The Ganoraky Missile

Colonel Tobin’s Private Army #7: “The Garonsky Missile” by Alan Caillou. Colonel Matt Tobin was killed in battle during the last private war, and what’s left of the private army has drifted away. Major Paul Tobin, the colonel’s son, is living in California when an airline stewardess comes to his farm with news that Clara Abbyad, an Israeli female agent he worked with once, is in Cambodia en route to meet up with General Quong Trek, a ruthless military leader that kills and tortures people he doesn’t trust, or who don’t please him. Paul, afraid for her life, calls in Pamela George to find some of his men for a rescue mission. Soon he leads a handful of men, including a couple new soldiers, into Cambodia to find and rescue the girl. The final plot is weak, and though the do rescue the girl and kill the general, there isn’t much else accomplished. Besides Clara and Pamela, Paul Tobin, Rick Meyers and Cass Fragonard are all that’s left of the old crew. Two new men are brought in, Seth Karem and a pilot named Bob Fellowes. It was time the series came to an end.

Family Skeletons

Dirty Harry #5: “Family Skeletons” by Dane Hartman (Rick Meyers). Harry’s cousin, Linda Donovan asks him to come to Boston to help the family. He takes a week’s leave to visit, though he doesn’t want to. In Boston he learns that a young girl that was raped and murdered was a close friend of Linda’s daughter, and they’re afraid she’s next. She’s involved in a religious cult that believes in sacrificing virgins, etc. A black detective is investigating the rape and murder, but he seems to be closer to the case than he should be, and knows a little too much that he isn’t telling. In fact, there are more suspects than you can shake a stick at. In fact, Linda Donovan and her husband may know more than what they are telling him, and they’re having marital problems to boot. Rick Meyers’ Dirty Harry stories are all excellent, and I think this is one of his best. There’s a great twist at the end of this one, too.

Logan's Army

Angel Eyes #5: “Logan’s Army” by W. B. Longley (Robert J. Randisi). Elizabeth “Liz” Archer rides into Loganville, Wyoming, and stops for a rest. She spots a saloon as she rides into town, and after checking into a hotel decides to stop in at Honey O’Day’s for a drink. While at the bar with a cold beer she hears a commotion and sees two men threatening one of the women with a knife. The female bartender is going after the men with a wooden mallet when the other man draws a gun. A lightning move and Liz shoots the gun out of his hand. Honey O’Day sees the lightning draw and recognizes Angel Eyes, the West’s fastest female gunslinger. She tries to hire Liz to help her fight against Ed Logan, the man that runs Loganville. She declines, but that night several of Logan’s men rape and beat one of Honey’s girls, and when Liz finds out she changes her mind. This was actually a fun little story, as only Robert Randisi can write them. However, it is an adult western, so there is profanity and sex. There is not a lot of tension, and a only a couple of scenes of gun action; even the big drawn-down between Angel Eyes and the hired gunfighter at the end is quick and without much fanfare. But then we knew the gunfighter would be no match for Angel Eyes. A lot of fun!

Coincidence? Maybe, Maybe Not

COINCIDENCE? MAYBE, MAYBE NOT

       Richard B. Sale, an expert in herpetology, created an interesting hero for TEN DETECTIVE ACES in 1934; along side such stalwarts as Lester Dent, Emile C. Tepperman, and Norvell Page. Unfortunately, he only wrote three stories in this fascinating series: Terror Towers, January 1934; The House of Kaa, February 1934; and The Grinning Ghoul, March 1934. The hero was an American raised in India. After his parents had died, a Hindu priest raised Dean Bradley. The priest taught him many things, one of which was the ability of creating illusions within men’s minds. Unfortunately, this element was never brought into the stories. I don’t know why, as it would have added much to the adventures. He became a British Intelligence operative working in India, but also became a dreaded avenger known as The Cobra.

In my studies of biology, I have touched heavily on entomology as well as herpetology, so The Cobra has always held a strong interest for me. Richard Sale was highly knowledgeable in herpetology, and knew his venomous reptiles and insects.

The Cobra wore a weird costume with a snakeskin mask covering his face:

When he stepped away from the wall, his hawkish profile was prominent above the black suit and dark shirt. In fact, from head to toe he was dressed all in black, with dark skin and black, piercing eyes.

With an easy movement he placed a strange object in his mouth; it appeared to merely be a cigarette holder until he drew a mask of gleaming, scaly snakeskin from beneath his jacket and placed it over his face, concealing all but his eyes and mouth. Then from a pocket he removed a small packet of black silk that suddenly flared out like a cape, which he slung over his broad shoulders.

Dean Bradley: Turning, the men met the gaze of a tall, dark-skinned man in a quiet gray suit, with a pearl-gray hat sitting atop his black hair, smoking a cigarette in a long queer cigarette holder of an unearthly green hue. 

(Note: The cigarette holder serves two purposes. He does use it to smoke his cigarettes, but it is also a miniature tube that The Cobra uses to blow darts loaded with cobra venom into his victims.)

In the third story Dean Bradley comes to America for the final case published in the pulps. For the most part he had been operating in India prior to this, though we’re told there are many unrecorded tales. I have an idea the author was planning to keep the stories set in New York from this point on, but sadly the series comes to an end in the pulps.

But three months later, June 11, 1934, Lee Falk introduced the world to Mandrake The Magician in a comic strip from KING FISHERS. Mandrake also has a pal named Lothar, which sets him apart from Dean Bradley, but something is still a little fishy here. You see, the new character of Mandrake has this strange ability of hypnotic illusions. He can make people see what he wants them to. I wonder where he got this idea?

Well, I know, if Richard Sale could think it up, so could Lee Falk, no argument there. But here’s where the coincidence comes in. Guess who the main villain of Mandrake is?  Are you ready? The Cobra!

Yes, the two characters could just be a coincidence, but I have my doubts. I think Lee Falk read Sale’s stories and liked the idea, and since Sale didn’t capitalize on the mental illusions, Falk did.

That’s my guess, anyway. And just maybe Falk was paying tribute to Richard Sale by using a character named after Sale’s hero, as the villain of Falk’s stories.

Maybe I’m completely wrong here, but I just don’t believe in strange coincidences. How about you?

Happy reading!

The Black Bat

THE BLACK BAT

         The Thrilling Group kicked off their second round of pulp hero heavyweights in 1939. In June of that year, the Candid Camera Kid popped up in DETECTIVE NOVELS and in July we found the Black Bat in the pages of BLACK BOOK DETECTIVE. More heroes would follow in 1940 and '41. Standard's wordsmith, Norman Daniels, created many of the new series.

         Daniels' original idea was for Tony Quinn to fight crime as The Tiger. Blinded in the courtroom by acid, the damage left scars around his eyes, giving him the moniker. The story was accepted, but Leo Margulies, head editor for Standard at the time, wanted something that would coincide with a magazine they'd recently picked up, BLACK BOOK DETECTIVE. A short story series that ran in a previous title, The Bat, in Popular Detective, may have influenced their final decision. The Tiger was changed to The Black Bat, and became one of the most popular of the late edition heroes for Ned Pines' Thrilling Group. It was merely coincidence that The Black Bat and Batman started during the same period.

         Standard slapped their house name, G. Wayman Jones on the stories to let Norman know the character belonged to them, but he became the main author for the series throughout its long run. He told me that Leo wanted the character to have the feel of The Shadow, and that every time Walter Gibson got a raise, so did he. In Markets of Treason, Winter 1944, the Black Bat does drop the ribbed cape, and now merely wears black to blend into the shadows. The stories continued to be top notch. However, the bat regalia was now missed by most readers.

         The July 1940 entry, The Black Bat's Flame Trail is the first unknown author assigned to the series. Will Murray believes this author is Whit Elsworth, but I lean more towards Prentice Winchell (most familiar to readers under his pen name, Stewart Sterling). Two more stories, The Black Bat's Dragon Trail, January 1941, and The Black Bat's Summons, July 1941 are also unknowns. Perhaps the three are by the same author. I suspect at least two of them are.

         There is no question on the next ghost author. Laurence Donovan writes three non-Daniels' entries, The Murder Prophet, September 1942, Millions For A Murderer, March 1943, and Without Blood They Die, Summer '43. The rest of the stories are by Norman Daniels until the end of the series. Daniels told me that a new editor had been assigned to the series, replacing long-time editorial head, Leo Margulies. Who this new editor was, he couldn't remember, but said it was a woman, and she wanted more adult content to the stories. Norman didn't feel comfortable writing sex scenes, so she brought in another author. The Eyes of Death is promised for Spring '52, but does not appear. Instead, the next novel to appear is Prentice Winchell's Hot, Willing, And Deadly, Winter '53. A little research does turn up an old novel titled, The Eyes of Death by Stewart Sterling. It was a Dan Fowler story published in November 1941, and involved Nazis. My guess is that Sterling planned on rewriting the Fowler story into a Black Bat entry, but was having trouble replacing the Nazis. Or else the new editor rejected the rewritten story, skipping an issue, until Sterling/Winchell could come up with another story. Hot, Willing, And Deadly was probably more in keeping with what the editor wanted. Another story is promised, The Lady of Death by Prentice Winchell. It doesn't appear. The series is ended. Winchell/Sterling rewrites The Lady of Death as The Lady's Out For Blood, and sells it to Triple Detective, Spring '53, Tony Quinn has been replaced. Norman Daniels had written an unpublished Black Bat story, The Celebrity Murders, but it never appeared. Maybe it's out there somewhere also (it’s been discovered, and reviewed elsewhere).

         Stewart Sterling was a good writer, and had worked in the pulps for years. I'm sure he was writing Phantom Detectives, early Dan Fowlers, and probably those early Black Bats. I wish we could find his records, as I'm sure we would uncover some interesting facts, as well as possibly some unpublished manuscripts. But those final Black Bat stories were an incredible jump from a good series, to mediocre stories. The sex and rough language the editor wanted just didn't work well on Norman Daniels' 1939 creation. Personally, I think they should have left it alone.

         As with all of the single character pulps, the early stories were the best in the series. So it was with the Black Bat. At least up through the end of the World War, we had some exciting stories of Nazis and sabotage, and even some super criminals. After the war years, the stories tended to tone down, becoming more simple crimes, especially the "long ago crimes", where something happens years before that not surfaces into some new crime. Until the end, when we are given drug or juvenile gang-related criminal activity. Or, as with Prentice Winchell, prostitution and crimes of passion. Good stories perhaps, but I missed the super criminals and foreign agents bent on the destruction of America.

         I often wonder how the series would have fared had it began in the early Thirties, as a companion to The Phantom Detective. There is a possibility it would have been more popular, and even outlasted the great Phantom. Unfortunately, it would have been created by someone else, and ended up with an even more chaotic authorship. Perhaps it's best the series waited until 1939 after all.

         Happy reading!