I Am General Sodom

Comics time again gentlefolk and there were some mean things bubbling under at DC Comics circa 1973.  The meanest mean thing in the history of meandom in fact; The Shadow.  Now I know he was originally an old pulp fiction character, a dark shadowy figure, fighting crime unofficially from the shadows, with recourse to aristocratic wealth and status, unafraid to bend the rules and other’s human rights to get results and capable of striking icy fear into the heart of any criminal.  Hmm, sound* like* anyone* we* know?  *

Courtesy of my uncle I have all the first 12 issues of The Shadow, bound together with Batman #253 from November 1973.  The Shadow has some cool catch phrases such as ‘The Weed of crime bears bitter fruit’ – which I fully intend to try to integrate into a conversation at work tomorrow.  Written by Denny O’Neill and brought to life by M Kalutz and Frank Robbins these comics are an absolute treat and a half.  What I particularly like is the fact that these are not sugar-coated in any way at all, The Shadow will happily shoot, impale and/or drop from a great height any baddie who crosses his path.  Hardly new territory for the pulps of the time, but pretty harsh for comicdom in 1973/74.

But without any further ado, here’s a scattering of greatness; including the single greatest baddie ever.  Word up!

342 Down (Still)

*Batman!