For the first half of The Shadow's tenure in the pulps, his past and true identity (outside of his Cranston disguise) are ambiguous. In The Living Shadow, a thug claiming to have seen the Shadow's face recalls seeing "a piece of white that looked like a bandage". In The Black Master and The Shadow's Shadow, the villains of both stories see The Shadow's true face and remark the vigilante is a man of many faces with no face of his own. It was not until the August 1937 issue, The Shadow Unmasks, that The Shadow's real name was revealed.
For the first half of The Shadow's tenure in the pulps, his past and true identity (outside of his Cranston disguise) are ambiguous. .In The Living Shadow, a thug claiming to have seen the Shadow's face recalls seeing "a piece of white that looked like a bandage". In The Black Master and The Shadow's Shadow, the villains of both stories see The Shadow's true face and remark the vigilante is a man of many faces with no face of his own. It was not until the August 1937 issue, The Shadow Unmasks, that The Sha:dow's real name was revealed.