Trompe l'Oeil! To cheat the eye! To concoct the perfect illusion! To deceive, lie and dissemble! What better way to encapsulate the myriad of tricks employed the villains to gain the upper hand on the heroes? But do the latter always fall victim to such cunning snares? Not so -- as illustrated in the twenty stories collected in this volume!

Doctor Omega faces his deadliest arch-enemy in a strange museum... Professor Challenger attempts a bold physics experiment... The Nyctalope and Judex unite to fights a fascist regime... Arsene Lupin faces the Devil Doctor... Irma Vep attempts a very risky robbery... Rotwang's robots invade 14th century Spain... Spiridon the Giant Ant investigates a sinister plot... Edgar Poe is snatched from his own time by the Philadelphia Experiment...


In this fifteenth volume of Tales of the Shadowmen, the only anthology dedicated to international heroes and villains of pulp literature, writers from England, France, Switzerland and the United States unite to pay homage to those great champions and master criminals who enchanted our adolescence.