The Shadow
Mysterious Being of the Night
The Pulp Years

With the publication of "Whispering Eyes," in the summer of 1949, the tales of The Shadow came to a close. While a few attempts to resurrect the character onto the printed page were made, they never succeeded in living up to the tradition established by the man who typed 10-12 hours a day on a beat up Corona typewriter amid the banging and hammering of a construction crew. William B. Gibson was, for all intents and purposes, The Shadow. He was the blood running through The Shadow's veins, the index finger twitching on his .45 automatics, and the terror resounding in his laugh.

The Shadow was the rarest of creations. The pulp magazines were never meant to last forever. Publishers churned them out as quickly and as inexpensively as possible. The stories weren't meant to be literature, but read quickly with the cover folded back on itself, passed from hand to hand and then thrown away. Story line continuity wasn't important, only the sales of the issue at hand. The entire medium existed solely to produce a profit.

Yet, somehow Gibson elevated The Shadow beyond all this. His tales created a lasting world of adventure and excitement. His characters became real and touched our hearts with their successes and failures. His Shadow became an enduring literary figure, instantly recognizable and completely original.

With Gibson's passing, all hopes of a return to the grand tradition of The Shadow have passed and left us with only memories of Gibson's incredible imagination. Memories lost in boxes of water-damaged magazines tucked away in an attic or basement. Memories typed out on musty yellowing pages of brittle wood pulp. Memories that lie hidden behind torn and faded covers with taped spines.

Oh, but what memories they are.

Bibliography

Suggested Reading:
These three references are essential for the serious student of The Shadow.

Other references cited: