Professional History
Walter B. Gibson was a pulp magazine writer, who is best known as the creator of The Shadow, or at least the "pulp" version. He wrote 282 novels featuring the character. Many of them have been adapted for various comic books and film adaptations.
Gibson was also a magician, among other talents, and created the lesser-known character, "Norgil the Magician." Norgil was published in another Street & Smith pulp title, but made a comic book appearance in Shadow Comics #3.
In 1952, he edited a short-lived science fiction magazine, Fantastic Science Fiction. A few of his sci-fi stories were published in the magazine as well.
Though he was never really employed as a comic book writer, outside of adapting The Shadow pulp stories for Shadow Comics, his last completed work was for DC Comics, "The Batman Encounters - Gray Face." It was published in 1981, and can be read in Detective Comics #500.
Work History
Images Attributed to Walter B. Gibson
Notes
- Walter B. Gibson Appearances:
- The author made a cameo appearance in his own Shadow story, "The Magigals Mystery." He's mentioned as one of the attendees at the Magigals' magic convention.
- The prison warden in Shadow (DC Comics) #3, "Gibson Walters," is named in tribute to him.
- In The War of the Worlds Murder (Berkley, 2005), author Max Allan Collins brings together Walter B. Gibson and Orson Welles on the night of the infamous 1938 "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. When Welles' mistress is discovered dead, Gibson turns slueth to uncover the real killer.
- Gibson made a cameo appearance in Sting of the Green Hornet #1 as one of "The Master's" agents.
- In The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril (Simon & Schuster, 2007), author Paul Malmont casts Walter B. Gibson and Lester Dent in their own pulpy saga.
Trivia
- The Shadow story, "Voodoo Death," gave the author credit to Walter B. Gibson rather than Maxwell Grant.
See Also
Official Website
- None.
Links and References
- None.