The Shadow

The Shadow
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" The Shadow as depicted on the cover of the July 15, 1939, issue of The Shadow Magazine. The story, "Death from Nowhere," was one of the magazine plots adapted for the legendary radio drama.
Publication information
Publisher	Street & Smith Condé Nast
First appearance	Detective Story Hour (July 31, 1930) (radio) "The Living Shadow" (April 1, 1931) (print)
Created by	Walter B. Gibson
In-story information
Alter ego	Kent Allard (print) Lamont Cranston (radio and film)
Notable aliases	Lamont Cranston (print) Henry Arnaud (print) Isaac Twambley (print) Fritz the Janitor (print)
Abilities	In print, radio, and film: Expert detective Skilled marksman and hand-to-hand combatant Master of disguise Master of stealth In radio and film only: Ablility to make himself nearly invisible to others Hypnotic mental-clouding abilities altering a person's thoughts and perceptions

In print, radio, and film:

In radio and film only:

The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in 1930s pulp novels, and then in a wide variety of media. One of the most famous adventure heroes of the 20th century United States, 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 films. The radio drama included episodes voiced by Orson Welles.

Originally simply a mysterious radio narrator who 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 in 1931. The character has been cited as a major influence on the subsequent evolution of comic book superheroes, particularly Batman.

The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour, which was developed in an effort to boost sales of Detective Story Magazine. When listeners of the program began asking at newsstands 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.

On September 26, 1937, The Shadow radio drama, a new radio series based on the character as created by Gibson for the pulp magazine, premiered with the story "The Deathhouse Rescue," in which The Shadow was characterized as having "the power to cloud men's minds so they cannot see him." As in the magazine stories, The Shadow was not given the literal ability to become invisible.