13 SHADOW COVERS: A Walter Gibson Birthday Salute

Kaluta! Robbins! Chaykin! Kubert! Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Gibson knew — and so do comics creators…

Walter Gibson, the creator of the Shadow, was born 124 years ago on Sept. 12, 1897. His antihero’s exploits have been chronicled in comics for decades but since the Bronze Age is our jam, we present 13 COVERS from DC in the ’70s and ’80s, featuring the talents of Mike Kaluta, Frank Robbins, Joe Kubert and Howard Chaykin.

Insert spooky laugh here.

Mike Kaluta

Frank Robbins

Joe Kubert

Howard Chaykin

Kaluta

Kaluta

Robbins

Kaluta

Chaykin

Kaluta

Chaykin

Kaluta

Robbins

MORE

— 13 COVERS: The BATMAN Stories of FRANK ROBBINS. Click here.

— MIKE KALUTA Recalls the Moment He ‘Got’ JACK KIRBY. Click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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9 Comments

  1. Great stuff. Wish Robbins had drawn more issues.

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  2. How are these artists able to capture the Shadow’s character on these covers? Well…only THEY know. 😉

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  3. I have eight of these bad boys! Terrific! But I’m probably not the only one a little sad to see no Bill Sienkiewicz here, since I may have never bought a Shadow comic without being drawn to his amazing cover image on 1987’s Shadow #1. I loved his work with Andrew Helfer, and Kyle Baker did some great art on that run too!

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  4. Got whiplash from the shift to Robbins after Kaluta back in the day.

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    • Robbins got some of toughest assignments of the Bronze Age, to follow Kaluta on the Shadow and (essentially) Neal Adams on the Batman! At least with Captain America, he had a half-decade separating him from Steranko!

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  5. As far as I’m concerned, the two best living Shadow artists are Steranko and Kaluta. The latter did a fantastic job on DC’s Shadow issues.

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  6. Loved the Bronze Age Shadow run. That and The Spectre’s Adventure Comics run are two of my faves.

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  7. The DC Shadow #6 is my favorite. First discovered and read about The Shadow there. “Night of the Ninja,” with all interior artwork and cover by Michael Wm Kaluta.

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  8. The Shadow #8 with that beautiful Frank Robbins cover is an obsession book of mine. Any time I can find a nice copy at a good price, I will buy it. Needless to say it is my favorite of that first DC series run.

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