We have another one and done story for this pulp icon, but is it worth your money and time?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Dynamite:

Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane travel to Las Vegas. The Shadow has heard rumors of an unspeakable evil brewing in the nearby desert… one with a link to his own bloody past. A heartbreaking tale of loss, betrayal, and vengeance, set against the neon of Sin City.

It would be very easy to dismiss this purchase and say that it has absolutely no baring on the current iteration of the franchise, but that would be a great disservice to readers that are both familiar and unfamiliar with the title.  The creative team delivers on every possible note as this surefire release yields action, excitement and enough drama to warrant attention.

The script by Ande Parks is not perfect, but the scribe understands the dynamics of our protagonist well enough to play off of his past and the subtle emotions inherent in his actions.  The man behind the Shadow had a life before it existed, before he donned the identity and responsibility and the author makes good use of that fact by bringing in a connection that on some level lingered in his mind.  There were a few instances where an overabundance of text overwhelmed the striking pace of the piece in an unnecessary barrage of word use.  In short: the script was real good but not immaculate.

Bilquis Evely handles the art and for the most part I found his renditions to be more than fitting.  His attempts at realizing the subtleties of Lamont Cranston and his alter ego, were not wasted, even during some of the more complicated sequences.  From the first page to the final panel his pencil strokes gave life to the narrative as our hero inevitably came face to face with a decision that I imagine would haunt a lesser man.

The Shadow Annual 2013 is not essential reading by any concrete notion, but I do find it rather easy to claim that it’s truly excellent nonetheless.  Recommended.

4/5