Random Happenstance

This one had bigger names in the creative team, but I liked the Ghost/Shadow crossover better. From 1994, the Shadow and the Mysterious 3, story and breakdowns by Michael Kaluta, additional script by Joel Goss, finishes by Stan Manoukian and Vince Roucher.

This issue featured three Shadow shorts, first using a junkie wife-killer to bring down a heroin smuggler that kept the goods in manequins. "Cold Day in Hell" is a clockwork-style scheme: a bunch of mobsters in a snow-covered cabin are going to divy up their loot, until the Shadow turns them against each other. Which seems overly clever for him; I'm used to him just gunning down everyone in the area and calling it a day.

"Ceiling Zero" has another elaborate scheme, this time a mobster returning for revenge on his betrayers, by stealing their assets on a plane, D.B. Cooper style? No, his scam runs deeper than that! There's a fake plane, the Shadow in disguise, and a loose bolt in a fire escape...I'm not sure the latter was planned, or just a lucky break. The stories weren't given enough space here; and I'm still surprised to see the Shadow work that hard at something that's not just pulling triggers. Still, I guess not every weed of crime has deep roots.