The Shadow Master Series Vol. 1

Shadow Master Series #1

by Andy Helfer, Bill Sienkiewicz (Artist)

For the first time in decades, the acclaimed 1987 Shadow storyline by industry icons Andy Helfer and Bill Sienkiewicz sees print in a gorgeous collection from Dynamite Entertainment! Beginning with the seminal tale "Hat Trick", this first volume of The Shadow Master Series captures the surreal artistry and mystery of one of yesteryear's finest creative team-ups, a definitive exploration of the macabre Master of Men in six chapters!

Genres: Comics, Pulp, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Crime, Fiction

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Andrew Helfer usually credited as Andy Helfer, is an award-winning comic book creator best known for his work as an editor and writer at DC Comics, where he founded the Paradox Press imprint. Helfer joined DC in the 1980s, and was responsible for placing Keith Giffen and J.M. deMatteis on the Justice League titles; as well, he was the editor for The Man of Steel limited series by John Byrne. He also developed the Max Allan Collins-written series Road to Perdition and the John Wagner-written A History of Violence, both of which became successful films.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good god, this was awful. The Shadow is barely in it. It's set in the 80's instead of going for the noir of the 40's. The Asian characters were painted yellow. I can't believe that made it through DC editorial. The plot is incomprehensible until the last couple of issues. The scripting overwrought, dense and mindnumbing. Even Sienkiewicz's interior pencils couldn't save this turkey. His covers were fantastic though.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 2 out of 5]

Helfer and Sienkiewicz' Shadow was published in the initial post-Dark Knight wave of revivals and reinventions that to this day stands as DC Comics' creative high point. Unfortunately this has aged worse than most, despite (or perhaps because of) all the expected elements - urban grotesquerie, flip violence, dense scripting, overlapping phonetic dialogue, and of course vigorously non-traditional art. Plenty of writers pulled off this mix - Moore, Miller, but also slightly less celebrated creators like Mike Baron, Ann Nocenti, or Keith Giffen. Andy Helfer - the editor on a lot of great comics, turned writer here - can't quite get it right and until the last couple of issues clarified the plot this was a mess.

Said plot is itself deeply 80s - with those stock Reagan-era baddies, the corporate CEO and the televangelist - but that, like the lead character, has its pulpy charm. As for Sienkiewicz, the reason I bought this in the first place? The density of the writing and the small panels it necessitates weighs him down a bit, or he was just going through the motions - but this is some way off his best, gorgeous painted covers aside.

[Emilio Arias H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andy Helfer, en el guion, continúa con el estilo de humor siniestro que plasmó Howard Chaykin en la miniserie anterior a esta serie regular, que revivía al personaje de La Sombra y lo actualizaba a los años 80. Lamentablemente, luego de unos dos primeros números muy divertidos y delirantes, la historia se torna algo predecible, donde Helfer acentúa ese humor ridículo, usando una verborrea en ciertos personajes (el archienemigo Shiwan Khan y el inspector Joe Cardona, principalmente) que no aporta información nueva y que se hace insoportable. Entonces, el cómic se vuelve aburrido de leer. En el apartado gráfico, Bill Sienkiewicz hace un gran trabajo, aportando un dibujo acorde al tono de la historia y una narrativa ágil.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a kid, I loved the old pulp hero, the Shadow. I was way too young to have read his original adventures, but came across an image of him in a magazine, and learned about him from comics published in the 70s (also before my time). When Howard Chaykin, a comics artist I enjoyed, revived the character in the mid-80s, I fell in love all over again. And when DC Comics followed up that initial story (The Shadow: Blood & Judgement) with an ongoing series, written by Andrew Helfer and drawn initially by Bill Sienkiewicz, it quickly became one of my favorites. So I was very excited to see this book, reprinting the first six issues of that series.

For the most part, the book holds up very well. The story and art feel very fresh and contemporary, even almost 30 years later. Both are fast-paced and dynamic. Sienkiewicz's style is so unique and distinctive, it doesn't feel dated at all. It stands out as its own thing today as much as it did when it originally came out. Similarly, Helfer's dialogue-driven script feels much more in tune with the comics are today, with an almost-complete absence of thought balloons and narrative captions. The dialogue and situations are funny, and feel like real people speaking. And the action is well-choreographed and exciting.

Rereading these stories for the first time in decades, they do feel more episodic than I had recalled, reflecting a time when comics were meant to be read as monthly serials, and were rarely collected to be read as one piece. So while there are elements that carry through the book, in a lot of ways it feels like a series of shorter stories strung together. I also felt that the main villain, the Light, was much less developed than I remembered, until I realized that while this book collects all six issues by Helfer and Sienkiewicz, it leaves out the Shadow Annual #1 (illustrated by Joe Orlando, not Sienkiewicz) which tells the background of the Light. That's frustrating, because without that, we are left with a story that feels incomplete. Because it is.

So kudos to Helfer and Sienkiewicz for creating a stylish comic that doesn't feel dated. A nod to the times in which it was published, for giving us a compilation that feels like six episodes of something instead of a complete, single book. And boo to Dynamite Comics, for leaving out a big chunk of the story.

[Rodrigo Tello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buena continuación de la serie de parte de Helfer y Sienkewicz, si bien el dibujo no es tan bueno como el de Chaykin, mantiene el nivel y el guión no se queda atrás. Muy buen reboot del personaje en los años 80

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante continuación de la miniserie de Chaykin. El guión de Helfer aporta más humor negro y la narrativa siempre interesante -pero confusa- de Sienkewicz le da un aire muy personal. Cuando consiga la miniserie que la precede, seguro les dé una releida íntegra y me explaye en sus correspondientes reseñas.

[Mark Schlatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, in the mid-eighties, DC Comics was on its prestige format kick and looking for properties to focus on. They didn't own the Shadow, but had the license, and decided to have Howard Chaykin (of American Flagg! fame) do a four issue miniseries. I've read it once and barely remember it, but it did feature Chaykin's usual dose of violence and sex. It also updated the Shadow to the current day. So, then, of course, you could have the follow-up continuing series (which starts being collected in this volume)....

Enter writer Andy Helfer and artist Bill Sienkiewicz with sensibilities that take the dark humour of Chaykin's work, turn it up several notches, and stir in a good amount of gonzo. (By the way, if you don't think Sienkiewicz can do weird humor stuff, take a look at Stray Toasters.) There's a plot about the return of the Shadow and the collision of several villains, including a far too charismatic evangelist and a Fu Manchu type running a stand-in for the Sony Corporation.

But, honestly, I don't read this for the plot. I read it for the crazy bat sh#t. I read it for Twitchkowitz (a nerdy drug smuggler and supplier) and Gwen (his hospital nurse frenemy who was a former professional wrestler). I read it for the Shadow's two sons, raised in the hidden utopia of Shambala, who drive a flying car and perform glam rock based on their father's images. I read it for the spot on portrayals of eighties TV preachers. I read it for the scenes of the Shadow, laughing maniacally as he guns down bad guy after bad guy.

I'll be honest --- this isn't a subtle work (and spoiler: the series gets less subtle as it goes on) and it is in no way a reverent treatment of a beloved (if morally ambiguous) character. It's great fun, though.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years, my local comic shop guys had told me... if I liked J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen's run on justice League, I should try the run on The Shadow by former Justice League editor Andrew Helfer. I had wanted to for years but finding the issues was difficult and expensive. Then the same thing happened to the trades.

But then it finally came down in price and boy were they right.

While not quite as funny as JLI, The Shadow gets pretty funny. Much like JLI, the first few issues are slow but once it gets rolling... it's a comedic freight train that does a great job parodying the tropes of pulp hero and early super heroes... along with modern issues like televangelism which are still causing seriously screwed up social problems thirty years later.

I've been a fan of Bill Sienkiewicz since I first encountered it in the pages of New Mutants. He's a guy known more for noir and horror titles. He's not exactly the artist you would think of for a comedic take on the character but it works really well.

[Jack Haringa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange, topical, violent, surprising, witty stories that I remember not nearly well enough from the late '80s are bound together here into neat story arcs, of which this is the first volume from Dynamite. Helfer's writing is wonderfully complemented by Bill S's experimental, challenging, and clever art. Great stuff. Funny side note, at the time these were coming out, I was going to college and living in the same dorm with Helfer's younger brother, who was also a witty guy. Must have been something in the water.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is bonkers, in all the right ways. Off-the-wall story paired with magnificent Sienkiewicz artwork makes for a really fun romp. My only word of warning: this isn't an easy introduction to The Shadow and his world. You're dragged in kicking and screaming and the status quo is really effed with. But that's part of what makes the book so much fun. To think that Kyle Baker followed Sienkiewicz as artist on this book is mind-boggling. What a run.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boy, I miss these collected issues, and would love to REREAD this in this collected edition.
It was a very INTERESTING take on The Shadow, as I recall. Worked, too.
Recommended.

[Reyel2107 · Rating 5 out of 5]

my shadow I

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have vague memories of reading this as a child. And then I never read it again until now. I was thinking Andrew Helfer did a great job writing Justice Inc (nobody remembers it :) and Bill Sienkiewicz is an interesting artist and I love the idea of the Shadow - this should be fun. But after reading it again I can see why it was a comic I read once and never returned to. Let's break it down.

1) The writing was poorly done. If you want to break it down - it is about a mind controlling device that was commissioned by Shiwan Khan (the go to Shadow baddie) and he is going to use it to control the world. Okay. Good. Basic pulp Shadow plot. But then Andy ruins it by adding a whole "evangelical church" plot with The Light (do we ever find out why he glows?). Get it? The Light vs The Shadow? Well Andy doesn't get it because they never confront each other and The Light only serves to poke fun at the TV evangelists and only serves to prolong an overly long plot.
He also ruins it by making it 7 issues when this was a 3 issue story. If you read the other reviews they all comment on how the plot doesn't come together until the last issues and that is 100% true because the first 4 issues were spent just introducing a bunch of side characters that don't go anywhere.
He also ruins it by trying to bring back old characters Margo and Harry but it goes no where. When trying to introduce new characters they are just quirky for the sake of being quirky and don't add anything to the plot. Especially the sons of The Shadow. Yikes. They go nowhere.
And the Shadow is poorly used...the main plot is finally foiled by some computer geeks sitting in a room blowing up a satellite.

2) The artist was the wrong choice. Look - Sienkiewicz at the best of times divided fans. On the one hand he was experimental and interesting to look at (the covers are amazing) but as a storyteller he started to fail because he was more interested in being experimental than helping tell a clear story. So while there are still beautiful panels to look at he doesn't help tell the story which was already hard to follow.

3) The idea of the Shadow is often better than the execution of the Shadow. The reasons fans like me say we like the Shadow is because we like the idea of the pulp era with this mysterious hero who has a network of helpers working with him to foil crime. But if you read the actual pulp tales they are good but not great. We think we want the Shadow to be the central figure but IMO the stories work better with us following his agents and only getting small doses of The Shadow. When we get too much Shadow the flaws in the character show up - is he omniscience (then why does he take so long to figure things out?), is he unbeatable (he gets knocked out a lot), what are his powers? Some writers have overcome this and written great Shadow stories but often we get people like Andy who can't pull it off.

So overall - it is no wonder never bothered to reread this. Too long and too complicated with a basic story when you stripped the complications away.

[Marcos Faria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Foram dois saltos temporais: o primeiro, do Sombra original, personagem de livros pulp dos anos 40, para a sua recriação numa história em quadrinhos na década de 80; o segundo, quase tão longo, da edição original de 1987 para esse encadernado de 2017.

Eu já me desequilibrei no primeiro salto. Sem conhecer o personagem e seu entorno, demorei um pouco para entender o que estava acontecendo. Ajudou o fato de a trama principal só começar mesmo a engrenar depois da terceira parte (de um total de seis). A partir daí, apesar de algumas sequências de ação meio confusas, a coisa segue bem. Helfer não chega a ser um mestre como a capa sugere, mas dá seu recado.

Já a arte de Bill Sinkiweicz, que tinha sido na verdade o único motivo de eu comprar esse gibi, é a maior responsável pelo estranhamento do segundo salto temporal. O estilo é muito marcadamente oitentista. Mas chega a justificar um certo saudosismo, na medida em que é uma arte expressiva, que se se soma ao texto em vez de simplesmente ilustrá-lo.

[Tom Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the Chaykin mini-series back in the eighties, but I didn't move on to the ongoing series that followed, so I was quite interested in reading these issues.

This first story was entertaining. But I found the storytelling a little disjointed. It picks up not long following the Chaykin series, yet the Shadow has already had sufficient time to build up a network of new agents. Legacy characters remain, yet their importance to the story is minimal, in some cases dismissing the characters into one-dimensional parodies. The story could have benefitted from being shorter and tighter.

Bill Sienkiewicz's artwork is decent, but restrained somehow, lacking the bold risk-taking from his New Mutants era earlier and from his later Elektra: Assassin. It's still quite different from standard comic book fare of the time, though the story only occasionally really warrants that.

Overall, entertaining but disappointing given its reputation. I'll continue with the series since the Kyle Baker era is coming up, so we'll see if his style inspired more from writer Andrew Helfer.

[Matt Eldridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this incredibly disappointing.

I've heard about other publishers, such as DC Comics, having some comic continuations of the Shadow, so I was a bit eager to see what this comic was about.

Unfortunately, this story was pretty much incomprehensible. It's a direct sequel to another Shadow story, "Blood and Judgement", which is the origin story/beginning of the DC Comics revival of this particular version of the Shadow and his assistants. There's no recapping of previous events to bring anyone up to speed, you're just dropped into a big new adventure without any way to catch up.

I haven't read "Blood and Judgement", so I don't know of its quality. If its anything like this book, B&J are probably not worth the read anyhow.

[Lucy Batson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't very good, and not even Bill Sienkiewicz's always-excellent art helps out! There are one or two good ideas that get lost in a) way too many characters, most with no introduction whatsoever, b) a main character that we're given no good reason to give a shit about and c) tired Yellow Peril villains that still read as Yellow Peril despite touches to "modernize" them. Best avoided.

[Andrei]

DNF - dropped midway through the second issue.

As someone who's only read a handful of comics with The Shadow, I found the story largely incomprehensible. I didn't enjoy the art either (aside from the covers), and didn't find any reason to try and push through.

[Jorge Schumacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um bom arco mas com final bem clichê.

[Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn’t follow this for the life of me, and I had no idea what was going on 80% of the time.

[Brian Sendelbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Choppy.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taco recopilatorio que traduce la segunda miniserie de La Sombra publicada por Zinco.

[Alex Sarll]

Who better to illustrate the real Dark Knight Detective than Billy the Sink? True, only the covers are in his painted style, but they are gorgeous. The rest of the book is in his half-comedic pencil manner, which does still work for this overstuffed yarn of allies and enemies old and new crossing and recrossing each other's paths in the same seedy, vibrant New York familiar from all those great eighties films. But when the Shadow does strike, that menacing swirl of black, the hawklike nose, the murderous laughter and the guns have never looked more like a force of nature.