The Shadow 065 The Chinese Disks

THE CHINESE DISKS was originally published in the November 1, 1934 issue of The Shadow Magazine. The appearance of strange disks of grayish metal, upon which are engraved a queer Chinese character, marks the return of Diamond Bert Farwell. The Shadow will once again engage in a battle of wits and strength with this formidable foe from his past. This is one heck of a Shadow story. It brings back some characters from the past and adds five new agents to the ranks of The Shadow's aides. There are gun battles, death traps and a sinister organization based in Chinatown. The Shadow is at his peak of power in this 1934 story, and he'll need all his strength to do battle with his old nemesis, Diamond Bert Farwell. Do yourself a favor and read this top-notch Shadow pulp mystery. Diamond Bert Farwell. The Shadow had met him three years previously when he was guised as the Chinaman, Wang Foo. The malevolent Wang Foo was responsible for a wave of jewel robberies and accompanying murders. That all happened in the very first Shadow novel, "The Living Shadow." At the end of that story, Wang Foo was unmasked as Diamond Bert Farwell and was sent to prison for ten years. This story, set three years after Diamond Bert Farwell had been incarcerated, finds him preparing for parole. The law had never been able to pin the murders on him, and could only convict him of possession of stolen gems. And now, since he had been on good behavior, Diamond Jim is nearly due for release from the Sing Sing. The Shadow has been picking up signs that Diamond Jim Farwell is up to something. He is preparing for a wave of crime that will begin as soon as he is released from the penitentiary. The Chinese disks, those metal coins slightly smaller than a half dollar, were originally used three years previously to identify all those who served Diamond Jim Farwell in his guise as Wang Foo. Now they are being used again to identify members of the new gang to each other. All in preparation for Diamond Jim's return from prison, and the beginning of a new crime spree. To get details on Diamond Jim's plans, The Shadow has his good friend Slade Farrow enter Sing Sing as a fellow prisoner. Farrow appeared in a total of eleven of the Shadow's pulp adventures. The first was in "The Green Box" eight months earlier. This story marks his second appearance. Slade Farrow is a criminologist who takes pride in reforming criminals who want a second chance. Two of those were Hawkeye and Tapper. They both appeared in the earlier novel assisting Farrow. In this story, they join the ranks of The Shadow. Hawkeye specializes in unobtrusively trailing even the most wary subject. And Tapper is an expert at locks and safecracking. Tapper was only used occasionally in the ensuing stories, showing up eight more times during the magazine's run. Hawkeye became a regularly used agent for The Shadow. He appeared in over one hundred more stories. Three other agents are added to the growing assortment of agents of The Shadow in this tale. Pietro, the push-cart vendor was a minor agent who is drafted here. He first appeared a year previously in "The Silver Scourge" in a minor role, but it is here that he first actually works for The Shadow. He never seemed to catch on, perhaps because there was never much of a need for his services. He only appeared three more times, making his final appearance in the 1935 story "The Third Skull." Jericho Druke appears here for the very first time. When we first meet Druke, the giant African is running an employment agency in Harlem. Harry Vincent visits his office and reminds him of the time a mysterious figure cloaked in black saved his life. Harry whispers a brief sentence, and Jericho immediately closes the office and offers to join The Shadow in his fight for justice. What did Harry whisper to Jericho Druke? We aren't told. But perhaps it is some secret password given to him when The Shadow saved his life. A similar concept was used in the 1994 Shadow motion picture, and this may be where the inspiration originated. As for Jericho Druke himself, he was also a minor agent, but appeared more frequently than Pietro did. His strength was one of his notable assets. In a fight, he preferred hand-to-hand combat in which he would grab two antagonists by the back of the neck and crack their skulls together. Druke appeared in a total of thirty two pulp stories. Taxicab driver Moe Shrevnitz was the final agent added to The Shadow's band of aides in this story. He had never appeared in any of the pulp stories before, although when Harry Vincent enlists his assistance, he reminds Moe of an earlier encounter with The Shadow. That story was never told in any of The Shadow pulps, but Harry recaps it for Moe's benefit, and the reader's as well. Some time previously, some thugs had confronted Moe. They intended to kill him and take his taxicab. It was The Shadow who saved him, and Moe agrees to repay the debt by assisting in any way he can. Little did he know that he would become the standard driver for The Shadow, and would go on to appear regularly in the pulp magazine until the end of the run. In all, he appeared in one hundred thirty seven of the adventures. This Shadow pulp novel is unique in that it introduces these five new agents for The Shadow. And it brings back some old characters in the person of Slade Farrow, friend of The Shadow, and Diamond Bert Farwell, enemy of the cloaked crimefighter. But that's not all. Yat Soon, the arbiter of Chinatown appears here, as well. It is his second appearance, after "Gray Fist" earlier in 1934. Yat Soon turned up five more times until his final appearance in "The Golden Pagoda" in 1938. As for regular characters, Burbank and Clyde Burke make appearances. Rutledge Mann and Cliff Marsland get a few good scenes. So does chauffeur Stanley. Joe Cardona is an acting inspector in this story, and his boss is Police Commissioner Wainwright Barth. Ralph Weston is out of the country, in this story, cleaning up the Central-American republic of Garauca. At police headquarters we also see Detective Sergeant Markham. And dull-faced janitor Fritz shows up with his vocabulary still limited to a single word: "Yah." This wasn't the real Fritz, of course. It's one of The Shadow's disguises. There was a real Fritz, as this story makes quite clear, but The Shadow occasionally usurps his identity, much as he does with Lamont Cranston. Oh yeah, The Shadow uses the Cranston disguise in this story, too. There is one character in this story who seems to be set up for being a future agent of The Shadow, but nothing comes of it. Slade Farrow has been rehabilitating criminals, including Tapper and Hawkeye. There is a third man in this story. Dave Garvell was another ex-criminal who is now a trusted worker of Farrow's. He has a couple scenes in the story, and it would appear that he would make a good agent for The Shadow. But he disappears about mid-way through the story, and is mentioned no more. He's never really fully used, and he never appeared in any further Shadow novels. This story is filled with all those little consistent things that readers have come to expect in a Shadow story. The Shadow uses his rubber suction cups to cling to sheer surfaces. We visit the small room that Burbank uses, although this time Burbank is off duty and Harry Vincent is on duty. We get another visit to Red Mike's, the popular underworld dive that moves around frequently, usually after police raids. And we visit Chinatown several times; once to visit with arbiter Yat Soon, the other to track down Diamond Jim's associate Tam Sook. It is during this second visit that The Shadow encounters a most diabolical death trap. The Shadow is captured by Tam Sook. If he should put up any resistance whatsoever, Tam Soon has only to lift his foot and the entire floor will open. The Shadow will fall to his destruction. Seeing The Shadow escape certain death is a true pleasure to read. Wow, what a scene! You'll have to forgive the occasional racial slurs that are found in this story. Chinese and Italians are referred to in slang that was common at the time. They're certainly not proper by today's standards, but need to be taken in context. At least it's not our heroes spewing those insulting words. Watch The Shadow track down Diamond Jim Farwell when he is released from prison and immediately disappears. What is his new disguise? As jewel robbery after jewel robbery take place, can The Shadow halt this seemingly unstoppable crime wave? This is a Shadow story that will leave you on the edge of your seat, wanting more. It is a story that contains some important origins, when it comes to agents of The Shadow. And it contains the return of some early characters as well. It's quite a story, and one that you owe it to yourself to read.

The Shadow's crime-fighting organization became fully-formed in "The Chinese Disks", in which these tokens of crime lead The Shadow on a trail of danger. A sequel to Gibson's first novel, "The Living Shadow", the novel features the return of The Shadow's first major foe, Diamond Bert Farwell, and introduces long-time characters Moe Shrevnitz, reformed former-crooks Hawkeye and Tapper, Pietro, and the giant African Jericho Druke. "Malmordo" features a daffodil as a symbol of danger, a creature with a rodent face, and a menu card with the circled message: "Midnight - Morte - Monday", all of which send The Shadow in pursuit of the world's most desperate criminal. The book features the original pulp cover by George Rozen and interior illustrations by Tom Lovell, who went on to become one of the 20th century's greatest illustrative painters.