I think the character, Nightshade, was originally inspired by the Shadow. The creator of Nightshade might have thought,
what if my version of the the Shadow wasn't a man, but an actual shadow? So “scientist Howard Hall is able to bring his shadow to life” (from Public Domain Super Heroes). He has a way of doing it with flashlights strapped to his ankles which cause him to cast a shadow. I don’t see those flashlights. He puts his hand on his trouser cuff but that’s all we see. Damn it! Show us the flashlight, Howard!
Nightshade, appearing as he did in Centaur’s
Amazing Man Comics (numbers 24-26), did not last long. Centaur closed shop, and
Amazing Man #26 was the last issue. I give the character of Nightshade a Pappy pat on the head award for being one of the more off-the-wall super heroes I have seen.
This shady story is from
Amazing Man Comics #26 (1942). The Grand Comics Database credits Charles Verral with the script, and Homer Fleming for the artwork.
Given that Roosevelt's policy was swiftly to execute German agents, rather than to try to turn them, Colletti was a d_mn'd fool to confess the nature and purpose of the painting and his intention to deliver it to Germany.
ReplyDeleteAnd, in use of that confession to provide the whole of the resolution of the mystery, the author failed as a story-teller. That failure is especially acute in a medium in which sequential images should be carrying more weight; but, even were the story purely verbal, the audience shouldn't simply be handed a bald explanation at the end.
(Of course, Verral was probably jus' doin' his low-paid job, which wasn't to craft masterpieces.)
I could easily imagine a hero with this power showing-up as a one-shot in the fifties or in the sixties. Three sequential appearances, though, would be a lot to squeeze-out.
Back in the 60s, the Saturday morning show "Super President" balanced two segments of the title character with the slightly more cartoony "Spy Shadow". That featured American agent, voiced by Ted Cassidy, who'd learned from a mystic how to summon up his shadow as an independent being -- providing there was some form of illumination handy. The shadow, also voiced by Cassidy I believe, would save him from death traps and generally make himself useful.
ReplyDeleteI recall a cartoon called "Spy Shadow" that was a segment of another series in the late '60s (probably Super 6). He was a secret agent whose shadow operated independently of him whenever he said "Spy Shadow, come forth!"
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