” an ancient legend of green-skinned children emerging from an underground world appears to have a modern-day recurrence.

The competition and by-play between Holmes and Silence (along with Watson’s sense of stubborn disbelief) adds an additional layer of interest to these tales. I have not read any of Blackwood’s John Silence stories, but these made me want to check them out.

On their own, Holmes and Watson struggle with a pair of deaths attributed to spontaneous combustion; a stage performer exhibiting impossible strength; a man who dies in bed with his blood missing; a cabman’s shelter that appears and vanishes, taking cabmen with it; and a man seemingly blown out of his own chimney.

There’s also the cover story, in a which a tree seems to grown an eyeball, and  a wind-up adventure in which all London is agog about coins that seem to prove the legend of Atlantis.

WILD adventures? No doubt about it. And from hints in the back of the book, Volume 3 is going to be even WILDER.

DARK AVENGER: The Strange Saga of THE SHADOW by Will Murray

If, like me, you happened to read Will Murray’s Duende History of the Shadow Magazine back in the ‘70s, it no doubt left you wishing you had access to some of the many, many intriguing stories he described. It was a bit frustrating, because most of them were impossible to find.

Now, with Dark Avenger, a revised and expanded version of the Duende History, the Shadow’s world is a much different place. All but a few of his pulp adventures are readily available, and the biggest frustration is finding time to read them all.

Amazingly, Mr. Murray seems to found the time to read and study all 325 of those babies, and broken the 18-year run down into seven distinct phases. It’s a fascinating journey. We see our hero undergo the gradual change from a mysterious crime fighter to a guns-blazing avenger - to an urbane detective who hardly bothers to don a disguise - and finally back to some semblance of his old self. We see his true identity shift from a delicious mystery to adventurous Kent Allard, then to sophisticated Lamont Cranston, finally landing somewhere in between. And it’s not only the Shadow’s role that changes, but the identities and functions of vast cast of agents.

Equally fascinating are the forces behind the scenes, notably editor John Nanovic and others at Street and Smith, nudging Walter Gibson in different directions in an effort to please the changing market and address the changing times. We see the coming and going of Black Mask writer Theodore Tinsley (who wrote 28 of the 325) and the odd tenure of Bruce Elliott (who did 15), then coming full circle back to Gibson.

I was surprised to learn how late in the series super-villains like Shiwan Khan made the scene, and how late the radio show began to infect the magazine (1937). The Great Shadow Boom of 1940 was another revelation, spurred by the Victor Jory serial and spilling over into the comic strip and comic books.

The book’s narrative is a mystery and adventure in itself, and a real page-turner. I was itching to discover what changes the writers would come up with—or have forced upon them—from one phase to the next, making it hard to put down.

I came to identify closely with Walter Gibson (who was of course closest to it all, writing 268 of the suckers) and Will had me cheering his all his triumphs and feeling his pain when things went sour.

The wealth of information and detail here is truly staggering. I came away with at least half a dozen adventures I’m itching to read right away, and host of others on the back burner.

Dark Avenger is a must-read for pulp hero fans, and anyone interested in the history of the pulps in general. Get yourself a copy quick, or the Shadow will know.

THE WILD ADVENTURES OF CTHULHU Vol. 2 by Will Murray (who else?)

Yep, Scary Will Murray is at it again. This volume is packed with the same brand of creepy fun found in Volume 1, with a couple of new angles, too. Three of the tales were written especially for this book, and while the first volume trotted all over the globe, most the stories here take place in Lovecraft’s stomping grounds of Old New England.

The first tale is purportedly about a Lakota shaman sent to Korea by the CEEP (an organization dedicated to protecting we mere mortals from Cthulhu and his ilk), to deal with a dire threat to our continued presence on this planet. I say “purportedly,” because I suspect it may be a thinly-disguised version of psychic heroics performed by Mr. Murray himself. What’s that? Am I calling Will a closet Lakota shaman? I wouldn’t put it past him. This tale examines not only Cthulhu’s influence in modern-day Korea, but the mystical and cultural anthropological connections between East and West. And it all rings true. Does Lakota Will save the world in this one? I’m not telling. If you don’t want to spend the rest of your life shivering under your bed, you’d best read it yourself.

Next up is a visit the fabled town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts. It’s under a new kind of Shadow now, and we can thank the narrator of this nightmare for going there and fighting for his life—so we don’t have to. The hero of this one is not by any means Will—he’s a clueless tourist just looking for a good place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, oblivious to repeated warnings to stay away, he barges blithely into town and has the bejesus scared out of him. Thankfully, it’s scary for him, not us, as we’re safe in our easy chairs.

Ever wonder how Arkham, Massachusetts celebrates Halloween? Will knows all about that, too, and it ain’t for the faint of heart. And when it happens to fall on a Sunday, things get even weirder. End-of-civilization-as-we-know-it weird. It’s a cautionary tale you won’t want to miss. And it’s followed by another new-for-this-volume, where things get even more loathsome.

Another tale features a thinly-disguised version of the author bearing the designation ORV 007, who reports to a man named Cranston (no first name revealed, but we know who that is). This expose of what really goes on in the wild world of Remote Viewing will make you think twice before ever laying your head on your pillow again.

Still another story will teach you not to mess with Tarot cards. Jeez, it is even safe to play with a Quija board? Probably not!

For a change of pace, we visit the Aztec empire of 1753 to learn the truth about the god worshipped as Quetzalcoatl. Then it’s off to the Old West for a story I believe—or at least hope—is entirely fictional, the “The Cow-Men of Coburn.” The author has his tongue firmly in cheek in this one, and it’s all great fun. (Assuming, of course, that it didn’t really happen. If it did, we should all book tickets to Mars.)

For the finale, Will’s native American doppelganger Raymond Redarth returns for a harrowing visit to Massachusetts and a landlocked hamlet called Weirport. Once again, Redpath/Murray risks his skin trying to plug the growing hole between our reality and that of the Outer Darkness. We are all much indebted to Raymond/Will for his service.

Lurking behind all these stories are hints they are far more than the product of the fevered brain of a fiction writer. If you’re wondering (like me) how Mr. Murray can write all this stuff and retain his sanity, maybe the real answer is—he’s not making it up. Maybe this is his reality, and he’s merely reporting on events that are hushed up by the media to prevent a global panic that would make Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast look like a Sunday picnic.

Will civilization as we know it last long enough for a Volume 3? We can only hope!

SCARY FUN from Will Murray: THE WILD ADVENTURES OF CTHULHU

Will Murry’s new story collection The Wild Adventures of Cthulhu is both FUN and SCARY. But since it’s more fun than scary, we’ll start there—with the FUN part.

Until now, my familiarity with the Cthulhu Mythos was limited to the 1930s. Having read all the important works of H.P. Lovecraft and his friends Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith, I saw all this Cthulhu business as a thing of the past.

I was wrong. Apparently, this Mythos has been gathering steam ever since, and an ever-growing legion of writers have chronicled the presence of Cthulhu and the Old Ones in the modern world. That long list of writers includes such names as Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, Brian Stableford, Philip Jose Farmer and . . . Will Murray.

The stories in this volume bring those ancient beings out of Lovecraft’s fevered dreams and into our own reality, where they are still very much to be feared. Several tales involve a government organization called the National Reconnaissance Office (Murray’s own creation), tasked with dealing with those bad boys…or trying to. When NRO agents go out on assignment, they’re given one-way tickets because so few return.

These stories take us all over the globe: A science station in Antarctica. A musty museum in Rhode Island. International waters off the coasts of Japan and Korea. Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts. The Rock of Gibraltar, Washington D.C., the Arctic Circle, and all the way to the Dark Upper Reaches accessible only through remote viewing.

There are no happy endings here. Mankind and/or the earth is obliterated no fewer than four times over the course of these ten stories. But it’s a lot of fun seeing how it happens, how we puny earthlings struggle to deal with it, and how the author ties it all in with Lovecraft’s creations.

The SCARY part of all this is the author himself. To the world at large, Will Murray is known as a multi-talented author, able to relate the adventures of Doc Savage, Tarzan, The Spider, the Destroyer, Sherlock Holmes and other heroes with equal dexterity. Until now, I considered him merely an extremely talented human being. Now I’m not so sure.

By his own admission, Murray moonlights as a professional medium, is a trained remote viewer, a cartomancer, and claims “other arcane accomplishments.” Along with such subjects as astronomy, archaeology, art, sound waves, global warming and viruses (both computer and biological), the stories in this book display a fearful knowledge of such esoteric matters as astral projection, the zodiac, tarot, cartomancy, psychic abilities, post-mortem contact, and, of course, the Necronomicon.  

So I have to wonder. If truly human, might Mr. Murray be a descendant of that dreaded tome’s author, Abdul Alharzed, with a moldy copy hidden under his bed? Or is he something more—an earthly agent of Shub-Niggurath, Nyarlahotep, or even one of the mysterious spawn of Cthulhu? This would explain his uncanny abilities as a writer, but the ramifications are almost to terrifying to contemplate.

Just to be on the safe side (and for 217 pages of creepy fun), I suggest to purchase a copy of this book immediately. Because if you don't Murray's All-Seeing Eye will know. 

The SPIDER Returns! "Scourge of the Scorpion" by Will Murray!

Will Murray’s new thrill-packed adventure of the Spider will be different things to different people—and a kick in the pants for them all.

If you’ve read the classic pulp novels of the Octopus and the Scorpion, you’ll be one big step ahead of the Spider as he struggles to solve the mysteries of who’s who and what roles they play in the latest plague threatening New York City.

If you haven’t read those oldies, no problem! You and the Spider will starting fresh, discovering everything you need to know about everyone involved, and be surprised at a few plot twists those in the first group will be expecting.

Either way, there are plenty of other surprises, and other mysteries to solve. And you can rely upon the Spider—and Mr. Will Murray—to solve them with blazing hot .45s.

It’s bad news for the Big Apple when the centuries-old Cult of the Purple Eyes rises again, turning citizens into madmen intent on tearing each other limb from limb. As Richard Wentworth’s closest associates—Nita Van Sloan, the deadly Ram Singh and faithful servant Jackson—are drawn into this growing peril, he must fight to save their lives, along with millions of others.

Into the mix comes a fellow socialite named Jeffrey Fairchild, a sketchy old man called Dr. Skull, a ruthless vigilante knows as the Skull-Killer, and a criminal mastermind calling himself the Scorpion. All of them have secrets. Who can Wentworth trust? And what does the Scorpion hope to accomplish from all this death and destruction?

Mr. Murray is in fine form on this one. Here are a few of the many great lines that caught my eye:

Beneath a hatchet nose, lips split in a rictus of death, revealing gleaming white canines that would have given Count Dracula an exquisite stab of envy.

Two guns blasted in unison, turning the man’s rib cage into something found on the floor of a slaughterhouse.

Fairchild’s automatic barked and turned another half around before he collapsed into a sagging pile of meat.

Like dropped leather gloves, dead bats lay everywhere.

The powerful weapons bucked and smoked. Tongues of fire leapt from the steel muzzles. First one, then the other of the riflemen were knocked off their feet and hurled into eternity.

[Ram Singh] took out a handkerchief and used it to polish the kirpan’s blade, taking care to avoid the edge, whose sharpness was such that if a butterfly were to alight upon it, the insect would unwittingly bisect itself…

Who can resist stuff like that? Nobody! Get yourself a copy of Scourge of the Scorpion, and help the Spider save the day—again!  

The Shadow Lives! in the pages of THE SHADOWED CIRCLE #2

 

America’s new “Pulp Journal” returns—and it’s another corker!

Editor Steve Donoso and his agents are obviously putting a lot of work into this project, and pulp fandom is richer for it. This is a professional job all the way – with one exception: There’s are no ads!

Among this issue’s features:

Malcolm Deeley takes a deep dive into Mike Kaluta’s graphic novel, Hitler’s Astrologer.

Will Murray gives us a peek behind the curtain at Nostalgia Venture/Sanctum Books, revealing the trials and tribulations of pairing similarly themed stories.

Steve Donoso takes us on a tour of the Shadow’s New York City with 17 brilliant photos taken between 1935 and 1938. It’s the next best thing to being there.

Steve then provides an incisive review of Will’s excellent Master of Mystery: The Rise of the Shadow. (Do you have that book yet? What are you waiting for?)

From Tim King comes a fascinating look at the Shadow’s influence on real-life military and intelligence units—and no doubt expands the field of Shadow collectibles.

Todd D. Severin and Keith Holt offer Part 1 of what looks to be an in-depth look at Shadow History. This episode takes us from the birth of the pulps, through the Shadow’s debut as a radio personality, and into the mind of Walter Gibson as he brings the character to life. Great stuff.

Is that all? Nope. The issue rounds out with an expose providing convincing evidence that the fictional Explorer’s League, invented by Lester Dent in 1940, was actually New York’s real-life—and very prestigious—Explorer’s Club.

Accompanying all this are more good-lookin’ illustrations than you can aim a .45 at. You want a copy!

Where the heck can you get one? Visit the Facebook page: facebook.com/Burbank1931, or write Burbank directly at theshadowedcircle@yahoo.com.

The Shadow Knows You Want It: THE SHADOWED CIRCLE #1

 

The Shadow Knows you’re going going to like this fanzine. So he suggests you waste not a minute, but proceed immediately to The Shadowed Circle Facebook Page (that’s HERE) for info on getting a copy, or—better yet—a subscription.

Need more convincing? Read on.

Unlike fanzines of old, The Shadowed Circle is a professional job from start to finish. Editor Steve Donoso has assembled a collection of articles covering a variety of interests. The layout is sharp and attractive and the illustrations first-rate. It’s 50 pages of Shadowy coolness. What it does have in common with fanzines of old is the passion for its subject that comes across on every page.

Will Murray sets the tone with a fine piece that was pushed out of the final volume of the Sanctum Shadow reprint series. Typical of Will’s work, it’s packed with fascinating inside info involving Walter Gibson, editor John Nanovic and S&S business manager John Ralston. Though ostensibly focused on the stories in that volume, the discussion ranges far afield into characters, plots the process of creating the stories.

Steve Donoso provides an article/interview with author James Patterson, prompted by the publication of his (and Brian Sitts’) new novel, The Shadow. Steve’s revelation of Patterson’s process of writing with surrogates convinced me that Patterson himself was responsible for everything I hate about the book (and there’s a lot to hate). Patterson’s words here give the lie to the pre-publication hype claiming he had a long affection for our hero, and explain (with no apologies) why he changed everything about the character but the name. It made me want to reach out and throttle the guy.

Henry Lopez follows with a lengthy review and analysis of the Patterson/Sitts novel. It’s well thought out, and many of his feelings matched my own (except, of course, that he expressed them more politely). Henry is also very careful not to include spoilers, an impressive feat when discussing a book so deserving of spoiling.

There’s much more: John L. French zeroes in on the handful of late series novels written by Bruce Elliott. Under-30 Russell M. Moran reminisces about how an action figure turned him into a fan. Robert M. Newton ponders where The Shadow fits in the Hall of Hero Archetypes. Joseph Gibson looks at the three (of six) surviving short Shadow films made in the ‛30s, before the true Shadow made his magazine debut. Steve Donoso returns for an in-depth analysis of Walter Gibson’s last published story, portraying a very Shadow-like version of The Batman. Craig McDonald present a blow-by-blow comparison of The Shadow’s two four-time foes, Shiwan Khan and Bendict Stark, and draws some eye-opening conclusions. Dwight Fuhro reveals how and why he obtained the original George Rozen painting for ‟The Creeping Death.” And John Olsen provides a rundown of our hero’s various encounter with zombies.

Along the way there are many illustrations—all of them good—and numerous magazine cover photos. Among several standouts, my favorite is a piece by a guy named Jim Pearson. I look forward to seeing more of his work.

Bottom line, The Shadowed Circle #1 is a very attractive package, and belongs in the collection of every Shadow fan. That includes you. The Facebook page awaits: 

https://www.facebook.com/Burbank1931/

Will Murray's DOC SAVAGE - Part 4

In 2013, in his series of all-new adventures from Altus Press, Doc met Kong, in one of my favorite stories of the whole dang series. And these other books were no slouches, either! Sadly these are ALL that have been audiosized so far by Radio Archives, but we can hope for more (I hope). 

Next: Doc meets The Shadow (twice)!

Will Murray's DOC SAVAGE - Part 3

Beginning in 2011, after a hiatus of eighteen years, Will got back into his Kenneth Robeson pants and started churning out new adventures. These first four (and the five you'll see next week) were also dramatized for Radio Archives. Those audiobooks look mighty interesting, and if I weren't so poor, I'd cough up the dough to sample one. 

Next: Altus Marches On

Forgotten Books: Will Murray's DOC SAVAGE - Part 2

Here are the last of Will's Doc books published by Bantam (these are from 1993). And as you see, now are all offered in cool trade paperbacks from Altus Press, and audiobooks from Radio Archives. All with outstanding covers by Joe DeVito.

Next: The Altus originals

Forgotten Books: Will Murray's DOC SAVAGE - Part 1

It's a bit of a shock to realize that Will Murray has now been writing new Doc Savage adventures for over twenty years, and there are now at least twenty books. The first, Python Isle, was published by Bantam in 1991, and was followed by six more Bantam originals. Those seven book (the first four of which you see here) are now available as deluxe trade paperbacks from Altus Press, AND as CD audiobooks from Radio Archives. And all feature great cover paintings by Joe DeVito. What's next? TV? Movies? 

To be continued!