Pulp Review: The Avenger "Justice, Inc."

Series: The Avenger
Story Name: #1: Justice, Inc.
Original Publication Date: September 1939
Available In: The Avenger #1 "Justice, Inc." and "The Yellow Hoard" (Sanctum Books, April 2009)

It's the first adventure of the dead-faced Dick Benson, whose cold eyes burn with gray fury at every available chance. The set-up for the story is quite grand. Benson, his wife Alicia and daughter Alice board a plane last minute in order to visit Benson's sick mother-in-law. Benson goes to the restroom and when he comes out his wife and daughter are nowhere to be found. He frantically searches the plane but to no avail, the two he loves more than life itself are gone, and all those in the plane claim that they were never there. His hysterics are cut short when the pilot knocks Benson out.

Upon waking Benson discovers that his face and hair have gone completely white. In fact his face is now devoid of expression, Benson is trapped in a permanently blank state unless he molds it like clay with his hands. This would be enough to mess with the sturdiest of folk and to top it off, everyone from the ticket counter girl on up swear that Alicia and Alice did not leave with him on the plane. Can Benson, the cold-faced man of steel, find his missing loved ones? Can he solve this classic locked door mystery? The answers await!

The Avenger was created by Street & Smith to help capitalize on the pulp heroes sensation that their own Shadow and Doc Savage pioneered. The Kenneth Robeson pseudonym, popularized by Lester Dent in the Doc Savage stories, was brought out to help sell the series. However, don't be fooled it is Paul Ernst not Dent who pens these tales, and the execution is a blend between the two popular pulp titles. The plot for the story feels a lot like a Shadow story, though the lead character and his agents are more in the style of Doc.

The plot follows raging gray eyes of Benson as they assemble a pair of agents; Smitty the moon-faced and surprisingly bright giant and Mac the tall Irishman with hands the size of hams. There's also kidnapping of various stockholders in the company Buffalo Tap & Die that appear to be connected to the missing wife and daughter.

The plot is nothing revelatory, but it is quite exciting and fun. That the locked door mystery's resolution isn't as exciting as it's concept is to be expected, that's usually the way those type of stories pan out. The real disappointment here has nothing to do with plot and almost everything to do with Paul Ernst's prose. The way he continually draws attention to the cold white death mask's face of the lead and his cold burning gray eyes gets tiring as the story moves on. These sort of filler phrases are common among pulps, whose writers often got paid by the word, but I found them far more distracting in Ernst's prose than in Dent's or Gibson's work.

For plot and characters this would be a 4 but I'm afraid the prose knocks it down to a 3/5 Golden Masks. It's not bad but it didn't have me rushing through it anxious for the next plot twist.

Pulp Review: The Shadow "Six Men of Evil"

Series: The Shadow
Story Name: #24: Six Men of Evil
Original Publication Date: February 15, 1933
Available In: The Shadow #13 "Six Men of Evil" & "The Devil Monsters" (Nostalgia Ventures / Sanctum Books, November 2007)

I decided to read this Shadow story next as it's the earliest in the original series' run that I currently own.  Years earlier, I'd only read the Shadow via the Bantam and Pyramid reprints that are primarily from the first few years of publication but it's been ages since I've read those, so I was curious to dive back into this period. The depiction of the Shadow in "Six Men of Evil" is definitely in line with what I remember from those early stories. Here he is more of an inhuman living shadow than a man which may diminish aspects of dramatic tension at times but it also sets up some remarkable scenes. Gibson's prose appears to be a little more florid here than in his later work. I'll be interested if, as I read more, if this observation regarding the earlier writing style holds true.

As for the story itself, it's a grand affair. Starting out in a Mexican desert with Six Evil Men returning from some mysterious doings in Mexico that has left all but one of them shattered. Charlie, the leader, is not shattered in fact he has a plan from crime that rallies the spirits of the others. It's a series of crimes that he insists even the Shadow won't be able to crack. Of course, we as readers know better but that doesn't diminish the subtle aura of doom that hangs over this intro chapter.

As the story moves on we witness a pair of crimes in various small towns in America wherein the perpetrator has an ironclad alibi. In each case the criminal is a well respected man of society with an unusual and rather ugly face who has just moved into town some eight months ago. The set-up and execution of these crimes are well handled in Gibson's hands and it's a testament to his skills that you don't miss the Shadow, who doesn't show up until a quarter of the way into the story.

Once the Shadow does appear we're granted my favorite scene of the novel. A bizarre cat and mouse scene where the Shadow first appears as Lamont Cranston to Thomas Rodan, one of the criminals who has recently had his rich wife and father-in-law disposed of for their fortune. Cranston claims to be interesting in buying local real estate from Rodan, an broker but his arch attitude and suspicious demeanor begins to shake Rodan.  The night after Cranston leaves, Rodan suspects he is alone at home but his is not alone.  The Shadow has followed hims and he appears as a haunting phantom of guilty conscious to the man. The Shadow laughs coldly and whispers accusations but never shows himself. It is a trick designed to unsettle the man and force his enemies' next move and the writing for this scene is simply fantastic. I want to hear it read out loud as the words simply ooze atmosphere.

Another favorite scene in the story happens much later in the novel, once the action has shifted to San Francisco's Chinatown. Here, the Shadow confronts the Chinese criminal Chow Lee, and their confrontation is a classic and leads to an interesting hint regarding the origin of the Shadow's girasol ring. Chow Lee is an excellent character and despite a short appearance of a few pages only he left a mark on me and I hope we see him again in the future of the series.

Gibson's portrayal of minority characters is of course rooted in the timeframe and genre he wrote, but in the case of Chow Lee here and Jericho in "The Golden Masks" it seems he affords them a bit more dignity than many of his contemporaries. A secret race of Aztecs that appear for a few chapters don't fair quite so well, but at least their overall intentions are humane.

The only con I have is, as mentioned above, I don't think Gibson's prose has the same level of precision that I've seen in other of his later stories. This is more than made up for by the strength of the stories' scenes, especially the two I noted above. I think this is an adventure that any fan of The Shadow is going to thoroughly enjoy!

5/5 Golden Masks




One face, six different men?  Is it possible?  Great cover that captures the weirdness of this adventure.

Pulp Review: The Whisperer "The Dead Who Talked"

Series: The Whisperer
Story Name: #1 - The Dead Who Talked
Original Publication Date: October, 1936
Available In: The Whisperer #1 "The Dead Who Talked" & "The Red Hatchets" (Sanctum Books, May 2009)

This is the first story of the Whisperer, a mysterious man who wears all gray, speaks in a haunting whisper, uses a gun that hisses rather than "bangs" and has an unusually ugly face. He is also a wanted criminal and a crime fighter which is why he features in a pulp magazine being reprinted by Sanctum. Laurence Donovan (under the name Clifford Goodrich) pens the story. Donovan may be familiar to some of you for the Doc Savage stories that he penned. I read his Doc novel "Murder Mirage" a few weeks back and found it full of fantastic ideas but dull in execution. "The Dead Who Talked" is rather the inverse, there's not much in the way of a plot but the story clips along at a nice pace.

The mystery set-up is this: various electrical engineers for the Black Mountain Power Company call one of their loved ones at times when they've been witnessed other places, use a pet name that no one else knows, and tells them that they are dead. These men soon are found dead. Who's responsible? The brand new to the officer Police Commissioner James "Wildcat" Gordon wants to know!

Gordon, rather than the Whisperer, is the primary focus for this issue and he's a real jerk. He's the sort of guy who will punch out a co-worker for disagreeing with him. He demands loyalty but gives none. Really his only redeeming quality is that he appears to like animals. If you're a fan of the Hard Case crime novels, this sort of hard-boiled character will be more familiar and perhaps palatable to you. I wanted to punch Gordon myself a few times, but enjoyed reading about him all the same.

The Whisperer is more of an enigma in his own book. I won't let you know who he is in this review, though it's rather obvious. In future reviews, where the identity is revealed right away, I won't consider it a spoiler. Other regular cast members include Mayor Van Royston who cares greatly about formality, Henry Bolton the mayor's choice for commissioner, "Quick Trigger" a retired cop of some repute and his daughter Tiny. The mayor and Bolton are foils for Gordon whereas the other two are his friends.

There are, of course, numerous characters brought in for this story, including the owner of the Black Mountain Company, his chief engineer, his daughter and her no good boyfriend, a deaf-mute shoeshine boy and a whole lot of underworld types.

The story, as I mentioned, zips along at a fair pace and is filled with some quality action. The prose style is not as elegant as Maxwell Grant's but it is not as clumsy as Donovan's own prose in "Murder Mirage". The actual "Dead Who Talked" angle to the mystery isn't explored in much depth, which is a pity as it's a neat hook. In fact the whole story is sewn up rather quickly with a final exposition-heavy ending. Overall this pulp adventure offers decent hard-boiled entertainment but never soars to the heights of the Shadow or the best of the Hard Case novels. Personally, I'll decide after reading the second story whether or not I'll continue to buy the series.

3/5 Golden Masks

Another classic pulp cover suitable for framing! This one is by Tom Lovell.

Pulp Review: The Shadow "The Golden Masks"

Series: The Shadow

Story Name: #109 "The Golden Masks"

Original Publication Date: September 1, 1936

Available In: The Shadow #18 "The Unseen Killer & The Golden Masks" (Sanctum Books, May 2008)

It is only fitting that the first pulp review be of the same story that gave name to this site!  Before getting into the meat of the review, let me say what a joy it is to have Sanctum Books giving these classic reprints the love and respect they deserve!   Here is an excellent Shadow story that may never have been properly reprinted if not for the passion of Sanctum Books!

Onto the story proper, this is an excellent Shadow adventure!  The crypto-Masonic crime syndicate The Golden Masks make a great sparring partner for the Shadow as they can be anyone behind their masks.  Grant uses the anonymity to great advantage as he keeps both the reader and the Shadow guessing about who can be trusted.  This aura of paranoia contributes greatly to the atmosphere of the story.  I don't want to go into too much detail in regards to the plot so as to not spoil the fun but I will say that it was an unpredictable roller-coaster ride for the Shadow and his agents.

One thing I like about Grant's Shadow is that he is fallible.  Not in the "Oh so human, let me tell you about my childhood" way that many modern heroes are but rather in the sense that he can misjudge a situation.  So many heroes seem armed by their authors foreknowledge that their superhuman ability to be inhumanly ahead of the game has little meaning.  For the Shadow, you see him make the occasional misstep, you also see him over-plan for situations so when the pulse pounding cliffhanger for this story happens, he's set it up from so many angles that even if all of them don't roll 100% to plan, he's got contingency plans.  

In some ways the unwielding nature of the Shadow reminds me of a mirror image "No Country For Old Men"'s Anton Chigurh.  Where Chigurh is pure cold maliciousness, the Shadow is a force of nature that protects the innocent rather than feeds upon them.  

I finished "The Unseen Killer" last week and these served as my re-introduction into the world of the Pulp Shadow (very different from the radio show Shadow).  I was impressed by Gibson's skill with writing concise, action-packed prose and also for writing stories that keep you guessing and don't skimp on genuinely exciting action scenes.  Of the two, I think this one edges the other out as my favorite as I have particular interest in secret societies.  

I think this will be of great entertainment value for any Shadow or Pulp Adventure fan.

5/5 Golden Masks

The awesome cover!  Man, I'd love to get a framed copy of this baby for the apartment.