The Greatest Crime Fighter of the Forties Returns

The Greatest Crime Fighter of the Forties Returns!

Most who know me know I am a huge fan of two pulp characters, Doc Savage and The Avenger (as well as The Shadow to a somewhat lesser degree). In fact, I wrote a history of The Avenger called The Gray Nemesis (now available in PDF format on disc from my Golden Perils page at http://www.howardhopkins.com/page4.htm.

I first met The Avenger on a snowy birthday in 1973. I had been introduced to Doc Savage the month before and since I had shown so much enthusiasm for the book, Brand of the Werewolf, my father got me two more Docs for my birthday. My birthday falls a little before Christmas, so when I got home from school, I discovered the two Docs wrapped and under the tree. But there was a third book there that day, one my father had picked up because of the fateful words "by the creator of Doc Savage" on the cover. (I was to learn many years later the author listed, Kenneth Robeson, was a house name and not a real person, and both series were written by two different authors, Lester Dent for Doc and Paul Ernst for The Avenger). I tore into the wrapping paper expecting a third Doc but what I pulled out was an Avenger novel called The Blood Ring. Now, don't get me wrong--I was NOT in the least disappointed. In fact, I was mesmerized by the white-faced, white-haired guy rearing back on the cover--which was painted in icy blue by the great Peter Caras--a glowing red ring in his hand. Seems this ring, when dipped in fresh blood, had a nasty little curse associated with it. It was the best birthday ever, lemme tell you.

Since there was a snow storm I figured on no school the next day and stayed up most of the night reading. Surprise, school was on the next day and I couldn't lift my head off the desk, but it was a small price to pay for one of those magical moments we experience as kids that seem lost as an adult.

Recently, after a ten year struggle, Joe Gentile of Moonstone Comics acquired the rights to The Avenger for a spankin' new anthology of short stories based on the character. He graciously invited me to contribute to this book (and to another on that old time radio hero of the skies, Captain Midnight). The best thing about this (other than the honor of contributing to the mythos of a character that meant so much to me growing up) is that Joe is a huge fan of the character and will treat him with the respect and care he deserves. In fact, Joe tells me he and I discovered Richard Henry Benson, The Avenger, the same year. I am going to go out on a limb here and claim we were both merely two-years old and advanced readers. Trust me on this, I stayed at a Holiday Inn once.

So a huge amount of thanks and congratulations go out to Joe and Moonstone for this coup and perseverance. If you haven't seen some of their anthologies based on a number of iconic characters such as Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The Spider, then you are missing some great books. I am a bit partial to The Spider book since I am in it, as is my pal Martin Powell, whose work you will be seeing lots of coming up.

The Avenger, for those who don't know, is millionaire adventurer Richard Henry Benson. One fateful day, Benson forced himself, his wife and his small daughter onto a plane bound for Montreal, because his wife's mother was dying. Midway through the flight, Benson returns from the lavatory to discover his wife and daughter have vanished and no one on the plane will admit to them ever having been there. He goes berserk. Completely crackers. After being hit with a fire extinguisher he wakes up in a hospital three weeks later.But he does not wake up the same. His hair has turned snow white; his face has become something like a deathmask, the muscles paralyzed, giving him the peculiar ability to mold them into whatever shape he so choses. He is still enraged at the loss of his family, but it is a chilled inner rage, one that sends him on a path to discovering who is behind the vanishing of his wife and daughter.

He picks up some aides along the way, each of whom have lost something dear and infused them with a burning desire to help others. There's Algernon Heathcote Smith, called Smitty by anyone who has any desire to keeping walking straight. Smitty is an electrical wizard, huge, powerful. Then there's Nellie Gray, a tiny blond gal who can kick the crap out of men three times her size. Next is Fergus MacMurdie, a chemical expert who lost his own family to a crime ring. After that come Josh and Rosabel Newton, probably the first black charcters to be used as equals in a pulp magazine series. A last member, Cole Wilson, came a bit later. He's an engineer and kind of a horndog.

The novels themselves were some of the best pulp lit produced. Written by veteran horror/science fiction/mystery pulpsmith Paul Ernst, the first book Justice, Inc., is nearly mainstream. It's one of the few pulp series to provide a human motivation for the hero's crime-fighting career. The tales themselves dealt with a range of mytery to intrigue. One of them, The Frosted Death, is releveant enough in today's world to give a readers the shivers. The novels carried a number of things that quickly became staples of The Avenger mythos, such as The Avenger, while he never killed (he came before Death Wish and The Punisher and refused to kill in cold blood) had a knack for maneuvering crooks to their own doom. There was his third-floor headquarters on a small block named Bleek Street, myriad gadgets and bulletproof vehicles and peculiar little weapons called Mike and Ike (I'm sure the candy must have been named after them!)

The Avenger himself was quite an intimidating guy, with his white face and frozen features. He was also remote, immersed in a world of grief easily identifiable to anyone who had ever been wronged and wanted the power to do something about it.

For those starting out, I might suggest the very first novel, Justice. Inc., then The Yellow Hoard, The Frosted Death, River of Ice and The Blood Ring (these can be found through used book services and Anthony Tollin who is reprinting Doc Savage and The Shadow in beautiful double volumes will soon be reissuing The Avenger as well).

So be sure to keep an eye out for the anthology when it becomes available. I am more than certain Moonstone will do it "justice".