THE SHADOW: THE MURDER MASTER & THE HYDRA

I recently finished reading THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL #4 (Nostalgia Ventures, 2007) and it's a corker. This handsome trade paperback reprints two vintage Shadow pulp thrillers in their entirety, along with the original black and white interior illustrations, all beneath a gorgeous painted cover.

The two stories in this volume are THE MURDER MASTER (from February 15th, 1938) and THE HYDRA (from December 1st, 1942). Along with the pulp reprints, there's a foreword by noted cartoonist Gahan Wilson and informative articles by pulp scholars Anthony Tollin and Will Murray. No matter how you look at it, this is a can't-miss package of pure pulp magic.

THE MURDER MASTER is a mad fiend who uses the radio to broadcast a series of death threats against wealthy New York businessmen. All of the threats come true but before the Shadow can confront this mysterious foe, the radio station has been vacated, leaving the Shadow to deduce that the threats were actually pre-recorded on a vinyl disc, which leaves the criminal mastermind on the loose and ready to strike again. Another key plot element here is the idea of supposedly rehabilitated criminals being used as gang members for the Murder Master (this recalls Doc Savage's Crime College in upstate New York where Savage performed illegal lobotomies on many of his foes, rendering them incapable of further criminal action).

MURDER features a nifty escape from a venerable death trap (the walls of a room close in on The Shadow before he executes a death defying escape) and a truly bizarre scene in which The Shadow is viewed through the lens of a giant microscope, lending the viewer on the other end a cyclopean air. It's not hard to figure out who the real Murder Master is (Walter Gibson does throw us a red herring in the form of a wizened mad scientist) but that's a minor quibble in this otherwise first rate pulp thriller.

THE HYDRA starts with a bang. A fiery conflagration consumes a Long Island mansion as a means of covering up a massive theft of valuables from the home. All of this is orchestrated by the criminal organization known as The Hydra, a ruthless gang that features the old adage: when one member dies, two more take his place. Before you know it, Lamont Cranston uses an elephant gun to blow away a Hydra head in Cranston's home while The Shadow watches. What? The Shadow and Lamont Cranston in the same room? But aren't they one and the same? Not so fast dime novel breath. As THE HYDRA clearly demonstrates, there is a real Lamont Cranston who is definitely NOT The Shadow. However, The Shadow frequently "borrows" Cranston's identity for his own purposes, an appropriation that Cranston is clearly okay with. Plucky Margo Lane constantly suspects that Cranston is The Shadow but can never get any conclusive evidence to prove her theory.

HYDRA features some wild set pieces. In addition to the fiery action at the start, there's a crazy "fight" in a room full of deadly scientific marvels, machines which go out of control and menace The Shadow and a Hydra member. The climax finds multiple "Shadows" squaring off against multiple Hydras with only the real Shadow and the ultimate head of Hydra left standing for a battle to the death.

I have no proof of this and have never seen it speculated anywhere else but it seems to me highly likely that THE HYDRA was read by either Stan Lee or Jack Kirby (or perhaps both) in late 1942. Why? Because the motto for The Hydra and the hierarchical nature of the criminal empire are remarkably similar to that espoused by Hydra, the evil spy organization that Lee and Kirby introduced in the Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. series in mid-'60s issues of STRANGE TALES. The comic book Hydra was headed by Baron Strucker (a Fury foe from WWII) and still figures prominently in both the cinematic and comic book versions of the current Marvel Universe. Coincidence? Tribute? Homage? Who knows (besides The Shadow), but my bet is that someone in the Marvel bullpen had to have read this Shadow novel.

All in all, two terrific Shadow adventures along with great historical information make this one a winner.