The premise feels flawed, like the Shadow would've just shot everybody. EVERYBODY.

By rule, if I find a whole mini-series in the cheap bins, I have to buy it; and it's a pleasant surprise for an eight-issue series! From 2012, Masks #1, written by Chris Roberson, art by Alex Ross. There are, of course, a metric ton of variant covers for the series, but somehow we've got the "retailer incentive" Sean Phillips one.

It's Dynamite vigilante team-up, with the Shadow introducing himself to Green Hornet and Kato here: they had been trying to get intel from a mid-level boss; the Shadow kicks their asses, kills the boss, and tells them to go to a club. So the Shadow knows from the jump, that while the duo pretended to be criminals, that was just a front. Brett Reid later meets with Lamont Cranston (and Margo Lane!) and they discuss the recent elections, which put the "Justice Party" in control of New York City. Said party is of course corrupt as hell, chock full of criminals and actually importing more from out-of-state, to better extort the public in the name of "law and order." Waiting outside, Kato sees some cops being racist dickheads, arresting an artist to meet their quota...new masked officers hit the streets...OK, this was written in 2012 or so, and appears to be set in the late 40's, but yikes, seems familiar now.

A district attorney protests the injustice of the new laws, and is detained himself; we'll see him later. The Shadow again approaches the Hornet and Kato: the new cops might have the law on their side, but not justice. They wade into a squad of them, to try and save people from being arrested for not "paying the poor tax," a extortive "relief fund." But the cops' armor is surprisingly good, protecting them from the Shadow's bullets and the Hornet's stinger! Even with the Spider joining in, are our heroes outmatched? To be continued... 

If you've read Justice League comics in like the last 30 years, you're familiar with the dynamic: the Shadow is very much the Batman of the group, the one that knows more, growls orders, and isn't particularly social. I think over time, the Green Hornet might consider him a bit murder-y; although Kato would probably shrug it off as hey, gets the job done. (The Spider would be a huge fan and probably say things like "you inspire me, sir" and get his own murder numbers up...) Sadly, Ross would only provide "art direction," and probably some covers for the rest of the series: Dennis Calero would draw the rest, and it's good, just not as nice. There would be more vigilantes to come, too: Miss Fury and the Green Llama would tag in the next issue, after they meet while changing in an alley. And they wouldn't be the only ones, which I think pulled focus a bit too much: the Black Terror shows up, and while that costume is distinctive, I still have no idea what his deal was. But, I guess that kind of shows it takes everybody to fight an oppressive regime.