Another one of those all too rare situations where an artist finds the perfect character for them. Originally, when DC got the rights to The Shadow, the book was going to go to Berni Wrightson, as seen in this ad below.
Which would obviously have been amazing. But Wrightson was subsequently offered Swamp Thing, and Kaluta put his hat in the ring for The Shadow, a concept DC was then struggling to find a suitable artist for. ( Steranko, Toth & Aparo all being mooted, but for different reasons, all passed over )
Kaluta's work of this period is obviously fairly rough and untutored, but what it does have going for it is atmosphere, mood and menace in spades. These issues filter both Pulp illustration and the best of Golden Age art through the blender to produce something that, at the time, was quite unique, and still has a depth and potency you just don't see in comic art anymore.
O'Neil's scripts too are spot on. There's absolutely no background provided on who The Shadow is, why his team work for him with such unwavering loyalty, or anything even remotely resembling an origin.
The Shadow is deliberately given no characterization, being a dark force of nature, an unrelenting vigilante who dispenses justice at the barrel of a gun. This obviously makes him difficult to empathize with, but that's kind of the point. This is old-fashioned pulp storytelling, and this hero isn't vaguely interested in being the readers' friend.
Interesting to note also, that during the run, Denny made it clear that Lamont Cranston isn't The Shadow's real identity, but just another guise he uses. No one knows just who, or what, he really is.
But the main draw is Kaluta and his incredible cityscapes and aura of menace. Unfortunately, it couldn't last, and the amount of work Mike was putting in on The Shadow meant that deadlines slipped away, and after only five issues, he was off the book.
Here's Mike's last Shadow, an absolute tour de force of darkness.
O'Neil's scripts too are spot on. There's absolutely no background provided on who The Shadow is, why his team work for him with such unwavering loyalty, or anything even remotely resembling an origin.
The Shadow is deliberately given no characterization, being a dark force of nature, an unrelenting vigilante who dispenses justice at the barrel of a gun. This obviously makes him difficult to empathize with, but that's kind of the point. This is old-fashioned pulp storytelling, and this hero isn't vaguely interested in being the readers' friend.
Interesting to note also, that during the run, Denny made it clear that Lamont Cranston isn't The Shadow's real identity, but just another guise he uses. No one knows just who, or what, he really is.
But the main draw is Kaluta and his incredible cityscapes and aura of menace. Unfortunately, it couldn't last, and the amount of work Mike was putting in on The Shadow meant that deadlines slipped away, and after only five issues, he was off the book.
Here's Mike's last Shadow, an absolute tour de force of darkness.
