Judex: A Shadow predecessor

An interesting old pulp character that has come to prominence in recent years is Judex. Many are intrigued by The Shadow-like elements of the character, and some have tried to claim a possible influence on The Shadow (something I think is little unlikely). More interesting is the use of the character as a possible fictional ancestor to the Shadow.

Judex is a French silent movie serial character. He starred in two serials that came out in 1917 and 1918. These serials were also novelized. The written stories appeared first in serial form, then were collected into books. The original movie serial is available on DVD. No idea about the second one (maybe it’s lost?). The first serial was remade twice as black & white movies, once in 1934 and again in 1963. This second remake is also available on DVD.

Black Coat Press has come out with a translation of the first novel, and will soon come out with a translation of the second in a month or so. New Judex stories have been appearing in their “Tales of the Shadowmen” series, and they plan a collection of new Judex stories later this year (“The Shadow of Judex”), which will have all the prior new Judex stories and many additional ones.

So who is Judex? Judex (latin for “judge”) is similar in many ways to The Shadow. He is a mysterious avenger who wears a cloak and dark hat, is a master of disguise, has a group of agents helping him, has high tech devices, a mysterious headquarters, etc. In the first adventure, he goes after the evil banker Favraux, who has destroyed his family. After dealing with Favraux, his main opponent in the story is Favraux’s would-be fiance, Diana Monti. Complicating things is that Judex has fallen in love with Favraux’s daughter.

In the second adventure (which I haven’t read), Judex goes up against a gang of spies and extortionists called the Secret Raiders. Their leader is a one-eyed mystic who can hypnotize people and who is aided by a vicious baroness who is both a cat burglar as well as a fighter. This story sounds more like a Shadow novel, the first one sounding more like a personal vendetta.

Judex was created by silent film director Louis Feuillade and writer Arthur Bernède. They set out to create a more heroic character in response to serials that starred villains like Fantomas and Les Vampires (no, not blood suckers, these were a gang of thieves). Funny that Feuillade was the one who did those other serials. It is interesting to see how much of this early character matches what we expect of The Shadow. Judex is a master of disguise. At the beginning of the first story, he disguises himself as Favraux’s elderly assistant. Like The Shadow, he is an excellent fighter (but we learn in the story that he was trained by the “Woman in Black,” who was his mother! How did she come by such skills?). He has several agents who help him, again like The Shadow. And, of course, he wears the same kind of dark cloak and hat as The Shadow. As noted, it’s doubtful that this French serial was known in America, so it’s doubtful it had an influence on Walter Gibson in creating The Shadow. But it is fun that some have written stories that hint of Judex being an ancestor of Kent Allard (The Shadow).

This is where I think much of the interest in the character comes from. Here is an actual character that predates The Shadow that allows writers to create “almost” Shadow stories. And for the fans, we can read and enjoy these stories of this “almost Shadow.”

For more information on Judex, check out his page on Black Coat Press’s associated “Cool French Comics” site.