Press Release
Dynamite Entertainment has signed a comprehensive licensing agreement with Conde Nast for comic books based on one of the most popular cultural icons in comics – The Shadow! Arguably the most famous pulp hero of the 20th century, The Shadow has been featured in comic books, comic strips, television, video games, and at least five motion pictures!
“We are pleased and excited to entrust The Shadow to the capable, creative hands of Dynamite Entertainment,” said Jerry Birenz, licensing attorney for Conde Nast. “We look forward to a continuation of the long tradition of The Shadow in comic books, and the enjoying of the new adventures and experiences Dynamite Entertainment will bring us.”
Introduced as a mysterious radio narrator by David Chrisman, William Sweets, and Harry Engman Charlot for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was fully developed and transformed into a pop culture icon by pulp writer Walter B. Gibson.
The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour. After gaining popularity among the show’s listeners, the narrator became the star of The Shadow Magazine on April 1, 1931, a pulp series created and primarily written by the prolific Gibson.
“Pursuing The Shadow has been a life time quest,” says Dynamite Entertainment President and Publisher Nick Barrucci. “Dynamite is working to launch the Shadow with some of the comic industries leading talent including John Cassaday, Alex Ross, Ryan Sook and Jae Lee, with more to be announced – creators who will bring justice to The Shadow. We will be releasing more exciting news about The Shadow series soon!”
To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit www.comicshoplocator.com
ABOUT DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT:
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, Green Hornet, Vampirella, Warlord of Mars, Project Superpowers, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time and more!
In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and best selling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Michael Avon Oeming, Mel Rubi, Marc Guggenheim, Stephen Sadowski, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner and a host of up and coming new talent!
DYNAMITE is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including PROJECT SUPERPOWERS – which debuted at #4 in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005 Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%). The company has also been nominated for several industry awards, including the prestigious Eisner Award.
4 Comments
Damnit Dynamite! Don’t you already get enough of my money!
I’m very excited about this but I hope Dynamite won’t have too many concurrent titles as they do with The Green Hornet and I also hope it’s only the first issue that goes the multiple covers route as the stories should be the keynote of the series’ marketing, not the collectability. It should be seen as something to be enjoyed, not locked in a box, untouched by human hand nor read by human eye. They’ll want at least two titles to justify the licensing fee and what I’d like to see is two ongoing series. One with stories of The Shadow told in the third person, solving, preventing or avenging crime all over the world in stories varying between one and up to four parts in length. The other told in the first person, with each new story following a case from the perspective of a different member of The Shadow’s band of agents and recurring characters. Both in period, largely with the ethos of the pulps but with nods to the radio series in particular. Plenty of jumping on points for new readers and no overly complicated arc stories. What I don’t want to see is mini-series after mini-series, which I feel muddy the waters and become increasingly difficult for fans and retailers to keep track of, while suggesting to the casual reader a lack of confidence in the long term success of the license.
Arguably? There’s nothing argueable about it. The Shadow DEFINES pulp.
Late in the night, when I was a kid in the 60’s, my local radio station re-ran some of the old Shadow shows.
He had me at his first laugh!!! (And, yes… it was Orson Welles.)
I read the paperbacks, met The Spider, The Avenger, and Doc Savage too!
Conan and Tarzan showed up later, and I could not believe that these “pulps” were being written within a 30 day period or less! (Reprinted by Bantam and Ace with great covers by great artists!) Frazetta, Bama, Steranko… etc. Still got them on my shelf!
The Shadow Lives!