Gibson was a magician and wrote for magicians, and who incorporated stage magic into the character, which is the basis for The Shadow’s “mystical abilities.”

In fact, when you look closely at the character and elements that are later revealed, you realize that The Shadow is a spymaster, applying those skills, along with stage magic, to fight organised crime and high level political corruption.

In many of the early stories, The Shadow was in the background, gathering information and figuring out what the villain was doing before he made his move.

He had recruited a cadre of agents to aid him. And they were agents, not aides or partners like the other pulp heroes. None knew his real identity; they were not his pals; they didn’t hang out with him. Most remained doing their normal lives and jobs, but would step in to perform operations as needed. Some merely gathered information and passed it along, such as Rutledge Mann. (other agents were told to see “Our Man”: R. Mann), or the late Claude Fellows (“See Fellow”), or contact Burbank.

Harry Vincent was almost a proxy hero in the early stories, usually getting into situations where The Shadow had to extract him.

Cliff Marsland and Hawkeye where his underworld contacts.

Shrevvy the cab driver would chauffeur him around, and pilot Miles Crofton would take care of his autogyro.

Most know Margo Lane, a creation of the later radio show who much later appeared in the pulps. And there are several others, many of whom only appeared in a few stories. It’s unfortunate that most of the comics series make little use of these many characters:  

Jericho Druke, Dr. Roy Tam, Slade Farrow, Myra Reldon and others.