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The year was 1930. To boost sales of their Detective Story Magazine, pulp publishers Street and Smith decided to sponsor a radio program where an announcer read stories from the magazine.
Rather than referring to him as "the guy who reads the stories," a man at Street and Smith's ad agency suggested naming him The Shadow.
Soon customers began asking for a pulp magazine of that name.
No such magazine existed at the time -- but Street and Smith knew an opportunity when they saw one, and quickly decided to created just such a title.
In time The Master of Darkness recruited numerous agents, among them the mysterious Burbank.
Little is known about Burbank, other than the fact that he is an "old friend" of the Master of Darkness, and that his mission is to facilitate communication among agents.
The Shadow copyright Advance magazine Publishers, Inc./ The Condé Nast Pubs.
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 REPORT 14:
by WALTER & LITZKA GIBSON
PSYCHIC SCIENCES
The cover blurb calls this book "A remarkably comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of mystic science and divination."
Remarkably comprehensive? More like Jonny Carson's old "Karnak" routine: "Everything you'd every want to know about Psychic Sciences is IN THIS BOOK!"
Here, in a single small volume, Shadow creator Walter Gibson and his wife, Litzka, have compiled the definitive encyclopedia of all things psychic and mystical. This is no fly-by-night, quickie study, this is an in-depth, astonishingly informative codification of everything from Astrology to the Zodiac, with the sort of commentary only seasoned magicians such as the Gibsons (Litzka was a professional magician too) could provide. Let's start with the book's introduction, in which the Gibsons explain their approach to this material:
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OK! Below, in a few brief paragraphs, Gibson starts the party by discussing the history of cards:
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Wow. Book of Thoth. Swords, cups, and rods! Who knew? The Gibsons knew. And the further we go into this one-of-a-kind book, the more we realize that although the world of The Shadow was entirely rational, the world of the Gibsons encompassed all manner of psychic knowledge. Here's a spread on the Zodiac, with an illustration by Murray Keshner:
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Astorlogy is just the beginning. This book also covers esoteric subjects such as color theory, and the reasons we tend to associate certain colors with certain settings and moods:
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Handwriting analysis, not usually thought of as a "psychic science," is also covered in this book. In the spread seen below, the Gibsons present handwriting samples, and explain how they exemplify different psychological traits:
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Pictured right is a photograph of Walter Gibson posing with three of the more than 100 books he authored on magic -- the book on the far left is an early edition of "Psychic Sciences."
If anyone ever wondered where Gibson got the thousands of great ideas he poured into each Shadow pulp novel, this book leaves little doubt that they sprung full-blown from Gibson's own incredible mind, playing out as dramatizations of the far-flung knowledge and wonderfully obscure recollections he had amassed during his long career as a journalist and magician.
What does the future hold for YOU, reader? Match your own palm against the diagram below, from Walter and Litzka Gibson's "Psychic Sciences," and perhaps you'll see your destiny -- written in the palm of your own hand.
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GEORGE ROZEN - JOHN BOLTON - BO HAMPTON - MIKE KALUTA
SHADOW ART GALLERY
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