History:
BURBANK
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human (alternate
reality - DC's Earth 1; see comments) (World
War II Era)
Occupation: Communications officer
Group Membership: The Shadow's operatives
Affiliations: Lamont Cranston, Jericho Druke, Margo Lane, The Shadow (Kent Allard), Moe "Shrevvy" Shrevnitz, Harry Vincent
Enemies: Shiwan Khan
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: An unidentified building in Manhattan, New York, USA
First Appearance: (Street and Smith) The Shadow
Magazine I#2 (July 1, 1931);
(DC) The Shadow I#1 (October-November, 1973)
(Marvel) Marvel Graphic Novel I#35 (1988)
Powers/Abilities: Burbank was an excellent communications technician, specializing in radio, telephones, Morse code and television. Many of the Shadow's operatives carried radio receiver and transmitters in order to receive instructions from Burbank in the field (for example, the radio hidden in Moe "Shrevvy" Shrevnitz's taxi cab). Burbank was also skilled in mechanical engineering and helped maintain the autogyro used by the Shadow. Burbank also demonstrated forensic laboratory knowledge. Burbank wore a modified jeweler's loupe over his left eye that connected to a microphone.
Height: Unrevealed
(approximately 5'10")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 165 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
History:
(The Shadow Magazine I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Burbank's origins are unrevealed. Like all of the Shadow's operatives, at some point the Shadow saved his life, then claimed him as one of his agents. Burbank was set up as the Shadow's communications officer and established at a laboratory in a hidden building. Burbank's job was to receive orders from the Shadow and transmit them to his operatives in the field. Burbank would also receive reports from the Shadow's operatives and send them assistance when required.
(The Shadow I#1) - In the identity of Lamont Cranston, the Shadow telephoned Burbank and told him to contact his agent Harry Vincent and survey the actions of a group of criminals. Later, the Shadow brought one of the criminals to Burbank's lab so he could be hypnotically interrogated. After the Shadow retrieved some information from the criminal indicating they were goint to steal a new ship from the U.S. Navy, Burbank told him he'd learned the criminals had already freed a sea captain who had been in police custody.
(The Shadow I#2/The Shadow Magazine #279) - As Lamont Cranston, the Shadow telephoned Burbank and instructed him to send operative Margo Lane to the Sorber Carnival in Titusville. Margo was with Burbank when the call came in and accepted the assignment.
(The Shadow I#3) - The Shadow visited Burbank at his laboratory and asked him to arrange a telephone call to the warden of Ainsley Prison. After speaking to the warden, the Shadow told Burbank to contact Harry Vincent and put him on standby.
(The Shadow I#4) - The Shadow and his cab driver ally Shrevvy visited Burbank and asked him to investigate the license of a suspicious truck that had been involved in bootlegging.
(The Shadow I#5) - After the Shadow sent Margo Lane to investigate the Neptune luxury liner she radioed Burbank to inform him the ship had been pirated by Captain Sodom and told him to alert the Shadow and the U.S. Navy. The call was abruptly terminated when General Sodom knocked out Margo then picked up the transmitter and told Burbank she didn't hear him. Burbank swiftly notified the Shadow, who saved Margo.
(The Shadow I#6) - The Shadow gathered Burbank, Margo and Harry to let them know about a ninja assassin who was active in Manhattan. The Shadow ordered Burbank to telephone their contacts in the underworld and offer payment for information leading to the ninjas. When Harry tried to defend politician G. Oyle Proud from the ninja but was drugged and failed to save him, Harry telephoned Burbank to let him know what had happened. Burbank notified the Shadow and sent an ambulance to pick up Harry.
(The Shadow I#7) - The Shadow assembled Burbank, Margo and Harry for a briefing. Burbank prepared a slideshow depicting the people the Shadow had asked him to investigate, which included Pile, a hunchbacked man who worked for criminal Joey Lyce and Joey's actress girlfriend Morag Mayne. After Burbank's presentation was complete, the Shadow told him to standby.
(The Shadow I#8) - The Shadow sent a cargo box to Burbank which contained the body of Ed Louis, an archaeologist who died on a flight from Mexico to New York. Burbank examined Louis' blood under a microscope and determined he was poisoned by curare.
(The Shadow I#10) - After Harry and Shrevvy were both wounded by Papa Crouch's gang, Harry went to Burbank's laboratory and reported to Burbank, Margo and the Shadow. The Shadow sent his operatives out to find Papa Crouch's gang and told Burbank to coordinate from the laboratory. When his operatives found Papa Crouch was murdering former associates, the Shadow conferred with Burbank, who presented him with a report from Margo which proved Papa Crouch was working with Judge Blaney, a corrupt judge. The Shadow told Burbank to prepare his autogyro as he went to assist Margo.
(The Shadow I#11) - Burbank ventured into the field to receive a message from one of the Shadow's operatives who had been badly injured relaying the information. However, when Burbank brought the message to the Shadow at the laboratory it proved to be blank. The Shadow quickly proved the paper's message was written in a special vanishing ink and he exposed the message, indicating an underground army was being built. The Shadow told Burbank to gather up all of his operatives at his midtown sanctum so they could prepare their next move. The sanctum was assaulted by armed men working for Shiwan Khan but the Khan's men implicated the Avenger and his organization Justice, Inc. as the culprits in an effort by Khan to waylay the Shadow and the Avenger at the same time. Later, at the laboratory, Burbank was present as Harry introduced fellow operative Jericho Druke to the others.
(The Shadow I#12) - After Margo and Harry disappeared on an assignment in New Gotham, the Shadow checked up on them with Burbank, who confirmed they were overdue for a report.
(Marvel Graphic Novel I#35) - On April 13, 1941, Burbank helped coordinate efforts to protect Gretchen Baur, daughter of a Nazi officer, who was being pursued by Bundist agents in Manhattan who wanted to forcibly return her to her father in Germany. When Shrevvy and Margo lost Gretchen at a building in Hell's Kitchen that went up in flames, Shrevvy reported to Burbank, who arranged for fire trucks to respond to the fire. Burbank contacted Harry then turned over his radio to the Shadow to give special instructions to him as he purused Gretchen's kidnappers. After interrogating some of the Bundists, the Shadow radioed Burbank and had him prepare the autogyro as he continued his pursuit of Gretchen's kidnappers.
Comments: Created by Walter B. Gibson; adapted to DC by Denny O'Neil and Michael Wm. Kaluta; to Marvel by Denny O'Neil, Michael Wm. Kaluta and Russ Heath.
Marvel Graphic Novel I#35 is, to date, the only adventure of the Shadow to be published by Marvel Comics; the Shadow has a lengthy history in comics, including his own comic strip, his own series from Street and Smith and several series at DC Comics and Dynamite Entertainment. It was the 1973 DC series by O'Neil and Kaluta that the Marvel Graphic Novel was directly connected to, which is why I've included the 1973 series in italics.
Like most pulp Shadow characters, Burbank never appeared on the Shadow radio program but he did appear in the 1994 feature film, portrayed by Andre Gregory.
On the radio show and 1994 movie the Shadow and Lamont Cranton are the same person; in the original pulps and in these comics, Lamont Cranston and the Shadow are separate people but Cranston lets the Shadow impersonate him.
The Shadow, Burbank and all related characters are ™ and © Condé Nast Entertainment.
The Shadow - generally
speaking, no reason why a version of the Shadow couldn't be around on
616, even with there also being an
ersatz version. However, given O'Neill and Kaluta did both the
majority of DC's 70s Shadow series and the Marvel GN, I think it's
fair to assume it is the same version. Additionally, by that same
logic of "if it is the same creator writing the character, then it is
the same iteration of the character", then this Shadow is on Earth 1
(no hyphen in DC), the main Silver Age DC universe, because he teamed
up with Batman in Batman I#253 and 259, both penned by Denny O'Neill
around the same time he was writing the Shadow's own series.
DC did four Shadow series - the 1970s O'Neill & Kaluta one, then a
miniseries by Chaykin in 1986, an ongoing by Andrew Helfer between 87
and 89, and then The Shadow Strikes from 89 to 92. Could they all fit
into a single continuity? Chaykin's one is set in the modern day, with
the Shadow having not aged but his former agents have; that might be a
dealbreaker except that O'Neill wrote him in the modern day too,
seemingly having not aged, in those two Batman issues. Shadow Strikes
is "classic era" 1930s Shadow. Though it's feasible that some story
points are hidden in the issues that contradict stuff from other runs,
without checking them all I'd say in theory they could all fit. That
might get a lot harder if we include the Dynamite stuff; if ALL the
Dynamite Shadow stories are the same universe as one another, then
almost certainly not, since DC had Shadow meet the Richard Benson/the
Avenger in the 70s run and Doc Savage in the Shadow Strikes, and both
cases are clearly first meetings, but Dynamite also has him team up
with them - if they act like they've not met before in the Dynamite
crossover, then it can't be the same continuity as DC, or else the DC
stories need to split off the Chaykin run into a different continuity
from the other DC Shadows. And the Helfer stuff - modern day, and by
the end of the run the Shadow is a really dumb looking cyborg:
images (400×621)
I'd have to do a proper check to be sure, but I think for the 1970s
series and Marvel GN, go with it being Earth 1. For all the other DC
iterations, and those by other companies, jury is out and it's not
really important for us to confirm either way, not unless we want to
consider expanding Burbank's profile to cover his appearances in tales
published by other companies. Maybe something to do down the line. -
Loki
This profile was completed on 02/17/2026 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.
Profile by Prime Eternal.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Burbank should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Marvel Graphic Novel I#35, page 16, panel 4 (main)
Marvel Graphic Novel I#35, page 1, panel 5 (face)
Appearances:
The Shadow I#1-2 (October-November, 1973-December, 1973-January, 1974) -
Denny O'Neil (writer, editor), Michael Wm. Kaluta (artist)
The Shadow I#3-4 (February-March-April-May, 1974) - Denny O'Neil
(wrtier, editor), Michael Wm. Kaluta (artist), Bernie Wrighton (artist)
The Shadow I#5 (June-July, 1974) - Denny O'Neil (wrtier, editor), Frank
Robbins (artist)
The Shadow I#6 (August-September, 1974) - Denny O'Neil (writer, editor),
Michael Wm. Kaluta (artist)
The Shadow I#7-8 (October, November, 1974-December, 1974-January, 1975)
- Denny O'Neil (wrtier, editor), Frank Robbins (artist)
The Shadow I#10 (April-May, 1975) - Denny O'Neil (wrtier, editor), E. R.
Cruz (artist)
The Shadow I#11 (June-July, 1975) - Michael Uslan (writer), E. R. Cruz
(artist), Denny O'Neil (editor)
The Shadow I#12 (August-September, 1975) - Denny O'Neil (wrtier,
editor), E. R. Cruz (artist)
Marvel Graphic Novel I#35 (1988) - Denny O'Neil (writer), Michael Wm.
Kaluta (writer, penciler), Russ Heath (inker), Larry Hama (editor)
First posted: 09/28/2026
Last updated:
02/17/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel
Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to http://www.g-mart.com/ for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!