The Magigals Mystery/Serpents of Siva/Death Comes to the Magician

Nostalgia Ventures and Anthony Tollin have teamed up to do a comprehensive reprint of several Street & Smith pulp heroes. At present, they are doing double reprints of The Shadow and Doc Savage. Shortly, they will start new series reprinting The Avenger and The Whisperer. All have complete pulp texts (no edits or removals, like past reprints), tho reset so its easier to read, the original illustrations, reprinted covers (one is used as the cover of the book, but both original pulp covers are shown on the back), and several additional articles and extras. Hopefully, they can succeed to reprinting all these characters in these new editions, they are all excellent. With The Shadow having over 325 pulp novels, only a few reprinted, for the most part they are avoiding those that have been reprinted. They do try to pick two that more or less 'go together' in terms of a common theme. With this book, #12, we have "Serpents of Siva" (April 15, 1938) and "The Magigals Mystery" (Winter 1949). The common theme is magic (stage magic) based mysteries. The cover of "The Magigals Mystery" is the cover of this volume, and the original pulp cover for both is on the back. This volume also marks an important milestone. With this volume, NV & SB has reprinted more Shadow novels (24) then any other publishers, breaking the record held by Jove/HBJ/Pryamid with 23 novels. "Serpents of Siva" pits the Shadow against an ancient cult. "The Magigals Mystery" is actually one of the last few Shadow novels done by Gibson before the ending of the magazine. This one pits The Shadow against a group female magicians at a magician's convention. As extras in this issue are: A forward by professional magician Mark Wilson on Gibson. A "Spotlight on the Shadow" by series editor Anthony Tollin, focusing on magic-based tricks of The Shadow. "Houdini's Shadowy Successor", a short article on the Shadow's escape artistry. "Walter Gibson's Magical Journey" by pulp historian Will Murray, telling Gibson's background in magic and how this influenced his work in the pulps and comics. "Death Comes to the Magician", a radio script from Oct 4, 1942. "The Shadow's Radio Magic", a short article by Tollin about the magic trick shown in the radio script.