The Shadow Over Innsmouth

Published by: Dynamite Comics
Released on: April 9, 2014

The Shadow in a Lovecraftian tale of horror and madness? Why not?!?

[BEHOLD, THE MADNESS OF SPOILERS ABOUNDS BELOW]

Lamont and Margo find themselves stranded in Innsmouth after dense fog forced them to land their seaplane there. As the story opens, Margo is just coming to after apparently being attacked outside the hotel, during the night.

A local by the name of Mr. Allen found her unconscious down by the docks and administers some care to her in the cozy hotel lobby. Lamont is curious to know what happened to her so Margo begins her tale: She'd left her bag in the plane and went out at the late hour to retrieve it, not wanting to bother anyone for it. Soon, though, she began to hear “things,” noises that made her seek cover rather than follow her typical investigative instincts. She hears some weird shuffling and then a group of beings that weren't human, that seemed to have come from the ocean floor itself. They spot her and she tries to escape but apparently trips and hits her head, leaving her to be found by Mr. Allen a short time later.

She thanks Mr. Allen again who asks that she call him Zadok. He goes on to explain that it's odd for them to have any visitors in town. He also tells Margo that her story isn't the first he's heard tell, either. Zadok then begins his story: Namely, one of old stories of the town and the Captain Marsh who turned to worshipping “the Deep Ones” once he saw the treasure that activity yielded. Marsh even went on to restore the religion of Dagon, making offerings to the oceanic deity, along with the likes of Mother Hydra and Cthulu himself. Marsh visited their “city beneath the sea” and even breeded the townsfolk with the Deep Ones, producing such offspring as what Margo witnessed…

Lamont is dismissive of the tales, though, and after he and Margo retire for the night, sets out as The Shadow to thoroughly investigate and find the evil truth behind the mystery. In the fog, on the docks, he's soon face to face with the creatures who speak his language and arm themselves against outsider threats. The Shadow responds in kind, though, but the fight is short as the fish-men soon disappear under the water.

Later, Margo storms out of the hotel with Lamont chasing her down. She's accusatory of his disbelief in her story and lets him know that in the street as the car he ordered shows up. She refuses to leave with him so Lamont does on his own. Zadok is concerned for her but she's insistent that she'll figure out some way to leave town. He tells her to keep to her room tonight, for safety's sake - which, obviously, is the exact opposite of what she does.

Sneaking out of the hotel and back down to the docks, she soon finds a large submarine there. Before she can do anything she's set upon by one of the fish-men who's soon revealed to be Zadok in just a mask. He captures her and soon all the fish-men come out, Margo realizing that they're just smugglers using the old story as a cover to keep people away from snooping on them. The submarine brings their booze in from another ship outside the 3-mile limit imposed by Prohibition on liquor shipments, too.

They figure to just silence Margo then but, of course, it was all a ruse as she fights back and The Shadow appears, twin .45's blazing. Zadok is soon the last man standing, mortally wounded by a bullet but awake enough to recognize the face of Lamont Cranston in The Shadow before he finally dies. The Shadow sets the contraband and the building on fire then instructs Margo to ready the seaplane while he sinks the sub.

The next day, the barkeep at the hotel is talking with a patron about the strange turn of events. He's clueless as to what really happened but says that one witness was pulled alive from the flames, only saying that he saw “the shadow” there before he also died. The barkeep asks the patron, Howard, about that, who muses of the title of a shadow in Innsmouth and sets about his writing happily…

An interesting one-shot wherein The Shadow roots out crime wherever he appears and inadvertently inspires a great author. Ron Marz's story is of course pure speculation but an entertaining adventure nonetheless. Ivan Rodgriguez' artwork gets a hefty workout as well, with all the shadow tones, fog and sea scenes, plus big action scenes, nicely combining the imagery of both The Shadow and H.P. Lovecraft into the same space. Well worth the time to read through this one.