Showing posts with label The Shadow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Shadow. Show all posts

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Random Thoughts #42 - "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"

So... this week's been somewhat interesting. By the way, the title isn't referring to the election though it could go that way. I actually dressed up as the Shadow for this Halloween. I'm not the biggest fan of the character, but the costume's cool and kind of cheap to pull off if you have a suit. Anyway, things are good. I just got off of a small break from work. If you want to know my quick thoughts on the results of the election, it's at the bottom. Now onto other Random Thoughts!


The Mini-Vacation
So, on my mini-vacation... I didn't do anything. I went back to Pulaski and just hung down there for a few days. I'm glad my folks live in the country. Of course, there were the cows, goats, and baby goats to tend to. I also caught up on some reading. I've started to play an old-school RPG called Chrono Trigger. I've had it on my PS3 for months and I've started to really get into it. No wonder I downloaded it! So far, it's pretty good.


Movies
Back in March, I posted a list of movies I wanted to see in theatres or when they came out. I've only seen a few of them in theaters and others I didn't plan on seeing.
  • Race – I still haven't seen this biopic on Jesse Owens yet. I plan to though.
  • Deadpool – I still haven't seen it yet. My sister said it was funny
  • Zootopia – I saw it on Netflix. It was actually pretty good. It had good animation, nice characters, good comedy, and a nice message.
  • 10 Cloverfield Lane - I haven't seen it yet.
  • Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice – I've talked about this enough here. It was good even though it had some noticable flaws. 
  • Miles Ahead – I haven't gotten around to this one yet.
  • Captain America: Civil War – I saw this on opening weekend. I thought it was pretty good. It had a lot to juggle with and it succeeded for the most part. It was a better retelling of that event and it introduced Black Panther and Spider-Man well. The villain wasn't that bad either. Other than a couple of quibbles, it was good.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse – Shockingly, I haven't seen this one yet. I haven't had the time. I'll do it one day and I may even talk about my old idea of a movie involving Apocalypse.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows – I didn't see it and judging by the recent Nostalgia Critic/AVGN/Black Nerd team-up, I don't need to.
  • Warcraft – Skipped it.
  • Independence Day: Resurgence – I saw this with a friend one Sunday afternoon. It wasn't good. It was nice to see some of the old faces (even Brent Spiner?), but the younger cast didn't do it for me. The first was much better even with its flaws. This movie was a decade too late.
  • Jason Bourne – I haven't gotten to this yet.
  • The Legend of Tarzan – I'll check this out soon
  • Ghostbusters – I actually saw this with the family in Columbia. While it had its funny moments, it's another needless reboot. Had it been an actual sequel (and written better), I would have better things to say about it. At least it was funny.
  • Suicide Squad – I saw this on opening weekend. I did like it but had its problems. I'll probably talk about this later when it's released.
  • Doctor Strange – This was pretty good. It's another Marvel origin but it is better than most of the lot.
  • Shin Godzilla - I talked about this here too. It was a nice re-introduction to Godzilla.

Women
As for this subject... it's a work in progress as usual.

Well, that's all I got for now. I've got a few things I want to get through with before the end of the year. Hopefully, I can do that. For now, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. Oh yeah, here's what I posted.


Sunday, December 13, 2015

Tales From The 50 Cent Bin! - The Shadow Strikes #1

Today’s character is a bit different from the lot. Instead of an homage/analogue, this character is one of heroes that actually influenced Bob Kane and Bill Finger in creating Batman. The two actually pulled a lot of ideas from then-pulp heroes for Batman mythos and look. I said I had some surprises for this month and this is one of them. That’s kind of why it’s a weird Batman month. I’m looking at characters that may have been influenced by him and characters that helped mold him in what he became.

The first hero I want to talk about today is The Shadow. He was one of the characters that Kane and Finger pulled some ideas from. They even used a Shadow story (“Partners of Peril”) to serve as the basis for Batman’s first story in Detective Comics #27. He first debuted on radio in 1930. The Shadow’s real name is Kent Allard but he does go by different aliases. The one I know of is Lamont Cranston, a rich socialite, and that one was used in the 1994 movie. While I really only know him through the movie, I’ve always liked the look. He has been in the entire entertainment medium like radio, books, comic books, comic strips, TV and film. DC Comics had a few series that featured the character.  Batman even met the Shadow in one issue.

After his stint in World War I, he traveled around Asia for years. He later returned to the US to start a war on the crime in New York City. He has the power to cloud men’s minds and essentially make himself invisible to them. He’s all decked out in a black suit with a cape and fedora. He wears a red scarf and he’s usually armed with guns. Today, I’ll be looking at an issue from DC’s fourth series on the character. The Shadow Strikes #1 was released in 1989.  Gerard Jones is the writer. The art is provided by the late Eduardo Barreto.

The Shadow Strikes #1
Writer: Gerard Jones
Artist: Eduardo Barreto
Colors: Anthony Tomlin
Letters: David Cody Weiss
Editor: Brian Augustyn