The Shadow visits Innsmouth

In an April one-shot from Dynamite Comics, there will be a Shadow Over Innsmouth.

No, a real Shadow.  As in the pulp and radio drama character. The title is of course a play on words from an H.P. Lovecraft short story, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."

So let me get this straight.  It's one of my favorite pulp characters mashed up into one of my favorite author's stories and all presented in comic book form?  Once again, I find myself sounding like Flounder from Animal House:

"Oh boy, is this great!"

Heh.  Suppose you could say that was a little tribute there to Harold Ramis.  But I digress...

As anyone who has read Lovecraft knows, the fog-shrouded harbor town of Innsmouth is an isolated mystery.  People speak of bizarre and arcane rituals performed by the townspeople, shambling and fish-like forms, and eldritch and undead gods that rise from the deep.  The Shadow, who is in reality Lamont Cranston--wealthy man-about-town, and Margo Lane find themselves trapped in Innsmouth.  And that's when things get real.

"Certainly the title alone made this a natural story to tell, but more than that, both the Shadow and Lovecraft's mythos are products of the same era," says writer Ron Marz. "They both have pulp roots, so despite the Shadow's crime orientation and Lovecraft's overt horror, there's a similarity in mood. I tried to put together the Shadow and the Innsmouth legend in a way that remains true to both of them."

A long time ago, I played The Shadow in a (very) small reading of radio dramas.  The storyline featured Lamont and Margo on a vacation of sorts in New England.  They of course got into trouble that only The Shadow could solve.

But that G-rated trifle was nothing like this. This crossover goes beyond anything I could have anticipated and I'm very interested to say the least.  The art (shown above) doesn't look too bad either, but then that's usually quite secondary to my expectations of the writing, thus making me something of an outcast from the fanboy flock.  Having an adept writer such as Marz at the helm certainly sweetens the pot.

Let's see where this goes.

Follow me on Twitter: @Jntweets