This was a pretty good story, but does not line up with my memories of the The Shadow. Granted it has been many, many years since I read the Shadow and my memories dim somewhat but this version of the Shadow is much more bloodthirsty than I remember him. Ennis' Shadow draws on the darkness in his heart, as the character always has, but in this story he is not much different from those he is fighting. There are extra pages of art and some of that is amazing. I love the Shadow but this iteration is much colder and darker than I remember. ( )

The Fire of Creation collects a six-issue series featuring the mysterious pulp hero, the Shadow. It is set in the period just before World War II, and features the Shadow traveling as Lamont Cranston, with his companion Margo Lane, to the Far East to thwart efforts by the incipient Axis powers to create a super-weapon. In the process, the Shadow must interact with underworld elements with whom he was acquainted in his pre-Cranston identity as Kent Allard. Ennis writes the story very well, with a lot of artful expository dialogue that also helps to define the characters, particularly the principal villains and the military intelligence foil Finnegan. His Shadow is genuinely creepy in a way that should help any reader understand why this character has been so inspirational. The art by Aaron Campbell is dynamic, with lots of heavy inks, and it really conveys the pulp action feel of the tale.

The beautiful painted covers by Alex Ross for the original issues are interleaved in the continuous story, while dozens of pieces of alternate cover art are appended, from artists Howard Chaykin, Francesco Francavilla, Jae Lee, John Cassaday, and others. This appendix is great. Another "bonus" element preceding it is the script text for the first issue, as written by Ennis. Increasingly, this sort of thing seems to be included in trade reprints of comics series, and I just can't see the value in it. I suppose it goes some way to identify how much direction the writer has supplied the artist, but in terms of imaginative content, it supplies nothing that isn't presented more enjoyably in the comic itself.

Ennis is a great fit for THE SHADOW, embedding some nasty historical background and a good feel for the main character.