How long have you been a fan of The Shadow?

[Melvin Creston Williams]

I would be interested to know this about my fellow "agents". So, who shall begin?

[Kenneth F. Flynn, Jr.]

I got started around 1976 or so, a friend gave me a couple of the older PB copies he had upgraded from his collection, and I was hooked. There were several others around at that time, all the Doc Savages, the Shadow in the Pyramid and HBJ books, and a lot of the older ones in the used PB market... Operator #5, The Phantom Detective, and a bunch of others...
I liked the movie, thought they tried to capture the Pulp Shadow, the radio Shadow, and the 1966 Shadow as well...

[Dale Harris]

A good 35 years or more. I recall listening to some of the radio shows as a boy. We could pick up a station that actually played them if the weather was right. I got the Pyramid reprints when they first came out, and I still have them. I own every magazine as electronic text. Will I ever purchase a real pulp magazine? Only the Shadow knows!

[John Burns]

Christmas of 1976 I was 11. Was my first time I heard the shadow. Earlier that year I was scanning around my am dial and found the cbs radio mystery theater, and atarted staying up late to tape the shows. That year for christmas my parents got me the Shadow, Death from the deep and Tarzan, The arena of death and I have been hooked ever sence.I actualy enjoy many different shows but the shadow is by far the best.
I see thier are some radio stations that still rebroadcast some shows, but I dont live close enough to recieve them.
Well anyway hope you all have a great day, John

[Kell Johnson]

Wow, I'm really new to all of this! I recall really discovering The Shadow for myself around four or five years ago. I remember I saw the 1994 movie on the SciFi channel, and thought that there had to be far more to the franchise than that. I did my research, and found out about all the pulp novels. I quickly exhausted my library stash, and luckily, it was around the time the reprints began to appear.

Now I own a growing collection of pulps, comics, radio plays and movies! I can't get enough, and to me, it's all new, so it's very exciting to find this real diamond!

[Bob]

When I was a young boy - maybe 7 or 8 years old - in the very early 1950s, we used to sit around the console radio in the living room and listen to the various programs. We loved Inner Sanctum, Lights Out, and The Whistler. But my absolute favorite was The Shadow. I think that was on WOR from New York City. I was a huge Hopalong Cassidy fan, but when the Shadow came on, that was the time to dim the lights and pay attention.

[Russ Stover]

I've been a fan since the movie came out and piqued my interest. I've got all the radio shows and several of the old magazines.

[James Casselbury]

I have been a fan of The Shadow since the early 1970s, when I read several of the DC Comics series by Denny O'Neill. From the time I read those, I was hooked. The paperback reprint series issued by Pyramid Books in the late 70s just added fuel to the fire.

[michael chatterton]

I STARTED being a fan in 1966 when i frist read the living shadow and the old archie comic of the shadow which was so far away from walter gebsons shadow is was nuts ,but at the time it was good! and up untill 2000 i was unable to afford any of the shadow mags and ebay made them cheaper although they were not in great shape except for the JOVE BOOKS and
PYRAMID books they were reading only and crumbling at that , but beggers can not be chossers!

[Warr]

I'm 53, grew up in the Sixties, so I wasn't introduced via the radio, but rather through one of the character's crappiest interpretations of all time. Archie Comics, I believe, somehow got a hold of the rights and screwed everything around from the start... it must have been around 1965 or '66... several years before the fine Mike Kaluta DC work. Believe it or not, Lamont Cranston was blond in the first issue... and I seem to remember that Shiwan Khan was the villain in every single story! The stories were not memorable... but wait, it gets so much worse. By around issue 3, Lamont Cranston now looked a lot like Clark Kent, with glasses and very curly black hair... and THEY GAVE HIM A PURPLE AND GREEN SUPERHERO COSTUME!!!! I believe that Margo and Shrevy were somewhere in the mix, as was Commissioner Weston... but very fortunately my memory has faded. I believe the series died around issue 6.
I've always believed that my father gave me the Grant/Tollin Shadow Scrapbook as a direct correction to the horrible introduction that I recieved. Shortly after that some paperback company issued reprints with decent covers, as a reaction to the Doc Savage books with the great Bama covers. Then followed the radio eps, The Victor Jory movie at a nearby college film festival... and finally the Kaluta books, still my favorite interpretation.

[rick]

i became a shadow fan when i read dc shadow comics in the 70's.

[Greggie The Dark One]

Well, I'm 24 years old and have only really known of The Shadow for about 3 years. I have been into radio shows since I was a kid (it started with The Green Hornet) and have pretty much been into SUPERHEROES since childhood (Favorites are: BATMAN, GREEN HORNET, THE SHADOW, well every hero type pretty much, right down to JAMES BOND and PHILIP MARLOWE).

But anyway, I was heavy into Batman for a few years and of course learned about the Shadow through Batman... I had been a radio fan & comic book fan and upon learning of the Shadow, I researched the character & FELL IN LOVE.

He was a radio hero, a comic hero & his story was told in 325 novels! Wow, EVERYTHING I COULD WANT.

After spending 3 years with the character , I now consider myself a Shadow expert. I own every available COLLECTED EDITION Comic book (3: Private Files of the Shadow, Hitler's Astrologer, and In the Coils of Leviathan), One original copy of THE LIVING SHADOW, the 1940 serial, the 1994 film and have written FAN FICTION on the character.

Next to Bruce Wayne & Britt Reid, Lamont Cranston is my HERO!

[Joseph Booth]

My formative years were the Seventies, a great time to grow up. I found Mr. Cranston via the airwaves on Thursdays while sitting in my room at 3030 Nettie. Butte, Montana USA. I'm not sure if I was listening to the originals or not but I was fascinated. I would also put myself to sleep listening to "Radio Mystery Theatre". But I digress.
I used to visit my grandparents in Libby and the same summer that I discovered the radio Shadow I came across the 60's reprint "The Living Shadow". Wow, an eye opener. There was no internet to research my newfound hero so I had no idea he was anything more than a radio character (since that is how my mom and dad remembered him). This book was quickly followed by a coloring book which led me to the DC comic book. I was in heaven. Or so I thought. It got better when the Pyramid/HBJove books started being published. I proudly wore my t-shirt with the transfer of Steranko's homage cover painting of the Shadow (his graced the new Living Shadow and the original was on The Black Hush). However, it all ended when the books ceased to be published. It hurt but I consoled myself with what I had and kind of held onto that special feeling I had that I thought no one else did. Over time I came across many items (two of which are original pulps) and now there are the double issue reprints which showcase the original illustrations. Again, I am in heaven.