In Helfer & Baker’s Shadow
‘It didn’t last long; true-blue Shadow fans (and, apparently, the owners of The Shadow trademark) didn’t care for Helfer and Baker’s smart-ass approach, especially when they killed the character off and resurrected him as a killer cyborg. It’s not surprising that happened to also be their final issue.’ –Robot 6
The Shadow (1987-89) was my favorite comic book series.
It was a sequel to a Howard Chaykin-penned 1986 update to the classic radio program, pulp novel character The Shadow, ‘What evil lurks in the hearts of men . . . The Shadow knows!’
Chaykin had brought the character into the 1980s, with uzis instead of .45s, ‘for mature readers’ emblazoned on the cover. And unlike the rest of his crew (Margo Lane and others had aged), Shadow alter-ego Lamont Cranston was still a rather youngish, dapper guy – ready to take on the New York of the Miami Vice era.
A monthly series followed – and after a few artist changes, writer Andy Helfer and artist Kyle Baker made it something else entirely.
Helfer and Baker’s take on The Shadow became a crazy whirlwind tour of Sopranos-like mobsters, wickedly dark humor, extreme violence, unexpected plot twists and in issue 13, they killed off the main character. Then his sons lost his body and with every successive chapter, one could not predict what would happen next.
digging a bit
In 1989, I found myself at a comic book convention (supposedly) talking to Andy Helfer about the cancellation of his title. But Helfer couldn’t tell me much. Turned out the guy with the ‘Andy Helfer’ name badge was actually his assistant. ‘Andy doesn’t like to fly’ I was told.
He spoke about Helfer’s approach – and how he had little respect for purist interpretations of classics and decided to take The Shadow to a whole different place – darker, funnier and just plain strange. I was hooked and saddened to see it vanish. Because, frankly, comic books at that time were becoming rather boring. Same old shit, different month.
A two issue Justice Inc. kept the magic going a little bit longer but that was it. The Shadow held my interest for three years – and when it ended, I stopped buying comic books.
Not dramatically, but slowly. Just couldn’t find much to hold interest. The Shadow was a hard act to follow. Only thing I’ve really enjoyed as much since has been Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001-2), which really leaves purists sitting on the curb.
finding the shadow
There is no trade paperback of this odd series. But the 1980s Shadow can be found cheap with a little digging – here’s a list; best to start with Chaykin’s version tho, then work one’s way thru Sienkiewicz to the Helfer/Baker issues. And keep in mind there is no ending (final issue pictured below), a cliffhanger never to be completed.
ever since: the team
‘It’s funny, everybody thought Conde Nast shut us down, but it was just that we weren’t making any money. When you work on a licensed book, the owner of the license gets half the royalty check. Andy and I, on one of the later issues, ended up splitting a $20 royalty check, and we decided it was time to go.’ –Kyle Baker
After the series ended, writer Andy Helfer became an editor at DC Comics where he headed up the Paradox Press imprint. Paradox specialized in alternative titles, Road to Perdition and A History of Violence among them.
Kyle Baker – who went on to pen Why I Hate Saturn – has been bouncing around the comicsverse ever since. Some of his wares include updates of Captain America and Plastic Man; most of his work contains brilliant social criticism: His Special Forces was called by the NY Times, ‘the harshest, most serrated satire of the Iraq War.’
Baker’s website can be found here, blog here.
And here’s a great review of the Helfer/Baker Shadow – otherwise, more highlights below.
Could not agree more. Absolutely magnificent run. Baker’s art was AMAZING, my favorite work of his ever. Helfer’s batshit wild stories were a perfect companion. And John Workman’s lettering looked phenomenal with KB’s art. Ah, handwritten lettering. This series was insanely good, on every level. Vital, alive, bonkers comic-booking. Wildly underrated series. Kudos on your post for drawing attention to this unfairly forgotten example of why comic-books are such an extraordinary medium. And btw, I think Kyle Baker was ridiculously young when he worked on this, like early 20s.