The Shadow

The Shadow is a vigilante crimefighter appearing in a wide variety of media. One of the most famous adventure heroes of the twentieth century, The Shadow has been featured on the radio, in a long-running pulp magazine series, in comic books, comic strips, television, serials, video games, and at least five motion pictures. The radio drama is well-remembered for those episodes voiced by Orson Welles.

Originally simply a mysterious radio narrator which hosted a program designed to promote magazine sales for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was developed into a distinctive literary character, later to become a pop culture icon, by writer Walter B. Gibson. The character has been cited as a major influence on the subsequent evolution of comic book superheroes, particularly The Batman.

The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour developed in an effort to boost sales of "Detective Story Magazine". When listeners of the program began asking at newstands for copies of "That Shadow detective magazine", Street & Smith decided to create a magazine based around The Shadow and hired Gibson to create a character concept to fit the name and voice and write a story featuring him. The first issue of The Shadow Magazine went on sale on April 1, 1931, a pulp series.

The Shadow (serial)

The Shadow (1940) was the ninth serial released by Columbia Pictures. It was based upon the classic radio series and pulp magazine character with the same name.

Plot

The Shadow battles a villain known as The Black Tiger, who has the power to make himself invisible and is attempting world domination.

Cast

The Shadow (fairy tale)

"The Shadow" (Danish: Skyggen) is a fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The tale was first published in 1847.

Plot summary

Once a learned man from the northern regions of Europe went on a voyage south. One night, he sat on his terrace, while the fire behind him cast his shadow on the opposite balcony. As he was sitting there, resting, the man was amused to observe how the shadow followed his every movement, as if he really did sit upon the opposing balcony. When he finally grew tired and went to sleep, he imagined the shadow would likewise retire in the house across the street. The next morning however, the man found to his surprise that he in fact had lost his shadow overnight. As a new shadow slowly grew back from the tip of his toes, the man did not give the incident another thought, returned to northern Europe, and took up writing again. Several years passed by until one night there was a knock at his door. To his surprise, it was his shadow, the one he lost years before in Africa, and now stood upon his doorstep, almost completely human in appearance. Astonished by his sudden reappearance, the learned man invited him into his house, and soon the two sat by the fireplace, as the shadow related how he had come to be man.

The Shadow (1994 film)

The Shadow is a 1994 American superhero film directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Ian McKellen, Peter Boyle, Jonathan Winters and Tim Curry. It is based on the pulp fiction character created by Walter B. Gibson in 1931.

Plot

In Tibet, following the First World War, an American named Lamont Cranston (Alec Baldwin), succumbing to his darker instincts during the war, has set himself up as a brutal warlord and opium kingpin under the alias of Ying-Ko (Mandarin Chinese for "Dark Eagle"). He is abducted from his palace by servants of the Tulku (Barry Dennen), a holy man who exhibits otherworldly powers and knows Cranston's identity. He informs Cranston that he is to become a force for good. Cranston objects but is silenced by the Phurba (Frank Welker), a mystical sentient flying dagger that assaults Cranston, wounding him. Cranston is unable to refuse and remains under the tutelage of the Tulku for seven years. He learns to "cloud men's minds," a form of mystical, psychic hypnosis that allows him to influence others' thoughts and bend their perceptions so he cannot be seen, except for his shadow (since light itself cannot be deceived), hence his new alias.

Shadow (disambiguation)

A shadow is a region of darkness where light is blocked.

Shadow or Shadows may also refer to:

Film

Literature

The Shadow (video game)

The Shadow is a canceled SNES video game. It is based in the film of the same name.

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to other Beat 'em up games such as Final Fight or Double Dragon, where the player controls The Shadow through several levels fighting against several enemies. The player has two bars; one is the life bar and a bar that allows the player to perform special attacks (invisibility, gun play, speed running, a dome shield that knocks out everyone who hits it). It also contains a driving stage where The Shadow battles Mongols on motorbikes (Maritech Labs), and roughly follows the plot of the movie.

References