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The Shadow (Dark Horse Comics) #Pu

Shadow: In the Coils of Leviathan

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The Shadow returns with blazing .45s for his most startling adventure yet! A subterranean menace is haunting New York City, slicing and burning anyone caught in the sewers at the wrong time. What dark force propels it? Who is behind this insatiable leviathan? Is it the lady evangelist? Her beautiful daughter? The monomaniacal scientist? His ambitious assistant? The murderous jewel thieves? The Russian spies? Only the Shadow knows!

117 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 1994

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About the author

Joel Goss

11 books

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5 stars
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17 (35%)
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14 (29%)
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for Mark.
1,657 reviews237 followers
August 23, 2020
A four part Dark Horse limited series featuring the Shadow as a master of disguise and a detective that wants to solve a menacing threat to the city and its inhabitants that is sometimes a wee bit to pretentious with the story description that runs before or after the comic part, the art is excellent and it makes the story which is certainly not its greatest strength look very decent. For Shadow fans certainly a must read.

The Shadow would like to remind readers that "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit! Crime does not pay. The Shadow knows!"
Profile Image for Kevin.
401 reviews3 followers
August 21, 2020
De describir este libro en una palabra: sutileza. La historia empieza con ligeros bordados insignificantes con algunas escenas de acción donde aparece la Sombra haciendo algo asombroso. Pero así es precisamente como se escribían las novelas. Siempre me ha parecido extraña la excusa de "está escrito para fans" pero aquí me doy cuenta que todo funciona para que según como lo veas, ya sea como un lector casual o un seguidor de las historias de la Sombra, puedas disfrutarlo en distintas intensidades.

Quiero hacer hincapié en el concepto de la sutileza. Por eso me quejo que haya escritores que malinterpreten a La Sombra como el Frank Castle de la década de los treinta y cuarenta. Por buena razón es que el personaje inspiró la creación de personajes como Batman. La Sombra es un detective, él utiliza la fuerza cuando es necesario. Y hablando de trabajo detectivesco, aquí hay mucho de eso, tomando en cuenta el medio, las investigaciones se cuentan en paralelo con el resto del relato para denotar el paso del tiempo y como el vengador oscuro está en una carrera contra el reloj.

La Sombra es también un espía, y de nuevo, esto se refleja de manera brillante en esta historia. Como su nombre lo dice, el personaje la mayoría del tiempo es un testigo de una historia que se mueve independientemente de él. La sutileza con la que se dan ligeras pistas de cómo el personaje se esconde a simple vista tanto al disfrazarse como utilizando su poder de hipnotismo para hacerse imperceptible.

En cuanto al departamento gráfico, en realidad no sé cómo no había leído más trabajos de Gary Gianni. No hay atajos o trucos. Este libro fue dibujado para que sea digno de conservarse. Los personajes son bien distinguibles y las multitudes son un manjar para los ojos. Las secuencias están posicionadas de la manera correcta para crear una reacción visceral en el lector. El color es algo que al principio me parecía sobrio y aburrido, pero todo fue bien calculado para que el final brille con más fulgor.

Debo advertir que este trabajo debe leerse en soledad y silencio. En mi primera lectura tuve algunas distracciones, y porque no conocía bien al personaje a través de las novelas, no pude apreciarlo como se debe. Esta no es sólo la segunda mejor historieta de la Sombra que he leído (el Astrólogo de Hitler aún está en mi primer lugar), sino que la considero un paradigma de como escribir un cómic de La Sombra.
Profile Image for Shane.
74 reviews1 follower
June 15, 2018
Amazing Shadow comic with beautiful art.
Profile Image for Tim.
60 reviews7 followers
August 26, 2012
For my money, there's never enough Shadow in the world. So even a so-so Shadow story is a welcome arrival. Mike Kaluta has long been the premier artist associated with The Shadow in comics. He's joined here by Joel Goss to write an appropriately pulpy mystery involving burning men and a monster beneath the streets of New York.

Kaluta and Goss go with a totally mysterious Shadow here. No Lamont Cranston here. The Shadow observes in various guises until springing from the shadows, twin. 45s blazing, then vanishing.

Gary Gianni handles the art for this one, and he's incredible, easily matching the high standards set by Kaluta. Gianni seems to channel the great illustrators John Clement Cole and J. Allen St. John through his pen.

The art makes up for the story's shortcomings and "In the Coils of Leviathan" is in the end a satisfying Shadow story.
6,202 reviews42 followers
February 27, 2016
This is a graphic novel based on The Shadow and is a rather confusing story. It starts out with something that seems like a supernatural attack on two men playing chess, but that aspect of things vanishes from the story immediately.

Instead, it turns into a madman with a terrible weapon story, mixed with a naval conference and lots and lots of rats.


There's also a dishonest female preacher and way too much time spent quoting from the Bible in relation to the mechanical device. There is a major gunfight between the Shadow and a bunch of crooks about three-fourths of the way through the story.


As far as the artwork goes, that's always a matter of taste.

Altogether a rather disappointing Shadow story and book.
Profile Image for Daniel.
Author 11 books13 followers
February 16, 2012
Great book, and a pretty cool story. I think I prefer "Hitler's Astrologer," and that's probably due to liking the art there a little more than "Leviathan." Regardless, I dig this book and I'm glad I went out of my way to get it, but glad I didn't end up spending more than $20, despite its current semi-rarity. Next will be Howard Chaykin's "The Shadow: Blood & Judgment," which I understand has mixed reviews for its liberties taken with the Shadow's mythology/modus operandi (like uzis) and I have to say that "In the Coils of Leviathan" had a pretty well-tailored old-fashioned tone to it, which I prefer, and enjoy most about the settings for The Shadow.
Profile Image for Paul.
770 reviews23 followers
April 28, 2013
So books or Graphic Novels you buy and read because of the Writer and/or the artist.
I have to confess, that's not the case for me when it comes to The Shadow. I buy them simply because I love the character so darn much!
Which is not to say that I don't enjoy the writing of the writer or the art of the artist. And in this case, they are both pretty nice. But I have to admit that The Shadow is a guilty pleasure that I find very difficult to pass up.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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