Writer – Micahel Uslan
Artist – E.R. Cruz

A man who has been killed tries desperately to reach The Shadow to deliver a message. While it seems like a blank piece of paper, it does indeed hold a missive about stolen weapons and the building of an army. The Shadow immediately gets ready to go on the offensive to put a stop to it when his hideout is attacked. While The Shadow and his men come out on top, it can only mean one thing and that is the fact that there is a traitor among them, though who remains to be seen. One thing of note happens though and that comes in the form of a prisoner by the name of Algrenon Heathcote Smith, a friend of The Avenger. Unbeknownst to The Shadow, Richard Benson – The Avenger, is also investigating the same case and manages to capture a spy who has come to his door, one Margo Lane. From her, he learns of this mysterious figure called The Shadow who he believes is the one stealing and trafficking in these weapons and as readers can only guess, this leads to a confrontation between the two. Once again, Michael Uslan joins the title as writer and the man crafts a fine tale that finds two of pulp’s greatest heroes come together. They do so under false impressions perhaps but it is not long before they learn neither is responsible for the crimes they believe the other committed and team up to take out whoever the real villain is. As it turns out, The Shadow’s old foe Shiwan Kahn is the man amassing weapons for some vile purpose which nobody wants to see made reality. All of this leads to a confrontation between The Shadow and Kahn, the two at first a match for each other until The Shadow proves why he is the better and more learned man while The Avenger and everyone else take care of Kahn’s men. From start to finish, this was a very exciting issue, simply for the fact that a crossover between The Avenger and The Shadow was going to take place. That aside, Uslan packs the book full of action and intrigue and bringing it all to life was E.R. Cruz once more and he proves he is more than up to the task of delineating these two titans upon the page. When everything is said and done, it does look as if the good guys have won out but there is a chance that the villain has survived to try this all again another day. Should that happen, readers would surely enjoy seeing these two heroes team up again.

4 out of 5