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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38-Gibson pics 1
37-Lai's Chronology
36-Hooded Shadow
35-Ultimate Villain
34-Merciless Ming
33-Crimson Ghost
32-The Scorpion
31-Iron Executioner
30-Captain Mephisto
29-The Wizard
28-The Black Tiger
27-Marex and Narab
26-Atom Man
25-The Octopus
24-Tollin Reprints
23-Spanish Pulps
22-Earl Mayan
21-Lobby Cards
20-Jim Steranko 2
19-Jim Steranko 1
18-King of all media
17-Tom Lovell
16-Spines
15-Art Gallery
14-Psychic Sciences
13-Frank Eisgruber
12-Frank Hamilton
11-Frank Readick
10-James Bama
9-Berni Wrightson
8-Magic by Gibson
7-James LaCurto
6-Meet Max Payne
5-Shadow Solutions
4-Shadow Clews
3-Another Clew
2-Cover Story
1-First Report
0-The Dial B Rebus

Pictured in logo: Burbank by Mike Kaluta © DC Comics, Inc., Burbank from "The Shadow" (1991 film). The Shadow © Advance magazine Publishers, Inc./ The Condé Nast Pubs. Inc.


LARGEST COLLECTION EVER ASSEMBLED
WALTER GIBSON: A LIFE IN PICTURES!

I, Burbank, The Shadow's contact man, am tired of seeing the SAME picture of Shadow creator Walter Gibson on every website that mentions the Master of Darkness. So I decided to collect every picture of Mr. Gibson I know of, and share them with the world. Let's begin!




WALTER B. GIBSON IN 1918




THE OFFICIAL PORTRAIT: GIBSON IN 1930




GIBSON AT HIS TYPEWRITER
(THE SHADOW'S FEBRUARY 14, 1941 ISSUE IS ON THE TABLE.)




WALTER GIBSON




LITZKA GIBSON AND HUSBAND WALTER
POSE WITH THEIR PET ROOSTER CHINA BOY




WALTER B. GIBSON (1970)




GIBSON PERFORMING STAGE MAGIC




GIBSON AT HIS VACATION HOME IN MAINE




LITZKA AND WALTER IN MAINE




SON ROBERT AND GRANDSON ROBERT JR. POSE WITH GRANDPA WALTER (1980)


CONTINUED TOMORROW...

WALTER GIBSON: A LIFE IN PICTURES
PART TWO!