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THE SHADOW ARTIST'S SHADOW ARTIST
PULP COVER PAINTER GRAVES GLADNEY!
James Francis Graves Gladney was born in 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri. ("Graves" was Gladney's mother's middle name, and it was passed down to him. The name is not derived from the term for a burial site, but rather from the title of certain town officials in old England, who were known as "Graves.") Gladney began painting Shadow covers in 1939, and continued for two years. He himself sometimes modeled for other pulp covers, as we'll see below. Gladney felt most pulp covers had no atmosphere, and no reality to them at all. He even thought less of the stories. He once admitted, “I frankly can’t stand the junk.” Surely he wasn't talking about The Shadow?! The artist is seen below in his studio, as a young man. |
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GLADNEY'S FIRST SHADOW COVER
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GLADNEY'S COVER FOR "THE GOLDEN MASTER"
THE CHINESE CHARACTERS IN THE LOWER LEFT SAY "SHIWAN KAHN."
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GLADNEY MODELED FOR THIS COVER OF "ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION"
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SHIWAN KAHN RETURNS, NOT FOR THE LAST TIME
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THE THIRD SHIWAN KAHN STORY
THE CHINESE CHARACTERS IN THE LOWER LEFT SAY "YOU CAN'T CATCH ME."
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GLADNEY POSED FOR THIS COVER OF "UNKNOWN"...
THAT'S SOME SET OF CHOMPERS!
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GLADNEY'S FAMOUS WALL-SCALING COVER
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YIKES! HYPODERMIC NEEDLE COVER!
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ABOVE: Gladney changed the Shadow’s appearance slightly, patterning the new look after his OWN face. He also attempted to make the Shadow’s image more realistic by shortening his cloak and downplaying its blood-red lining. The artist frequently got away with omitting the red lining altogether, as seen in the three cover paintings above, but he was usually caught, and had to paint a crimson lining into The Shadow's uniform. BELOW: After he inherited a fortune, Graves Gladney left the pulps to go big game hunting in Africa. He passed away in 1976.
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GRAVES GLADNEY (1907-1976)
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