#the shadowcast

“We are the Silent Seven," said the central figure, in a low-pitched voice. 

Every word was audible; some peculiar acoustic condition of the room gave the tone an awe-inspiring sound.

"The Silent Seven," repeated the others, in a whisper.

"We command the Faithful Fifty," was the whispering echo.

"Our identities are unknown," declared the speaker, "Each of us was appointed by the founder of our order—he who first was Number One.  Should new members be needed, I shall appoint them. Their names will be known to me alone. That is my oath."

"You have declared the oath of Number One," was the response.

-'The Silent Seven' (1932)

Art by Tom Lovell

The Shadowcast is joined by venerated pulp historian WILL MURRAY, author of the recent Shadow bookumentary 'Master of Mystery: The Rise of The Shadow'.

Art by Joe DeVito

Then, we continue our reviews of classic pulps when The Shadow tackles a secret society of prominent criminal conspirators in THE SILENT SEVEN!

Art by Jerome Rozen

REPORT!

Buy 'Master of Mystery: The Rise of The Shadow' 

BRISTLETAIL of KarstClan is a prideful leader who doesn't think anyone deserves xer respect unless you earn it. After helping lead the rebellion against Darkstar and the Brierscode as a whole, it took over leadership and kept Darkbriers as a prisoner and exiled Marredface and Clearpool, as well as demoted Darkbriers' daughter, Wolfbriers, from deputyship.

Since Darkbriers still had three lives left over from her leadership, Bristletail can't recieve xer nine lives and among most isn't considered a real leader. Xe hold a lot of distrust for FroryClan, after their alliance with xer clan during the Brierscode times.

The kindest thing Bristletail did for Darkbriers' supporters was make Elmprance deputy, a tom who, while loyal, had been one of her biggest supporters. Bristletail believed that this made for a good show of trust- and Elmprance was a fantastic warrior anyways.

no kin in any clan

hi tiger! i don't really talk about my ocs on here, mainly because i don't have a set story + oc stories are generally less popular! but i do have a couple favorites:

(shadowcast version) reishiblossom is one of my favorites! basic premise is he, a medicine cat/healer, loses his mentor appleblossom to a strange illness when he's only 10 moons and has to become a full medicine cat early! he falls for a cat in his clan (tbd) and wants to elope with them, also becoming stressed with clan life as he takes a apprentice named satinpaw, who has unnatural powers outside of typical medicine cat stuff.

reishiblossom's secret mate is killed after he reveals to the leader dimmingstar that he plans to leave soon, and satinpaw uses her 'sighting' abilty (think of clairvoyance!) to determine who killed them- it was a order given by dimmingstar.

reishiblossom flees the clan and eventually comes to meet a small group of rogues called the scrapfinders, who is a collection of former clan exiles and outsiders wronged by the clans. he convinces them to rally against froryclan, specifically dimmingstar, and leads them into battle on the night of a new moon! satinpaw, now satinpelt tries to convince him that it's not worth it, but he's too grief-stricken and imprisons her with some scrapguards so she wont be hurt during the battle.

he eventually dies during this fight while trying to kill dimmingstar, and the scrapfinders disperse from the battle!

"As sleep came upon him, Bruce Duncan's mind was filled with confused thoughts of his adventure. But one dominating impression filled his mind. The identity of his rescuer came with startling suddenness.

He had been drawn from his tomb by The Shadow!"

-The Eyes of The Shadow Walter B. Gibson (1931)

Agents of the Shadowcast, Report!

The Shadowcast has returned for Season 2: The Pulp Avenger! Beginning with a brikef summary of the first Shadow pulp, "The Living Shadow" (already covered in episode 1 here) before a full review of the sophomore novelette, "The Eyes of The Shadow"!

Then, we pay tribute to the recently-departed fellow magician and confidant of Shadow creator, Walter B. Gibson, the Amazing James Randi (R.I.P.)

Finally, The Shadowcast reviews the 2014 one-shot comic story, "The Death Factory", by Phil Hester and Ivan Rodriguez.

Report!

Buy "The Eyes of The Shadow" here!

Buy "James Randi: An Honest Liar" here!

"Young or old, man or woman, crime is a cancer, a cancer which must be destroyed!"

-The Shadow #9 (DC Comics, 1975)

Artwork by Mike Kaluta

In the final episode of Season 1, The Shadowcast discusses the implications of the new Doc Savage TV announcement, and whether The Shadow could be headed to TV as well!

Artwork by Eduardo Barreto

And then we review and explore The Shadow's legendary DC Comics debut in 1973 by Denny O'Neill and Mike Kaluta!

"In Hispaniola," purred Mocquino, his tone insidious, “the masters of voodoo control beings whom they term 'zombie'. A zombi is a living dead man, whose body has been disinterred from its grave, then imbued with life at the command of the voodoo worker. 

"The zombie are like slaves, vitalized corpses that behave like mechanical figures. But I hold spells and incantations more powerful than those of ordinary voodoo workers!

I can transform a living man into a zombi! It is too bad" - he paused, an evil twist upon his lips - "too bad that you cannot live to witness the fate of Elridge Rathcourt."

-'The Voodoo Master'

Walter B. Gibson (1936)

The Shadowcast

explores the very first supervillain: Rodil Mocquino, a.k.a. '

The Voodoo Master

'! When the voodoo madman and his zombified cult puts The Dark Avenger out of action, it is up to his agents and a wounded Shadow to uncover his hidden lair and rescue his brainwashed victims!

Artwork by Tom Lovell

...and then we review one of the most popular radio episodes of The Shadow: '

Voodoo'

! Where The Knight of Darkness does battle with yet another voodoo cult on the island of 'Little Cauldron' when Margot is selected as a blood sacrifice!

Bill Johnstone as The Shadow

Buy 'The Voodoo Master' double-novel

Buy 'The Voodoo Master' on audiobook

Purchase 'Chronology of Shadows' by Rick Lai