Anthony's Pulp Blog
Interesting news about Shadow and Doc Savage storylines and characters
By Anthony Tolin
For those of you who haven't yet picked up THE SHADOW #9, a lot of those who have done so have been stunned by how much of Ted Tinsley's PARTNERS OF PERIL plot was "borrowed" by Bill Finger and Bob Kane in their first Batman story. ALTER EGO editor Roy Thomas has observed that the 
discovery has rewritten the history of Batman. It certainly puts to rest Bob Kane's frequent claim that Zorro was his primary inspiration for Batman.
Of course, there was very little of Johnston McCulley's swashbuckler in the early years of Batman; Bruce Wayne certainly behaved like the debonair Lamont Cranston and not the effete Don Diego Vega. Jerry Robinson, the golden-age Batman artist who created The Joker, has provided the foreword for our "Foreshadowing the Batman" extra-length edition. THE SHADOW #9 also reprints one of Walter Gibson's greatest novels, LINGO. It's another not-to-be-missed masterpiece of misdirection.
DOC SAVAGE #8 casts our historical spotlight on the real-life adventurer who inspired the creation of both Doc Savage and The Avenger. Will Murray has authored a dynamite article on Colonel Richard Henry Savage, a West Point graduate who later served his nation in a variety of military and diplomatic roles. In his later years, Dick Savage became a much-published author. One of his books was published by Street & Smith the year after Henry William Ralston joined the publishing house. Decades later, as Street & Smith's circulation manager, Ralston bequeathed the dynamic hero's surname to his new bronze hero.
Like THE SHADOW #9, DOC SAVAGE #8 also has a Batman connection. In addition to Lester Dent's THE SEA MAGICIAN, the volume reprints Harold A. Davis' THE LIVING-FIRE MENACE which
introduced Doc's yellow utility belt, which Batman's Bill Finger acknowledged as inspiring the Caped Crusader's similar belt.
Hot on the heels of our July "Foreshadowing the Batman" theme, THE SHADOW #10 features a super-villain theme, reprinting THE CITY OF DOOM (the second Voodoo Master epic) and THE FIFTH FACE (in which The Shadow battles the master of disguise known only as Five-face). Our August SHADOW release should be of special interest to science fiction fans. Just hours before I departed for San Diego's annual Comic-con International, I received Harlan Ellison's foreword. The book also features a "lost" SHADOW radio script by Alfred Bester, the author of THE DEMOLISHED MAN (winner of the first "best novel" Hugo Award) and the classic THE STARS MY DESTINATION. If you have friends who are fans of SFWA grandmasters Alfred Bester and Harlan Ellison, please let them know that our super-villain special will be shipping to stores in August.
In addition to THE MAJII and THE GOLDEN MAN, DOC SAVAGE #9 features a photo-illustrated article by Will Murray on the Street & Smith Building. Will has included firsthand recollections by Walter Gibson, Isaac Asimov, John Nanovic, Daisy Bacon, Frederick Pohl, DOC SAVAGE cover-artist Robert
Harris and many others including my late friend Sam Moscowitz. As Will reveals, Street & Smith saw itself as a printing company more than a publishing house. The printing plant, bindery and loading docks were housed in the same Manhattan building as its editorial department. A single month's magazine output would have equaled a pile 44 miles high. It's a pretty amazing story, not to be missed.
Late-breaking news: Master-magician Mark Wilson has just agreed to write the foreword for THE SHADOW #9, an extra-long edition chronicling "The Magic World of Walter Gibson." Future forewords will be written by legendary artists Edd Cartier and Everett Raymond Kinstler, as well as Gerry Conway and Margot Stevenson (who costarred as "the lovely Margot Lane" opposite Orson Welles in 1938... and decades later knitted my daughter's first baby blanket).
Next time, I'll be covering some of our Sanctum Productions/Nostalgia Ventures plans for Doc Savage's upcoming 75th anniversary in February and March, 2008. Until then, remember ...
"The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay. The Shadow knows!"
discovery has rewritten the history of Batman. It certainly puts to rest Bob Kane's frequent claim that Zorro was his primary inspiration for Batman.Of course, there was very little of Johnston McCulley's swashbuckler in the early years of Batman; Bruce Wayne certainly behaved like the debonair Lamont Cranston and not the effete Don Diego Vega. Jerry Robinson, the golden-age Batman artist who created The Joker, has provided the foreword for our "Foreshadowing the Batman" extra-length edition. THE SHADOW #9 also reprints one of Walter Gibson's greatest novels, LINGO. It's another not-to-be-missed masterpiece of misdirection.
DOC SAVAGE #8 casts our historical spotlight on the real-life adventurer who inspired the creation of both Doc Savage and The Avenger. Will Murray has authored a dynamite article on Colonel Richard Henry Savage, a West Point graduate who later served his nation in a variety of military and diplomatic roles. In his later years, Dick Savage became a much-published author. One of his books was published by Street & Smith the year after Henry William Ralston joined the publishing house. Decades later, as Street & Smith's circulation manager, Ralston bequeathed the dynamic hero's surname to his new bronze hero.
Like THE SHADOW #9, DOC SAVAGE #8 also has a Batman connection. In addition to Lester Dent's THE SEA MAGICIAN, the volume reprints Harold A. Davis' THE LIVING-FIRE MENACE which
introduced Doc's yellow utility belt, which Batman's Bill Finger acknowledged as inspiring the Caped Crusader's similar belt.Hot on the heels of our July "Foreshadowing the Batman" theme, THE SHADOW #10 features a super-villain theme, reprinting THE CITY OF DOOM (the second Voodoo Master epic) and THE FIFTH FACE (in which The Shadow battles the master of disguise known only as Five-face). Our August SHADOW release should be of special interest to science fiction fans. Just hours before I departed for San Diego's annual Comic-con International, I received Harlan Ellison's foreword. The book also features a "lost" SHADOW radio script by Alfred Bester, the author of THE DEMOLISHED MAN (winner of the first "best novel" Hugo Award) and the classic THE STARS MY DESTINATION. If you have friends who are fans of SFWA grandmasters Alfred Bester and Harlan Ellison, please let them know that our super-villain special will be shipping to stores in August.
In addition to THE MAJII and THE GOLDEN MAN, DOC SAVAGE #9 features a photo-illustrated article by Will Murray on the Street & Smith Building. Will has included firsthand recollections by Walter Gibson, Isaac Asimov, John Nanovic, Daisy Bacon, Frederick Pohl, DOC SAVAGE cover-artist Robert
Harris and many others including my late friend Sam Moscowitz. As Will reveals, Street & Smith saw itself as a printing company more than a publishing house. The printing plant, bindery and loading docks were housed in the same Manhattan building as its editorial department. A single month's magazine output would have equaled a pile 44 miles high. It's a pretty amazing story, not to be missed.Late-breaking news: Master-magician Mark Wilson has just agreed to write the foreword for THE SHADOW #9, an extra-long edition chronicling "The Magic World of Walter Gibson." Future forewords will be written by legendary artists Edd Cartier and Everett Raymond Kinstler, as well as Gerry Conway and Margot Stevenson (who costarred as "the lovely Margot Lane" opposite Orson Welles in 1938... and decades later knitted my daughter's first baby blanket).
Next time, I'll be covering some of our Sanctum Productions/Nostalgia Ventures plans for Doc Savage's upcoming 75th anniversary in February and March, 2008. Until then, remember ...
"The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay. The Shadow knows!"