Indie Squid Kid

The most famous hero of the pulp era debuted on Street & Smith’s Detective Story Hour radio show in July 1930. Through radio dramas, pulp magazines, and comic books (penned largely by author Walter B. Gibson), The Shadow would become the archetypal masked vigilante.

Street & Smith’s original Shadow Comics ran for 101 issues between 1940 and 1949. During this time, The Shadow encountered everything from mobsters to mad scientists, criminal syndicates to supervillains, and yes, even the occasional sinister cephalopod!

Shadow Comics Vol. 3 #6 (September 1943)

He’s attacking that octopus WITH A LIVE SWORDFISH! That is hard core.

Shadow Comics Vol. 4 #10 (January 1945)

Is this octopus made out of old white men, or does it just have really bad taste in tattoos?

Shadow Comics Vol. 5 #5 (August 1945)

Again, The Shadow tries to teach an octopus that crime does not pay…if by “crime” he means “dating human females” and by “teach” he means “shoot in the face.”