The Return of the Shadow

By John Freeman on 12 December 2006

Digital Spy has picked up on a Hollywood Reporter item that Sam (Evil Dead, Spider-Man) Raimi is to produce a new big screen adaptation of The Shadow after Columbia Pictures bought the rights to the heroic character. He apparently won’t direct this latest version featuring the adventures of the 1930s crimefighter, who has the power to cloud the minds of his adversaries.

Created by Walter B Gibson, the Shadow originated as a CBS radio show in 1931 and featured in over 300 pulp magazine stories, according to the Shadow in Review web site. I quite liked the 1994 film starring Alec Baldwin (it was directed by Russell Highlander Mulcahy and had plenty of visual panache) but I was in a minority – the film bombed at the US box office, taking just over $32 million, which didn’t recoup the estimated $40 million budget.

I’m sure that after Peter Jackson’s King Kong Hollywood execs will recognise it’s possible to set a film in the era in which the source material was created and still provide a relevance for the modern audience (just as the BBC’s underestimated Robin Hood series is doing).

Digging around, I’ve come across some great web sites devoted to the character, as well as the inevitable Wikipedia entry. The Shadow Sanctum (www.shadowsanctum.net) offers more information on the plans for the new movie and seems to offer a good range of background reference and new interpretations on the character from his many fans.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.