The Shadow Master Series Vol. 1

Dynamite Comics has become the keeper of all things Shadow.

Not only did Dynamite attain the rights to create new adventures for the mysterious Shadow but it obtained the rights to past Shadow comic books whether they were originally published by DC or Marvel.

Case in point: “The Shadow: Master Series Vol. 1.”

For older readers, somewhat familiar with these reprints, seeing the abstract cover paintings by Bill Sienkiewicz referred to as works from “yesteryear” seems unsettling. Until one reads further that the “Shadows and Light” storyline was originally published in 1987 – 33 years ago … OK, yesteryear.

Here, Sienkiewicz and writer Andrew Helfer pick up where Howard Chaykin left off with his memorable 1980s run with the Shadow.

The Shadow returns after mysteriously disappearing decades earlier. 

It’s the 1980s. The Shadow’s many assistants are either elderly or dead but the Shadow looks the same as he did in the 1930s and ’40s. 

Chaykin created a Shadow of satire that was as much social commentary on the ’80s as it was an adventure steeped in the traditions of a character from the pre-World War II era.

Helfer and Sienkiewicz continue the Chaykin era with a less satirical Shadow though one still with plenty of dark humor, even bits of farce, and plenty of action.

While the creative energy definitely makes this a well-deserved entry in a “Master Series,” the Shadow with his broad slouch hat, wild scarf and black trench coat seems better suited for stories set nearly a century ago rather than today or even a more recent yesteryear.