 | #001 "The Living Shadow"
Vol. 1, No. 1 Published: 04/01/31 Submitted: 01/23/31 as "Murder in the Next Room" Author: Walter Gibson Review date: Apr 13, 2001 |
THE LIVING SHADOW was originally published in the April/June 1931 issue of The Shadow Magazine. It was reprinted in the 1934 Street and Smith hardback book. It was reprinted again in The Shadow 1942 Annual. It was reprinted in paperback form in 1969 by Bantam, by Pyramid Books in 1974, by New English Library of London in 1976, and by Jove Books in 1977. It's the most reprinted Shadow story.
You've probably read the story. Most Shadow fans have read the first story in the series, if for no other reason that it is the "key" number-one issue. For that reason I won't go into great detail on the plot. Here it is in a nutshell.
Harry Vincent is saved from suicide by a mysterious personage who he comes to call The Shadow. He's put to work as an agent, watching a Mr. R. J. Scanlon. As it turns out later, Scanlon is a "mule" enlisted to carry hot jewels from Manhattan to San Francisco by a Chinese mastermind.
But Scanlon is murdered by Steve Cronin, who would also appear in the second tale, "Eyes of The Shadow." Cronin wants Scanlon's special symbol, a strange metal Chinese disk, which will identify him to the mastermind. Vincent finds the disk, which Cronin has overlooked during the murder. The Shadow has Vincent pose as the messenger and take the disk to Chinatown. He's exposed, captured, and tortured. Only The Shadow can help him escape the Chinese den of torture!
And speaking of jewels, old millionaire Geoffrey Laidlow has been killed for his hidden jewels. Much of the second half of the story revolves around the search for Laidlow's killer, and the killer's search for the still-hidden jewels. It all weaves together, because the jewels will be fenced by the Chinese mastermind, situated deep in the heart of Chinatown.
This is a wonderful story that will have you on the edge of your seat. It sets the tone for the rest of the series. In it, we meet for the first time Harry Vincent and The Shadow. Detective Joe Cardona is present, as is Fritz the janitor - the first of The Shadow's many disguises. Harry Vincent meets insurance broker Claude Fellows, The Shadow's only other agent mentioned in this story. The Shadow's sanctum is visited, we see his girasol ring, and hear his mysterious laugh, all for the first time. There's the fading blue ink, and the verbal messages with emphasized words. There's even mention of The Shadow's radio show and how his voice goes out over the air every Thursday night.
In the end, criminal mastermind Ezekiel Bingham goes free and unpunished. Maybe so he could reappear in a later story? But he never did. Diamond Bert Farwell goes to jail, and would appear again in the 1934 tale THE CHINESE DISKS. Vincent and Fellows live on to appear in subsequent Shadow adventures.