The Shadow: The Last Illusion

The Shadow (Dynamite) #5

by Cullen Bunn, Colton Worley (Penciller), Giovanni Timpano (Penciller)

The Shadow infiltrates the sanctum of The Society of United Magicians, an esoteric enclave of illusionists who are hell-bent on escaping the ultimate trap: death itself! Learning the secret of the so-called "Last Illusion" from the spirit of escape artist Harry Houdini himself, The Shadow becomes the next target of their murderous scheme. To thwart their plans, he must evade twisted traps and solve spellbinding puzzles, while simultaneously evading the deadly skills of Sandman, the magician assassin. A good (or evil) magician never reveals his secrets... but the Shadow knows!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

174 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 25, 2016

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one of the better The Shadow comics Dynamite has created. A group of magicians are after a secret reportedly passed on to Houdini's wife after he died. They are willing to kill to unleash it. I thought establishing a friendship between The Shadow and Harry Houdini was smart. I also like how Bunn brought in other real world figures of the time like Aleister Crowley. And I really liked how this turned into a battle of supernatural skeptics (which Houdini was) versus believers. Timpano's art was very good too.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love pulp fiction and a lot of the old-time heroes. The Shadow has always been high on my list so it has been a pleasure to read The Last Illusion. In this story Lamont Cranston is on a quest to aid his old, and deceased, friend, Harry Houdini. As you may know, the master escape artist had declared that if there was any way to communicate from the afterlife, he would find and exploit it. (To date he has not done so well...) Anyways, this story focuses on the premise that maybe he did! Maybe he told his widow some juicy gossip from the other side and there is a group of magicians who believe he will also provide them with the key to restore real magic to the world. Of course they are unscrupulous and of course there are other powers in play. Mix in the Sandman, H.P. Lovecraft, some ancient Egyptian Lore, Margot Lane and a lot of action, and you have yourself a rip roaring yarn!

This turned out to be exactly what you want a Shadow story to be. It starts off a little slow as there were a lot of pieces to put into place, but once it picks up steam it was a hoot. The team of Cullen Bunn and Giovanni Timpano do a wonderful job with this series. A good and fun read indeed!

[Mouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a pretty kickass take on the Shadow. The art is good and the story is lots of fun, a bit dark, and some good action as well. It keeps to the nostalgia yet it adds more depth. In all the old Shadow stories he was always up against something out of the ordinary and this time around the Shadow is taking on the Society of United Magicians which is a very esoteric group of magicians that were originally lead by Harry Houdini. The Shadow does a lot of detective work and the plot leads around from place to place and delves into a bit of demonology. There's some great cameos by historic figures like Harry Houdini, Bess Houdini, Aleister Crowley, and HP Lovecraft.
My kind of esoteric stuff.... more please!

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was good though I kind of lost the plot a couple of times as there is a turnover of bad guys. The Sandman is a great character, good idea for an addition to The Shadow's non-existent "rogues gallery" as he usually kills them by the end of any given Shadow story. MINOR SPOILER: I have a hard time thinking the Shadow would work WITH a criminal, it just isn't his style. Anyway it was fun, the art was a little rough at points (though the layouts were SOLID) and there were some really odd choices in the coloring. Still a damn fine Shadow story that blends Houdini and Lovecraft and secret societies and stuff really well.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dueling magical societies, Houdini's phantasm and secrets from beyond the grave - what's not to like?

[Michael Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK story with so-so graphics. Not the best Shadow representation as he does not do a lot of the 'Shadow' things. Spends most of the story being rescued or stumbling around without a true direction.

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you heard of the pulp 1930s era superhero name the Shadow? He’s one of the oldest superheroes from the pulp age whom the creator of Batman “borrowed” the concept of the Shadow (I am saying this as a fan of Batman). Older generations would hear about the adventures of the Shadow on Radio; that was way before my time. In this modern retelling of the Shadow you see that the character the Shadow fight crime and pursue a mystery with twists and turns. As someone who love the references to the 1930s in comics this satisfied my interests and the story was worthwhile! I am glad Dynamite Entertainment have printed this story about the Shadow on trade paperback collecting all the issues for this story arc and I hope they would have more stories of the Shadow in the future (I think I am almost done with all their recent stories of the Shadows that they published).
The story begins in 1936 in Los Angeles though there’s flashbacks of the Shadow’s memory of training he had with the famous Harry Houdini with tricks and feats. The book is about the Shadow goes after a group called The Society of United Magicians who would kill to learn the secret of the "Last Illusion" concerning how one can actually come back from the dead. They go after Harry Houdini’s wife base upon rumors that her late husband communicated to her and the Shadow protects her though he hypnotize her to find out what she knows and cloud her mind to not remember for the sake of her protection. As a result the league goes after the Shadow while the Shadow is also on the path to bring the league to face justice. This adventure involves facing illusions, traps and secret hidden rooms and doors and things not appearing to be what they are. Along the way the Shadow discovered that there is another society of illusionists that are on a war path with The Society of United Magicians who have an insidious agenda called the disciples of Nitocris. It comes to a dramatic conclusion in the final issue even with the evil forces having the upper hand.
The plot was well done in this work. It was a darker story line than what I’m use to; potential readers need to be aware of that. I appreciate there’s nothing crazy woke which seems to be in comics today.

[Rubin Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Great Shadow Adventure!
This one isn't as much pulp as it is eerie and atmospheric
The Shadow is up against a group of Master Magicians and a hired Assassin that may very well be his equal
A fantastic read A+
More From this creative team please

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, nostalgic Shadow story. Well paced with appearances by Houdini and his widow, Crowley and Lovecraft.