It interests me that the Shadow existed in two immensely
popular but distinct versions over a long period.
The pulp Shadow, born in 1931, could not become invisible,
commanded a network of agents and merely posed as millionaire Lamont Cranston.
The radio Shadow, born in 1938, could become invisible, had no network of
agents and really was Lamont Cranston.
Both characters derived from a third,
preexisting Shadow who was merely a mysterious voice narrating radio mystery
stories beginning in 1929. The voice became so popular that Street & Smith,
the company that owned the program, decided to build a magazine around it, the
first hero pulp. The popularity of the pulp inspired the second radio Shadow,
whose abilities were tailored to a perfect fit for the medium: the man no one
can see.
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