h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Wasn't there a film with Alec Baldwin(?) made a few years ago. I remember thinking it was rather good.

My local comic shop (Streatham High Street, London) sells Shadow comics. Top banana.

- Adam

Are you sure you're remembering the right film?

Good bridge sequence at the beginning, fine music, but the rest was pants.

The old radio programmes - complete with their advertising exhortations to 'buy Blue Coal' are really atmospheric - dead creepy. If you like the comics (and they can be top banana!) then try and get hold of the radio broadcasts!

The film was good, compared to other "Superhero" movies, but the radio was better!

Ah yes, "Blue Coal - America's Finest Anthracite"...

There's a website which streams a different radio drama every week, an episode a day, and the Shadow frequently features - if I can find the address, I'll return and post it here...

Movie was flawed - but still managed to entertain. I'm with cloviscat on the bridge sequence being the high point, and come to that the original radio stories - Forget Citizen Kane they were Orson Wells' finest several hours!

The origin bit was well done - definitely the right sort of hokum!

Personal carp would be that the whole Shadow/Margo Lane love interest story didn't gell for me. As soon as you remove Harry Vincent from the story you lose the balance between the characters.

The only anlogy I can think of is Superman and Lois without Jimmy Olsen
(but thats not really right)

Anyway I'm probaly wittering. All I really wanted to say is that I came across a number of Shadow stories in plain text form at:

http://www.spaceports.com/~deshadow/

I agree about the "Love interest" bit, but my personal complaint lies in a half remembered piece of information (In other words I may be wrong) and that is before the radio show, there were the comics and in them Lamont Cranston was not the Shadows true identity but a persona he occasionally assumed when he wished to walk abroad.

You've got me there squire...

It was always a bit ambiguous - As far as I know the radio Shadow is Lamont Cranston and no further details are given

As I remember it from the comics Lamont Cranston and The Shadow meet out in the orient somewhere, and The Shadow takes Lamont Cranston's identity and the real Lamont Cranston dissapears off somewhere unspecified.

The exact details of the meeting, why LC is prepared to give up his identity and whether the real LC is alive or dead sems to have been played with by different people at different times.

I seem to rember there is one story where the Shadow, before he became Lamont Cranston was actually a pre revolution Russian spy and the gyrasol ring was a present from the Tsar.