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The Golden Vulture / Crime, Insured
The Shadow returns in two of his greatest pulp adventures: "Crime, Insured" (acclaimed as Walter Gibson's greatest thriller) and "The Golden Vulture" (revised by Gibson from Lester Dent's 1932 tryout novel that won him the Doc Savage contract), featuring writers Walter B. Gibson and Lester Dent (writing as "Maxwell Grant"), and artists George Rozen and Edd Cartier.
The first volume of this new series reproduces both original covers by George Rozen, plus all of the original interior illustrations by Edd Cartier. This book also includes new historical background articles by popular culture historians Anthony Tollin and Will Murray (who collaborated posthumously with Dent on Seven new Doc Savage novels previously published by Bantam).
The first volume of this new series reproduces both original covers by George Rozen, plus all of the original interior illustrations by Edd Cartier. This book also includes new historical background articles by popular culture historians Anthony Tollin and Will Murray (who collaborated posthumously with Dent on Seven new Doc Savage novels previously published by Bantam).
128 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2006
2 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Maxwell Grant
651 books32 followersMaxwell Grant was a pseudonym often used by Walter B. Gibson to write stories of "The Shadow".
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 31, 2008
Sort of a distant cousin to Fantomas, but more like Judex, in that he's basically a good guy fighting the bad guys. But still what interests me is not the good vs. bad, but the fact that the main character 'The Shadow' is not really a character at all. He's literally a Shadow, lurking at the corner of your eye. He also has a group of people who work for him, and all of them are loyal to The Shadow. It maybe out of fear than duty.
This is American pulp fiction at its best. The Shadow has been a big part of my life, and it is a series that I go back to time after time. Also the production of these editions (there are at least 12, and I bought every one of them!) are really great.
"Crime, Insured" (great title) is about criminals who have their own insurance company and of course The Shadow has to tear down this company. Capitalism at its best! It's almost like a Brecht story. The second story is about a master criminal who is very much like The Shadow. What is great is that The Golden Vulture is a statue, who gives out orders and threats to the thugs who work for him. Great visual imagery!
This is American pulp fiction at its best. The Shadow has been a big part of my life, and it is a series that I go back to time after time. Also the production of these editions (there are at least 12, and I bought every one of them!) are really great.
"Crime, Insured" (great title) is about criminals who have their own insurance company and of course The Shadow has to tear down this company. Capitalism at its best! It's almost like a Brecht story. The second story is about a master criminal who is very much like The Shadow. What is great is that The Golden Vulture is a statue, who gives out orders and threats to the thugs who work for him. Great visual imagery!
November 23, 2010
When Walter B. Gibson penned Crime, Insured under the house name of Maxwell Grant, he managed to shake up some of the traditions associated with The Shadow. In this quick and clever pulp novel, the Shadow isn’t the only one who knows. In this satisfying hors d’ oeuvre of escapism, the mysterious hero isn’t the only one who observes from the shadows. Indeed, there is a threat to invade the hero’s inner sanctum, expose the protagonist’s allies, and, of course, attenuate the hero’s life. Normally in such pulp novels, it is the hero ahead of the criminal, at least by one step and preferably more, the entire way. In Crime, Insured, the criminal mastermind continually forces the Shadow back on his heels in such a way that we see the hero reacting with clever improvisations rather than implementing the usual, well-considered and nearly perfectly executed plan.
The story is incredibly entertaining, provided one is willing to go an extra notch over the usual in terms of “suspension of disbelief.” In order to make this story work, Gibson adopted a business practice from the legitimate world and adapted it for the underworld. Unfortunately, the implementation of such a practice requires the threat of enforcement. In the story, the hope for enforcement would have rested in the very agent who would gain the most by violating the essence of the procedure. For example, let’s say that the criminal mastermind set up a stock market of sorts where one could invest in criminal endeavors. If the venture was successful, the investors would get a cut of the loot. If it was unsuccessful, the “stock” would be worthless. Who could guarantee that the “stock market” would pay off? If the criminal mastermind was strong enough to establish such an arrangement, what would stop such nefarious villain from deciding that he or she was tired of paying off and just keeping both the investment funds and the proceeds of the criminal action? Simply stated, this is similar to the reality-based problem faced in this adventure of my favorite pulp character.
Now, any fan of the pulp genre knows that these novels, novelettes, and short stories were “rushed.” I often share with my students about the copy of Ziff-Davis’ Amazing Stories that I have where the editor so quickly adapted one of their western stories from another magazine into a Mars story that they forgot to change the location names of the original western. Did you know that Texas was located on Mars? So, I’m never completely surprised when loose ends are left unexplained. In this case, there is a major question about the survival of a major character in the story. Somehow, we are left to believe that some fortuitous circumstance or well-implemented contingency saved said character, but we’re never given the background story on the event.
Still, even with those misgivings, I savored the story. In spite of its failings, I found it clever and exciting. My bias wants me to rate this novel even higher than the three stars I’ve given it. Without my predisposed fascination with pulp novels in general and The Shadow in particular, this novel would only be two stars. Let the reader beware. When it comes to “rating inflation,” the Shadow knows why this is a three star review.
The story is incredibly entertaining, provided one is willing to go an extra notch over the usual in terms of “suspension of disbelief.” In order to make this story work, Gibson adopted a business practice from the legitimate world and adapted it for the underworld. Unfortunately, the implementation of such a practice requires the threat of enforcement. In the story, the hope for enforcement would have rested in the very agent who would gain the most by violating the essence of the procedure. For example, let’s say that the criminal mastermind set up a stock market of sorts where one could invest in criminal endeavors. If the venture was successful, the investors would get a cut of the loot. If it was unsuccessful, the “stock” would be worthless. Who could guarantee that the “stock market” would pay off? If the criminal mastermind was strong enough to establish such an arrangement, what would stop such nefarious villain from deciding that he or she was tired of paying off and just keeping both the investment funds and the proceeds of the criminal action? Simply stated, this is similar to the reality-based problem faced in this adventure of my favorite pulp character.
Now, any fan of the pulp genre knows that these novels, novelettes, and short stories were “rushed.” I often share with my students about the copy of Ziff-Davis’ Amazing Stories that I have where the editor so quickly adapted one of their western stories from another magazine into a Mars story that they forgot to change the location names of the original western. Did you know that Texas was located on Mars? So, I’m never completely surprised when loose ends are left unexplained. In this case, there is a major question about the survival of a major character in the story. Somehow, we are left to believe that some fortuitous circumstance or well-implemented contingency saved said character, but we’re never given the background story on the event.
Still, even with those misgivings, I savored the story. In spite of its failings, I found it clever and exciting. My bias wants me to rate this novel even higher than the three stars I’ve given it. Without my predisposed fascination with pulp novels in general and The Shadow in particular, this novel would only be two stars. Let the reader beware. When it comes to “rating inflation,” the Shadow knows why this is a three star review.
April 24, 2016
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."
This nice magazine-sized volume (with double columns of text and original illustrations included) collects two novels about the classic pulp hero The Shadow. The first of these, Crime Insured, was written by regular The Shadow writer Walter B. Gibson (writing, as all The Shadow writers under the name of Maxwell Grant) and is about the notion of crime insurance and a plot against The Shadow himself. This novel also has a interesting introduction, "Spotlight on The Shadow", by Anthony Tollin.
The second novel, The Golden Vulture, was written by regular Doc Savage scribe, Lester Dent (with rewrites by Gibson), and deals with mysterious cases of suicides among the rich, and the mastermind criminal known only as the Golden Vulture. This novel has an introduction about the history behind Dent's script, which is also an enjoyable read in its own right.
Before this, I only knew of The Shadow from the old DC series illustrated by Michael William Kaluta and written by Dennis O'Neill (which really ought to be collected in a TPB), and the 1994 film. Reading these two pulp novels, with all their pulp sensibilities, has been a pure joy in every sense of the word, and I will definitely be picking up more The Shadow novels down the road (and also, given Dent's writing, pick up a Doc Savage volume as well).
This nice magazine-sized volume (with double columns of text and original illustrations included) collects two novels about the classic pulp hero The Shadow. The first of these, Crime Insured, was written by regular The Shadow writer Walter B. Gibson (writing, as all The Shadow writers under the name of Maxwell Grant) and is about the notion of crime insurance and a plot against The Shadow himself. This novel also has a interesting introduction, "Spotlight on The Shadow", by Anthony Tollin.
The second novel, The Golden Vulture, was written by regular Doc Savage scribe, Lester Dent (with rewrites by Gibson), and deals with mysterious cases of suicides among the rich, and the mastermind criminal known only as the Golden Vulture. This novel has an introduction about the history behind Dent's script, which is also an enjoyable read in its own right.
Before this, I only knew of The Shadow from the old DC series illustrated by Michael William Kaluta and written by Dennis O'Neill (which really ought to be collected in a TPB), and the 1994 film. Reading these two pulp novels, with all their pulp sensibilities, has been a pure joy in every sense of the word, and I will definitely be picking up more The Shadow novels down the road (and also, given Dent's writing, pick up a Doc Savage volume as well).
September 17, 2012
Well worth the read. It gives you a chance to see how two masters of American Hero Pulp Fiction, Walter Gibson (creator of the Shadow) and Lester Dent (creator of Doc Savage) handled the iconic character of the Shadow.
June 30, 2017
Having been a fan of The Shadow in the movies (the 1994 movie starring Alec Baldwin in the titular role), comic books (The Shadow series by Howard Chaykin), and radio dramas (the snippets of the various shows I've gotten to hear over the years), I was quite pleased to find out that Nostalgia Ventures had secured the rights to begin to reprint the 1930's novels that were originally published by Street and Smith in The Shadow magazine.
It was very refreshing to finally get to read some of the original pulp adventure stories from that era, as I've heard so much over the years.
I was very pleased to see that despite the fact that these stories take place over 70 years ago, the style and substance of the stories are not lost. One can easily see how these stories could be adapted to the modern television or movie screen. Actually, Sam Raimi the director of Spider-Man 1-3 is reputed to having secured the rights to make a movie version of The Shadow.
Pulp is often known for its over the top adventure and suspense, and I did see some of that here. However, not near enough to be considered trite or unenjoyable. Actually, I found the story to be very well told and quite the good read.
According to wikipedia.org, there were 325 Shadow novels almost exclusively written by Walter B. Gibson between the years of 1931 and 1949. Considering these were published at an average rate of 1 and a half per month, and had a word count of >50000 words each, Mr. Gibson deserves some serious respect for the speed and quality of what he was producing during this time. I am no longer in awe at the quantity of books some authors have and do produce, and if anything I wonder more towards why some authors don't produce more.
I would whole heartily suggest this read to any lovers of action movies or good mystery tales, and perhaps more people should read these stories as a way of understanding and appreciating a dead/dying genre, the adventure pulp.
It was very refreshing to finally get to read some of the original pulp adventure stories from that era, as I've heard so much over the years.
I was very pleased to see that despite the fact that these stories take place over 70 years ago, the style and substance of the stories are not lost. One can easily see how these stories could be adapted to the modern television or movie screen. Actually, Sam Raimi the director of Spider-Man 1-3 is reputed to having secured the rights to make a movie version of The Shadow.
Pulp is often known for its over the top adventure and suspense, and I did see some of that here. However, not near enough to be considered trite or unenjoyable. Actually, I found the story to be very well told and quite the good read.
According to wikipedia.org, there were 325 Shadow novels almost exclusively written by Walter B. Gibson between the years of 1931 and 1949. Considering these were published at an average rate of 1 and a half per month, and had a word count of >50000 words each, Mr. Gibson deserves some serious respect for the speed and quality of what he was producing during this time. I am no longer in awe at the quantity of books some authors have and do produce, and if anything I wonder more towards why some authors don't produce more.
I would whole heartily suggest this read to any lovers of action movies or good mystery tales, and perhaps more people should read these stories as a way of understanding and appreciating a dead/dying genre, the adventure pulp.
March 12, 2023
Had so many of these before the basement flooded out, also had a friend with the original pulps. So the Shadow was a crime fighter with the ability to mesmerize from a distance. His methods were often very violent, but sometimes he had the bad guys operated on to reduce their anti-social behavior. This method was not the first reaction to most.
This book reprints the material from the pulp magazine and we get an introduction to this crime fighter and his basic circle of assistance and informants. Stories are all about the same with real bad guys doing normal criminal activities or semi-supernatural/monstrous events which almost always have more mundane sources. Rated four more on old reactions when first read in my teens but like the memories of those first impressions.
This book reprints the material from the pulp magazine and we get an introduction to this crime fighter and his basic circle of assistance and informants. Stories are all about the same with real bad guys doing normal criminal activities or semi-supernatural/monstrous events which almost always have more mundane sources. Rated four more on old reactions when first read in my teens but like the memories of those first impressions.
June 29, 2023
Crime, Insured is probably the best Shadow novel ever written, and I wish I hadn't read it first. None of the others hold a candle to it. Brilliant idea for a pulp superhero story.
January 27, 2020
Shadow scholar Anthony Tollin kicks off his series of Shadow reprints with two particularly noteworthy stories. The first, Crime, Insured, features a particularly diabolical scheme that results in a number of the Shadow's agents taken prisoner, and the Shadow's life in peril on several occasions. The second. The Golden Vulture, represents a collaboration between the creator of the Shadow, Walter Gibson, and Lester Dent, best known as the man who created Doc Savage. (Of course, both characters were created in collaboration with the magazine publishers.) Personally, I've always preferred the Shadow to Doc Savage; I feel that his stories feature a greater variety of plots, and I find Walter Gibson to be a better writer than Dent.
While Gibson's pacing and energy are clearly on display in both stories, some passages in The Golden Vulture feel very much like they were written by Dent. And, for what it's worth, they very much feel like two different stories, with two different types of threats and villains, and different ways of resolving the nefarious plots. Knowing that Gibson was churning out two Shadow novels a month, I am willing to forgive the occasional clunky lines or shallow characterization; overall, these are fun, dark adventure stories with a fast pace, imaginative twists and turns, and a genuinely mysterious protagonist who remains compelling to me despite being a complete cypher.
While Gibson's pacing and energy are clearly on display in both stories, some passages in The Golden Vulture feel very much like they were written by Dent. And, for what it's worth, they very much feel like two different stories, with two different types of threats and villains, and different ways of resolving the nefarious plots. Knowing that Gibson was churning out two Shadow novels a month, I am willing to forgive the occasional clunky lines or shallow characterization; overall, these are fun, dark adventure stories with a fast pace, imaginative twists and turns, and a genuinely mysterious protagonist who remains compelling to me despite being a complete cypher.
August 10, 2018
What fun! Two Shadow stories in one volume! My only complaint about this was the formatting. It was harder than I thought it would be to read, since each page was made up of two thin columns. Made it hard to keep track of my exact place when I had to put down the book to do something else. In the end, I took to using a post-it note to mark my spot. And I think in the future, I'd prefer to read these in the original pulp paperback format (if I can track them down).
As for the stories themselves, these were a lot of fun. "Crime, Insured" (the first story in the collection), proposed a clever idea that criminals could get insurance for crimes that did not work out. However, I thought the action of the story slowed down considerably in the middle, earning it a solid 3 stars by the end.
Now, "The Golden Vulture" was a completely different story. I was excited to read this one, since it was written by Lester Dent, who wrote the Doc Savage stories (another series I want to try). And it was excellent! The pacing was perfect, and while there was a lull or two, it never lasted long. I had a really hard time putting this one down, and I spent the entire book debating over the identity of the big villain of this story. It was just a lot of fun. Five stars for that one, putting the entire review at an average of 4.
As for the stories themselves, these were a lot of fun. "Crime, Insured" (the first story in the collection), proposed a clever idea that criminals could get insurance for crimes that did not work out. However, I thought the action of the story slowed down considerably in the middle, earning it a solid 3 stars by the end.
Now, "The Golden Vulture" was a completely different story. I was excited to read this one, since it was written by Lester Dent, who wrote the Doc Savage stories (another series I want to try). And it was excellent! The pacing was perfect, and while there was a lull or two, it never lasted long. I had a really hard time putting this one down, and I spent the entire book debating over the identity of the big villain of this story. It was just a lot of fun. Five stars for that one, putting the entire review at an average of 4.
January 18, 2016
Crime Insured offers some solid thrills as the Shadow feels some heat close to home with an invasion of his Inner Sanctum in one of the highlights of the story. As per the usual set-up, the plot is filled with many complex twists and turns. The scheme involving the crime insurance is very interesting and brings to light how menacing urban crime was to the common man.
The Gold Vulture squares off the Shadow with a criminal organization as complex as his. The story showcases several hallmarks of what would become standard in James Bond adventures. The mystery of the Golden Vulture calls to mind various later creations such as Blofeld and SPECTRE and the Supreme Hydra and Hydra. There is genuine suspense in some of the cliffhangers for the Shadow and its great fun to see how he escapes the near-death traps. Most interesting is the structure of the story, how so much of the hero action is split among the Shadow's men, while the titular hero stays...well, in the shadow.
The Gold Vulture squares off the Shadow with a criminal organization as complex as his. The story showcases several hallmarks of what would become standard in James Bond adventures. The mystery of the Golden Vulture calls to mind various later creations such as Blofeld and SPECTRE and the Supreme Hydra and Hydra. There is genuine suspense in some of the cliffhangers for the Shadow and its great fun to see how he escapes the near-death traps. Most interesting is the structure of the story, how so much of the hero action is split among the Shadow's men, while the titular hero stays...well, in the shadow.
Read
June 14, 2009 When I'm reading for fun, I love pulp, and The Shadow is about as pulpy as it gets. He is one of my favorite heroes, being based somewhat on the escape artist Houdini. Gibson himself was apparently an amateur magician himself and had written about Houdini, from whom he got the idea for the crimefighter "who clouds men's minds." The two strories here concern The Shadow's conflicts with a mastermind called the Golden Vulture who communicates only through statues of same with built in radios, and a business man who sees opportunity in insuring criminals for the commission of thier crimes. Admittedly, some of the nefarious villainies in these novels are over the top, but isn't that what you read this kind of thing for? The Shadow knows!
September 6, 2009
The Shadow has a great visual look, but I was never a huge fan of his stories. The books are better than the radio show, but still never quite as entertaining as Doc Savage or the Spider.
Here two of his adventures are collected.
'Crime, Insured' features the clever idea of an orgainization selling insurance to criminals in case they get caught or a caper goes wrong. Decent bad guy that feels like a real threat to the Shadow.
'Golden Vulture' is important because it was written by Lester Dent, the man behind Doc Savage. It in fact has a very strong Doc Savage story vibe to it. More gadgets, a mystery foe and the Shadow moves from NY to Miami.
and there's a death trap involving alligators.
I enjoyed this one better than 'Insured', but neither are great stories.
Here two of his adventures are collected.
'Crime, Insured' features the clever idea of an orgainization selling insurance to criminals in case they get caught or a caper goes wrong. Decent bad guy that feels like a real threat to the Shadow.
'Golden Vulture' is important because it was written by Lester Dent, the man behind Doc Savage. It in fact has a very strong Doc Savage story vibe to it. More gadgets, a mystery foe and the Shadow moves from NY to Miami.
and there's a death trap involving alligators.
I enjoyed this one better than 'Insured', but neither are great stories.
July 15, 2007
A great pulp read. I really enjoyed this one - it's not high-brow literature, but I found the two stories to be fun, classic pulp adventure tales. The book production was solid and had a feel of the pulps - assisted by including the artwork from the original novels.
A classic pulp hero in classic adventures - definitely recommend if you enjoy the genre.
A classic pulp hero in classic adventures - definitely recommend if you enjoy the genre.
December 2, 2014
I know that this just a pulp novel, a classic one (I really enjoy the radio show), but the writing/reading level was just so monotonously low. It was painful to read.
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