I know I promised to get to the next episode here and I certainly left enough teasers but the past few weeks have kind of derailed my initial course of thought. 

I had to talk to my partner in crime this past week, albeit through text, to drop this idea I have regarding the subject matter of the future of this journal.

We'll see...

And so, before I continue on with this reveal, I had an epiphany this past week and now I'm starting to think that there is a lot more to this than a wandering thought, which I engage in on an almost hourly basis. 

Have you ever heard of the Curse of the Bambino?

No?

Fantastic!

The Curse of the Bambino...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Bambino

A prominent player (character) was sold from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees. Consequently, according to the curse, the Red Sox sustained a championship drought that lasted 86 years.

Yes, 86 years.

What is 86 years anyways?

I mean, c'mon... it's a lifetime.

(Nope... Not going to link that video again... )

Damn. Ok, fine... it's too good not to share yet again, so I guess here we go.

2023...

So what if the essence of "The Curse of the Bambino" wasn't confined to just baseball but was actually something more universal?

Well... 

...

1939

I'm sorry, what was that you were saying Bob? 

A Bat... what, you mean a Bat - Man?

Sounds kind of interesting, tell me more.

Intermission.

"Shots rang out - from the joint next door"...

So it seems that I've kind of written myself into a corner, so to speak.  What I was referencing last night, or rather alluding to, was this thought I had regarding the state of DC and the DCEU.  I was thrilled to hear that James Gunn revealed that there will be a Swamp Thing movie but there does seem to be a level of uneasiness with some fans regarding the future plans of Gunn's vision... at least that's what I'm seeing in parts.

\\https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/2023/1/31/23579837/dc-studios-james-gunn-batman-superman-legacy-supergirl-the-authority-paradise-lost

Now I was pretty pleased with the latest Flash trailer and to me, it actually looks really good.  Of course that may be because of what we're all anxiously awaiting to see on film and that's Michael Keaton's return as Batman but the story-line looks intriguing to me at the very least.

So it appears that DC is starting to build a solid foundation and I'm pretty excited to see that.  So what's this Curse of the Bambino thing?  Well, as I was about to write another entry in this build up that I'm getting to, I thought about those 86 years. If you take 1939 (oh, I don't know... just for some random reason) and add 86 years... well, you get 2025.

Gunn listed the release date for his Superman reboot as being July of 2025 and yes, I know that the first appearance of Superman came in 1938.  It's the following year that's the problem.  So, could this be when the curse, as I'm calling it for now, lifts for DC?  Of course that remains to be seen.

But for now, I still need to find a satisfying way to sort of rewrite what I was intending on posting here next and it's proving to be a challenge. 

So, I'll get to the Crime that was Committed.

After an announcement from our sponsor...

Saturday night.

How can it be more exciting than doing taxes when you're supposed to be out enjoying a beer or two (or three or four...)?!

Anyways, earlier today, I received a small package from eBay. 

It sat on my porch until about an hour ago when I decided to bring it in.  I opened it up, inspected the contents and returned to finishing up the State and Federal taxes. 

And then, out of the blue, it hit me... just a random, thought! 

"Does she sound like (older) Stevie Nicks or what?!"

No, that wasn't the random thought, although it was close!

Actually, it was more in line with this.

The Batman came this close to not being created at all...

It's getting difficult to keep this journal from venturing into non comic related material as I was just about to go on about automotive headlights and their advancements and annoyance.

Just a great song...

It's kind of crazy to think about how everything had to line up just right in order to give us the history that we have as it relates to pop culture. 

So, as I've dragged this out long enough and I guess it's time to go here and reveal what this whole 1936 thing is anyways.

 I found myself getting pulled into the world of pulps (once again) although I could tell that there was something more involved this time around.  There was more depth it seemed.  Now this was right around last November (2022) when I could tell that a shift was approaching.  I was paying more attention to pulps and looking up various titles, such as Weird Tales and some other horror related material.  I couldn't believe just how many incredible covers were out there! I remember thinking to myself that these were kind of hidden, under the mainstream and for me, an untapped avenue to explore. I was spending a lot of time thinking about them in relation to what we had seen happen in the comic collecting community over the past two years.  I had many passing thoughts and some would question whether or not pulps could reach that level of interest and speculation.  The only thing that I felt they lacked was the current pop culture context to pull them along.  There was no Weird Tales Cinematic Universe or anything like that so I couldn't see how an outside influence like that could increase the interest in pulps.  I did think to myself that what would make these 'pop', for lack of a better term, was grading.  I remember thinking, "Wow, what it CGC started grading these?!"

(At this time, I had no idea that this was actually a thing.)

So for days, I would lightly browse through various cover gallery's of pulp titles, noting particular covers and subject matter  It was right about here, just 4 months ago, in November of 2022 (close to when I bought those two Atlas horror titles) when this weird synchronization of events seemed to come out of the ether and descended on me in a cloud of revelation, inspiration, excitement and wonderment! It started one night while I was driving out to Buffalo, NY.  I had the music from my phone randomly playing through the thousands of songs on it as I was just kind of lost in my thoughts of the age of pulps... going through the decades.  From the turn of the century titles that I was seeing all the way through to the 50's.  I think I was kind of caught up in thinking about what were those days like when these pulps were the main source of literary entertainment. Lost in thought, with but a few passing cars to divert my attention and just the illuminated road ahead of me, this song came on. 

I had heard it before but not in some years. 

It was from Robbie Robertson's Sinematic release that came out in 2019.  I think that last time I listened to it was in 2020 and I remember hearing this song but not really paying much attention to it.  So I'm not sure if it was my mindset at the time, just the night or maybe the planetary alignments, but whatever it was, it hit  home somehow.

The song is called, The Shadow.

We were gathered in the front room
Round the old RCA
For another episode of mystery
And suspense

Orson Welles as The Shadow
Comin' over the airwaves
In search of the Black Opal
All he found was bloodstains

I saw a reflection (all right)
In a broken mirror
And that's when I knew
The Shadow was here

Way back in the radio days (that's right)
The Shadow was here

The Black Opal
Had been stolen
From a princess
In Zanzibar
Lives have been lost
In this ruthless escapade

They called upon Lamont Cranston
Otherwise known as The Shadow
To track down this killer thief
And return the precious stone

I saw a reflection (yeah)
In a broken mirror
And that's when I knew
The Shadow was here

From way back in the day (Mm-hmm)
Of the radio years (that's right)
Fighting crime and injustice
The Shadow was here

What evil lurks in the hearts of men?
The Shadow knows (The Shadow knows - hahahaha)
When he returned from Bombay
With a stop in Tibet

Where he studied with the masters
Learned the secrets of the dead
He made himself invisible
And captured this killer thief
Recovered the Black Opal
And summoned the police.

I saw a reflection (all right)
In a broken mirror
That's when I knew
The Shadow was here

From back in the days (yeah)
Of the radio years (that's right)
Fighting crime and injustice
The Shadow was here

After the song was over, I kind of felt frozen... I played it again. And again.  The Shadow? I knew a little about this character and had heard the usual condensed write ups... a pulp hero from the 30's, radio show... nothing much more than that aside from the Kaluta DC series of the 70's.  When I got to Buffalo that night, I took my phone and browsed through various images of The Shadow pulps along with a little mix of Doc Savage and the Phantom Detective.

I was shocked at extensive number of issues there were... I had no idea that these titles dated back to the early 30's.  I guess I always thought that these were late 30's, from time of the Orson Welles radio shows in 1937 and 1938.  That discovery got me thinking of timelines in general and that's where it really all started to fall in place.

The next day, before I went into work, I started to do a little more research on The Shadow, digging a bit deeper into the character and his evolution and of course, looking at more and more of the pulps.  I was getting quickly captivated by these awesome covers.  Then one night, it might've been the weekend now, I saw this one cover and it absolutely floored me.  This cover, this one image, shattered all the timelines but I couldn't explain it.  I could just feel it... almost like someone had drew aside the curtain and there it was, plain as day!

The date on this issue of The Shadow Magazine was October 1, 1936.

The second I saw this cover, I said to myself,  "That's Batman!".  There was no doubt in my mind.  I looked at the date again, it was a 3 years before Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27.  I quickly looked up Bob Kane's birthday (at this point, I didn't consider the complexity of this matter entirely and I'll get to that later.) and saw that he was born in 1915...  (later, I looked up Bill Finger's birthday and saw that he was born a year earlier in 1914).  So in 1936, when this one particular issue was on the newsstand, Bob Kane would've been 21 (Bill Finger - 22).  At this moment, it struck me that this one image had to have had a profound, lasting influence on these two young men.

In addition to these thoughts, I also had "The Book" floating around in my head... the one that showcases an alternative timeline for Batman.

I think these thoughts gelled at once and suddenly, I was hooked!  The amazing covers aside, I had to look further in this newly found fascination of mine.  The first thing I had to do though, was purchase a copy of this revealing issue. Since that day, I've purchased another much nicer copy along with a reprint.  I guess this falls in line with my desire to pair up books but it makes sense as this copy is what basically started me down this incredibly fun path I'm on!

The Shadow Magazine : October 1, 1936

As I wrote, things were lining up all over the place at this point and it was just a week afterwards that I went to my LCS and this was sitting right there on the shelf for me. This fantastic issue of Alter Ego Magazine #176 ...

That evening, I poured a Scotch and sat down to read through this issue and it was on page 52, where my collecting life basically changed thanks in part to Anthony Tollin.  This information perfectly buttressed what I had 'seen' but couldn't explain with the October 1st 1936 issue of The Shadow ... the article revealed to me how exactly one month after this issue that had captivated me, on November 1st, 1936, Batman was born.

This was the first time I had heard or read about this and it was incredible!  Like I said, I was hooked now on to the character known as The Shadow and I had to look further into this Crime that was Committed!

Bob Kane / Bill Finger

Between that cover image from the October1, 1936 issue of The Shadow Magazine and the revelation of what I had read from Alter Ego Magazine #176, I needed to go back and check some information that perhaps I hadn't remembered correctly.  I had read an awful lot about Bob Kane and watched a number of interviews and for some reason, I could not recall him ever mentioning The Shadow ... ... 

But, waitaminute. 

If I'm convinced that the creation of Batman could not have happened without The Shadow, why was I having such a hard time directly relating the two, as Anthony Tollin had done in his magnificent article in Alter Ego 176?

So I went back in time, (or is that jumping forward in time?) to the early 1990's and revisited my friend, Stan Lee's interview with Bob Kane.  Surely, I would have my answer here.  Well, after re-watching this now for a third time (and this time was far worse than the others in terms of 'cringe inducing'), the evidence was clear. Bob Kane kept to his story, as the official inspiration for Batman being that from, Zorro with Douglas Fairbanks, The Bat (Whispers with Chester Morris - but from the Roland West movie) and lastly, Leornardo Davici's flying machine. To be fair, the mask and the cape depicted on the ad for The Bat, match what we know was featured on the original concept for Batman, which I'll get to later.

...

...

There's still no mention of The Shadow. 

Well, when you're committing the crime, you would want to misdirect any suspicions, right?

Right.

I will say this, these two men are legends in the comic book community and to watch this interaction, even though at times a bit awkward (Hey, Bob... leave Jerry alone!), it's certainly entertaining. 

RIP Stan and Bob (even if you were a shrewd busi... sorry.)

Bob Kane reveals his influences here at 4:25...

And so here we are...

I'm sorry Bob, but you failed to mention (in my opinion) your major influences.  Well, to be fair, I need to (sadly) add Bill Finger's name in here as well. 

I didn't hear you mention Walter B. Gibson's name, Theodore Tinsley's name or even Orson Welles.

Why is that?!

My wife just sent me this picture of this episode of Columbo she was watching and it pretty much perfectly sums it all up...

Current timeline (2023).

The way The Matrix works (or is that the TVA?), is that it coordinates words and phrases and in that last post, I mentioned Chester Morris.

Here...

Well, this week, I just heard some recent news regarding another Chester, one that passed away, way too soon.

I just heard this new Linkin Park tune that was recorded 20 years ago for their Meteora album, but never released.  The absolute sad thing about it is that based on what we know of Chester's condition, this could've been written just 6 years ago, right before his death

RIP Chester Bennington...

(FYI - I believe this video is from your AI )

I've definitely been slacking here but as I've not spent the hours piecing together random thoughts and music videos, I've used that time to hunt down many various promotional material based on my newest obsession - The Shadow!

In time, I'll post these finds and treasures but for now, I'll start with this...

This was a marketing masterpiece in my opinion. 

It was a day after my birthday, from November of 1941. Actually one day after and 28 years prior.

Let's go to November 23, 1941.

That's when this episode was aired.

The Ring Of Light.

Listen carefully...

No, this isn't a TARDIS.

Well... maybe it is, after all.

Now as I've been a bit distracted from comics and pulps, I've certainly pulled closer to the promotional material and this latest purchase has to be one of the highest priorities! That would the 1941 Shadow / Blue Coal promotional ring.

The 1941 ring!

This was certainly a 2023 goal that was achieved, even though I didn't know that it was a goal at the beginning of this year.

I'm going to have to get some better pictures of the ring and add more detail to this exciting find...

Well... 

Here we are.

My attempts to build a TARDIS, my attempts to escape the TVA, my venture into the 30's.

The Shadow.

In this moment, I realize that it was all to prolong this day. But now it's arrived and it's time to "face the dragon". 

Ok, fine. 

The Shadow has bought me some time before, but tomorrow, that bill comes due.

I believe that from New York, Japan is exactly on the other side of the world.

(Sigh...)

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue

The TARDIS and the TVA, Japan and Blue Coal... The Shadow.

Rob's book. 

It's been a lot to manage.

From my recent posts, it may have sounded like I've 'moved on' from comics. 

Actually, I hate that term. 

If anything, my appreciation and admiration for the medium has actually evolved and intensified.

And so with that, here is that intermission.

This is a book that appealed to me since the day I found a nice copy of Tim Holt #11 (1949) at a local used / antiquarian bookstore some years ago. 

Now, of course, I sold it, but it didn't squelch the interest I gained in that character as I learned how that transitioned to the character we all love and know now.

Ghost Rider

I needed to find a nicely representing copy of the (Western / Carter Slade) Ghost Rider...

I certainly feel like I did just that, with this purchase here...

Looking at this copy, I couldn't see why it was graded so harshly however there is a bit of tanning to the back cover and I would guess the interior as well.  That being said, I couldn't pass on this book that I found on Mercari as the price was just right.  Is there any speculation to this book?  It's hard to say.  With the Multiverse that was introduced in the MCU, there may be a reference to the first Ghost Rider but that remains to be seen.

I forgot to add the actual grading notes for the Ghost Rider 1 book. 

Again, I'm not sure why it got the grade that it did... no mention of tanning and I can't see where or what this stain is that's mentioned.

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue II

I know that a few months ago I kind of jumped way ahead here, in terms of this comic collecting timeline journal and so I just want to try and fill in those gaps before getting back home.

The home that I've referred to as the 1930's.

I can add in here another few books that I've added to my PC (personal collection) over the past few months and try to explain the reasoning behind it.

So, I'll begin here...

I think I've written extensively about my high school years and how Frank Miller's Daredevil influenced those final moments but I think this is where it has fully revealed itself in these purchases.  That Frank Miller run of Daredevil really had a profound effect on my collecting habits early on, kind of close in effect as what John Byrne meant to me.  And so, with that, whenever I see an image from the Miller DD run, I have to stop and take notice.  At this point of my collection, I owned a respectable copy of Daredevil 158 but when this 'Variant' copy came up for sale... I had to get that one too.

With this new addition, I now have two copies of Daredevil 158.

'Mark Jewelers' variant copy of DD158...

I've been looking through some of my older pictures of past books. 

It was this picture (and memory) that directed my latest purchase...

Anyways, we're onto

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue III