Batman - The Shadow #6 Storytime

Storytiming the things I didn't see storytimed this week. Been busy, or else I would have done it sooner.


So lets start with the exciting conclusion to BAMAN AND SHADOW DUDE

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Thank you OP.
I would have storytimed this a while ago but I got rangeblocked again for some reason and this killed my Shadow storytimes.

...

...

...

...

no worries bro, glad to know peeps are still reading. I've been really digging this crossover even if it makes my inner continuity fag REEEEEE at how The Shadow trained EVERY street level DC hero.

...

...

...

...

...

These are some great covers

...

So even higher level beings thinks Batmans better than the shadow

Thanks OP that was great, Just wondering though this book is in continuity right?

I'm just mad they mischaracterized the Shadow for the sake of Batwank instead of using both characters equally like the previous O'Neil crossover.
But then again this was written by Snyder so I should have seen it coming.

The series started falling apart for me by the time they kept overcomplicating and inserting more and more mystical bullshit, which coincidentally was around the same time they stopped drawing the Shadow with the scarf covering his jaw

I don't know, there is no way to really tell unless it gets referenced by something else. I think not because IIRC last issue showed bad guy(s) had killed Green Arrow.

Thanks, OP. I still need to pick this one up, but I've been enjoying it so far.

They really are, and I have to force myself to pick one because otherwise I'd get them all.

I don't mind the magical stuff (as to me it reflect's how The Shadow became progressively more magical over time) and I enjoy all the nods to The Shadow continuity (which I wouldn't have understood if not for your commenting when you storytime).

But the plot IS needlessly complicated/convoluted and falls victim to Snyder's exposition dump bullshit and need for cool moments. Like that part where they are ganged up on by EVERY bat villain and characters are jobbing left and right.

It's in continuity with the previous crossovers but probably not within actual DC canon.
Since Green Arrow apparently died, Clayface is still a villain and apparently there is still only one Joker.

Maybe the upcoming Dynamite series might answer this a bit more since Damian is in it

Face it nerd, this isn't the 1930's. No-one cares about The Shadow. Batman has EASILY surpassed him as a character.

I'm not saying I dislike the mystical elements either.
But there is a difference between "The Shadow's backstory involves mystic oriental elements that add to his mystery" and "He was literally cursed by Cthulu aliens into becoming The Shadow and that's where his powers come from and he actually really hates it"
I don't think I need to elaborate as to what the issue with this is, especially since you apparently was in the previous storytimes I did

I don't know why you are trying to bait a response out of me as if I was trying to argue over who's better.

I wasn't trying to disregard your issues, I think they are perfectly valid. I'm just saying for me personally, the ramping up of the magic itself doesn't bother me. Though the way they handled it could have been better.

Well that was disappointing.

To be fair Batman was also poorly written.
Although I guess that's mostly Orlando's fault

You're either a newfag or just baiting.

The scene of the heroes he trained was supposed to be partly Dynamite's superheroes (well, the ones they got from the public domain) and DC ones.

Did anyone confirm if the archer was originally intended to be Green Arrow? Cause I was wondering if they wanted to put in the public domain Arrow character (who also wears a hood) and the artist drew Green Arrow because he was also referred to as Arrow.

It's definitely not in-continuity with New 52/Rebirth, unless Green Arrow was drawn in by accident instead of Centaur Comics' Arrow. Every other DC character's backstory (The Whip, Aero-Bat, Crimson Fox, The Reaper, Flying Fox, and two others I don't recognize) is up for grabs due to the nature of the New 52/Rebirth. I mean, there's three Crimson Foxes, it's possible the Shadow trained only one of them.

>It's in continuity with the previous crossovers

Which ones though? The nature of Shamba-La is a lot different in other comics, from what I can tell. I'm pretty sure this is the first time they implied that the Shadow was trained by otherdimensional aliens.

Anybody know which characters the Stag killed in 3rd row, 3rd panel and 4th row, 1st panel?

>and "He was literally cursed by Cthulu aliens into becoming The Shadow and that's where his powers come from and he actually really hates it"

I think that was the part that threw me in this series, everything else seemed like it could fit or kinda/sorta fit with what's been established about The Shadow in general. Otherworldly alien beings "cursing" Allard into becoming The Shadow seems like it's even further removed from even the Chaykin version of Shamba-La, nevermind other takes on Shamba-La.

The previous Batman/Shadow crossovers

I think that idea, alongside the revelations that he was only training Batman as bait for the Stag and so that he could become The Shadow in his place, is so fundamentally wrong and backwards to the character that it was the nail in the coffin for me. It's so, so utterly distanced from the character.
And it's kind of hypocritical that they ended the series with a important monologue about how "there will always be a Batman and a Shadow", which puts the character on relatively equal level and sticks to the idea that they were going to develop their strengths and weaknesses, but then just a few pages earlier they had those big important aliens talk about how Batman would have been a better Shadow than the Shadow himself and Batman never actually has to change his stance on anything because he's always right.
It doesn't even match the comic's logic because they spent the entire series hitting you over the head about how Batman is so much of a better person than the Shadow because he doesn't kill, and since this comic's version of The Shadow is a cruel and heartless super murderer who has never done anything but punish and murder in his life, it's hard to dispute that. But why did they depict the supposed "better" version of Batman using the same kind of killing methods by firing machine guns

Honestly this finale was a massive letdown.
There were many better ways this could have been done and I'm not

This seems out of character
Didn't Bruce state during Final Crisis that he didn't want Dick to become Batman but instead continue as Nightwing ?
Doesn't this contradict the comic's message that students need to surpass their teachers and become their own people instead of just reprising their roles ?
I thought a big part of Batman's character was that he was trying to stop other people from becoming like him.

I think the point was Batman as a great symbol. Like Batman Inc all has a bunch of people that carry on the idea of Batman while still being their own thing. In the same way Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Batwoman, etc. all carry on the Batman idea without literally being Batman.


All that being said, just because he said Dick should be Nightwing doesn't exclude Damien from becoming Batman.

Thats a good point, I never thought of it that way. Yeah it is kinda shit.

I get that the point of it was to reinforce how Batman has become a symbol over the years and is part of a larger crime fighting organization (like The Shadow himself was). But Bruce says
>Batman will live on, with a new face.
Which is specifically stating that someone else will take on the role of Batman, THE Batman, after he's dead. He's not talking about the larger than life symbol the Batman stands for, he is outright saying a new face will take on the role of Batman. Exactly like how The Shadow wanted Bruce Wayne to become The Shadow in his place, which is a mindset that the comic specifically stated was wrong in the previous issue.
>just because he said Dick should be Nightwing doesn't exclude Damien from becoming Batman
Which is still massively hypocritical since Bruce should want Damian to become his own person, better than he was, and not another Batman. Hell, the next series will be including Damian, presumably to hammer this point in.

To me it seems like Snyder and Orlando wanted to have it both ways. They wanted to examine Batman as the spiritual and literal sucessor of The Shadow and portray him as someone who would be better at his role than he was, but they also wanted to include the larger idea that students should improve upon their teacher's lessons and become their own separate people to co-exist with their teachers. Ideally, the story should have been about the latter, and a lot of it was, but Snyder just couldn't let go of his Batgod and Grant Morrison boner.

I don't get that impression at all, Batman was more reverent of The Shadow in those Bronze Age crossovers. And if he did meet him before, he wouldn't have had to ask as many questions as he did or fight Shadow early on.

It was said the previous crossovers still happened and Batman doesn't remember them because The Shadow clouded his mind after they happened.
He also states it in the comic that he's visited Bruce many times before.

Yeah, but, why would The Shadow cloud Batman's mind to make him not revere him as one of his idols?

Beats me. I didn't say the explanation made sense, just that it's the one they used

>Nrama: Ah, that does mix things up a bit. And from the description, it sounds like it's going to really delve into each character's history. Are you adding to their past continuity?

>Orlando: To me? It's all past continuity, so absolutely.

>In my mind, all the meetings of the Shadow and Batman have happened. The Shadow suggests that very possibility in Batman/The Shadow, saying he clouded Batman's mind after each adventure. We'll not only be building, but connecting to the greater centuries long tradition of crime-fighting in subtle ways.

Thanks, OP.