The Shadow vs Doc Savage

[stevenagy]

I finished the first issue of the Nostalgia Ventures reprint of The Shadow last night, and I'm still on the fence about whether I like them or not.

The two stories were Crime, Insured and The Golden Vulture. The first is noted in an essay by series and consulting editors Anthony Tollin and Will Murray as the most thrilling adventure of The Shadow

Comments

[hkneale]

The appeal of Doc is that he's capable of solving pretty much any problem. He's got all this knowledge and gadgetry at his fingertips. Nothing baffles him for long. He deals not just with bad guys, but the situations that arise from bad guys' meddling. Doc's true skiffy.

The appeal of The Shadow comes from a slightly different angle. With The Shadow, it's the sense of hopelessness driving someone towards vengeance. Cranston doesn't rely on a wide knowledge base or nifty toys. Instead, he relies on is parapsychic powers to "cloud men's minds...". It's all mind games with him. He's more concerned with bringing men to justice, rather than solving problems. Pure fantasy, this one.

It's almost a yin/yang or masculine/feminine thing.

It's a shame the movies sucked.

[stevenagy]

It's a shame the movies sucked.

Definitely a shame, though I enjoyed The Shadow more than the George Pal take on Doc Savage. I think Doc is an ideal vehicle that fits today's episodic genre television. Though the production costs would go through the roof.

I believe there's another Shadow in development. Sam Raimi owns the rights. He apparently tried to acquire them around the time the first movie got made and when that fell through he made Darkman, which I believe echoes the original's spirit.