Welcome to our inaugural episode of The Lesser Known Geek Hall Of Fame, the latest channel for Geekville Radio. For our first episode, we decided to look at one of the earliest characters in pulp magazines, The Shadow. Follow along in these show notes for the podcast.

The earliest incarnation of The Shadow was on the radio airwaves in 1930, where he would introduce radio dramas based on issues of Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine. This was of course before television, where radio was the norm for advertising and entertainment. Thus The Detective Story Hour would be used as a vehicle to promote issues of The Shadow himself was not a character, but a host. Similar in vein to Rod Serling or The Crypt Keeper.

The character became so popular that local newsstands would get requests for Shadow magazines. Street & Smith, realizing they had a hit on their hands, soon began publishing issues of Detective Story with The Shadow as the protagonist. This makes The Shadow unique, as most characters start in print before moving to media. Whereas The Shadow began in media before debuting in print.

Another historical significance is The Shadow's hypnosis ability, making him the first character with powers. Also, given the characters background, he helped forge the template by which many "street level" heroes were created with.

Not surprisingly, The Detective Story Hour became adventure episodes for The Shadow. The character was played by several notable actors over the years. The first two years, The Shadow was voiced by none other than up and coming actor Orson Welles. Throughout the years, the character was voiced by several actors.

Throughout the years, The Shadow had multiple comic book publications, varying from Archie to DC Comics. The latter even had a team up between Shadow and Batman.

In 1994, Universal Pictures attempted to revive The Shadow into a film franchise. While the movie failed at the box office, it did gain a measure of following in home release.

Currently, The Shadow is published by Dynamite Comics. And in the movie world, Sam Raimi has expressed interest interest in his own Shadow film over the years.