Review of "The Shadow: Two Complete Novels, The Golden Vulture plus Crime Insured," by Lester Dent and Walter B. Gibson respectively.

Review of

The Shadow: Two Complete Novels, The Golden Vulture plus Crime Insured, by Lester Dent and Walter B. Gibson respectively. ISBN 9781932806489

Four out of five stars

A look back at the early crimefighting heroes

 Originally published in the late 1930s, these two stories that feature the crime fighting hero known as “The Shadow” illustrate the early years of the heroes. People familiar with the original Doc Savage will quickly recognize the Dent style in “The Golden Vulture.” He was also the author of many of the Doc Savage stories of the 1930s.

 Although the superhero character goes all the way back to Heracles of Greek mythology, the first modern superhero is considered to be the Phantom, created by Lee Falk in 1936. However, like the Shadow and Doc Savage, he also did not have superpowers like the later heroes. Superman, first appearing in 1938, was the first true superhero in that he had superpowers, although initially he was not as powerful as he was to become.

 In these stories, the Shadow is depicted as capable of feats of great, although not superhuman strength and capable of donning a cape that allowed him to blend into the night. In many ways, it is easy to see the features that led to the creation of the Batman character that debuted in 1939. Like Doc Savage, Batman has no powers, he is just an extremely fit man with many gadgets at his disposal.

 The villains in these two Shadow novels are bosses of massive criminal enterprises, worthy adversaries to the Shadow. Like Doc Savage, the Shadow has a group of men that he communicates with, and he can count on to do the necessary support tasks.

 The writing is very much the type found in adventures in the 1930s. It is not very colorful and has the appearance of having been written quickly. There is not a great deal of depth and some repetition in the plots. Reading the stories takes the reader back to a time when people were looking for a simple escape from the depth of the Depression and writers were looking to make a buck any way they could. They entertain, but it is helpful to read them with the mindset of the 1930s in your head. It is also easy to see the embryonic seedlings of the modern superhero genre.

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