Inspector Allhoff is a brilliant but twisted detective who had his legs blown off by a tommy gun, thanks to the cowardly actions of rookie flatfoot Battersly.
Allhoff is kept on the force as a consultant on his condition that Battersly act as his assistant. Battersly stays on out of a sense of guilt, joined by our narrator Simmonds, a cop near retirement who acts as a buffer between the two.
Allhoff is a miserable wreck and constantly torments the man responsible for the loss of his legs. I've seen the relationship described as sadomasochistic and Allhoff as psychopathic but for me this is oversold. Allhoff is such a ham, after a while it has all the passive aggressive power of your mom trying to get a ride to the airport.
This would be good as the background of a more developed mystery or detective story, but the whining is about all there is room for in the short word count. A typical story goes as such:
"Allhoff, there's been a murder."
"I'll solve it. Go and get me clues. I'd go, but I have no leeeeeegs, wah!"
Simmonds and Battersly get clues.
"I've solved the case now. Please confess, as I don't have any real evidence."
"I did it!"
The first story I read was solved with a clue they didn't reveal and the second had the suspect from page one and the rest was tricking someone into confessing by convoluted means. The action never left the apartment in either story.
Inspector Allhoff was created by D.L. Champion and appeared in Dime Detective Magazine from 1938-1945.
Showing posts with label Character Overview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Character Overview. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Spectros
Spectros
Doc Spectros was shanghaied to the Orient, where he fell in love with a woman named Kristina. Kristina is kidnapped by the evil wizard Blackschuster. Spectros spends years learning the occult arts to face Blackschuster and rescue Kristina.
He is joined by three companions:
by Logan Winters (Paul Lederer)
5 installments 1978-1981
5 installments 1978-1981
Click cover for review if available.
Doc Spectros was shanghaied to the Orient, where he fell in love with a woman named Kristina. Kristina is kidnapped by the evil wizard Blackschuster. Spectros spends years learning the occult arts to face Blackschuster and rescue Kristina.
He is joined by three companions:
Ray Featherskill - womanizing gunfighter
Montak - giant mute and knife expert
Inkada - Also a gunfighter, wields a kris. Might be an eastern Moor or East Indian.
There's some room for some Doc Savage style cast of colorful backup characters, but this hasn't been developed much in the installments I've read.
The series formula is in the Fugitive model. The team comes to town chasing after Blackschuster and his henchman Wango. They involve themselves in two stock western scenarios, one of which involves Blackschuster trying to get silver for his magic fumes he uses to keep Kristina in a trance. One of the team will be briefly separated from the rest before rejoining them later without incident. It ends with Blackschuster basically being allowed to escape and nobody making any effort to rescue Kristina.
Not a lot of magic going on. Doc Spectos can turn himself into young gunfighter Kid Soledad for brief periods of time, and both wizards can turn themselves into animals for the two sentence animal fight that throws down each installment.
Lederer basically weaves three stories together in not much space. The first book has a kindle page count of 138 pages, and 20% of that is an excerpt from the next book. What he leaves out are backstory, characterizations, and decent action scenes. What's left seems to be characters just going from point a to b to c to move the story along.
The numbering is a bit confusing for this series. The first is Showdown at Guyamas published in 1978 as a standalone for Manor books. The series started again with number one for the next four installments at Tower, all published in 1981 with better covers and branding.
The numbering is a bit confusing for this series. The first is Showdown at Guyamas published in 1978 as a standalone for Manor books. The series started again with number one for the next four installments at Tower, all published in 1981 with better covers and branding.
Being used to the Piccadilly Cowboys around the same era I found Spectros very old-fashioned, more Tom Mix than Clint Eastwood. I like my westerns violent and/or gimmicky, and this wasn't enough of either for me.
The third book has Bigfoot and the fourth has zombies, so I might come back to this series later.
The third book has Bigfoot and the fourth has zombies, so I might come back to this series later.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The Swami Sleuth
The Swami Sleuth is Black Barry Desmond, an "ex-spirit medium, magician, confidence man and amateur sleuth." He is also an escape artist, which comes in handy in the one adventure I've read, Murder Magic in the August, 1934 issue of Star Detective.
Murder Magic reads like a typical hardboiled detective piece, with a bit of sleight-of-hand and lock picking mixed in. A major piece of the story involves Desmond being left alone in shackles by hoods that know he's a escape artist. He's also a bit of an amoral antihero (or a jerk), as he endangers his assistant's life to save his own skin and punches out a cop to hide incriminating evidence.
The only two stories I've come across of the character have been by George A. McDonald, the other being April, 1934 issue of Detective Story Magazine.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
The Butcher
The Butcher
35 Books
Pinnacle Books 1971-1982
by Stuart Jason (house name): James Dockery 1-9,12-26; Lee Floren 10-11; Michael Avallone 27-35
The Butcher is Bucher, who only has one name like Cher or Sting, and is pronounced more like "booker", so it doesn't really work. He was left on the doorsteps of a Knoxville church and named after a 16th century theologian. He fell asleep in a train car at the age of ten and ended up on the streets of Chicago. He befriended a mobster's kid and was adopted into the family after the child dies of leukemia. He worked his way up to heading the East Coast division of the Syndicate.
Bucher has an attack of conscience and quits the Syndicate, resulting in a bounty on his head. He was approached by the mysterious government agency White Hat and given an offer to use his skills against the Syndicate. He agrees under the condition that he plays by the Syndicate rules, because having an attack of conscience shouldn't mean you have to stop murdering people.
The Butcher is the first (I think) cash-in on the success of the Executioner, but it has a closer feel to the James Bond knock offs that preceded it, with a bit of Matt Helm and Mike Hammer. I've only read two so far, and they have a weird, almost beat poet vibe to them. They also followed a very specific formula.
In the first chapter Bucher dispatches a team of two Syndicate hitmen, both with depraved back stories. No real action, he just takes them out cowboy style. There is then a country threatening menace that ties into the Syndicate, although the Syndicate doesn't actually make another appearance. In both of the books I read, there is a red herring about scientists creating body doubles.
Reading the Butcher I'm reminded of some of the riffs in the MST3K version of Agent From H.A.R.M.
Mainly about how there are big budget ambitions done on a shoestring. Things like setting and location cost money when you're making a movie, not so much for a book. If anything, I would think it would be easier to write a giant underground base than it would getting into the minutiae of rural Alaska. The Butcher books I've read start off with large scale menaces, but Bucher mainly ends up puttering around and failing to keep people around him from being murdered.
The Stuart Jason name was also attached to several Mandingo style plantation exploiters, presumably also written by Dockery. I've heard the Avallone books are an improvement, so we'll see.
Much more at Spy Guys and Gals.
35 Books
Pinnacle Books 1971-1982
by Stuart Jason (house name): James Dockery 1-9,12-26; Lee Floren 10-11; Michael Avallone 27-35
The Butcher is Bucher, who only has one name like Cher or Sting, and is pronounced more like "booker", so it doesn't really work. He was left on the doorsteps of a Knoxville church and named after a 16th century theologian. He fell asleep in a train car at the age of ten and ended up on the streets of Chicago. He befriended a mobster's kid and was adopted into the family after the child dies of leukemia. He worked his way up to heading the East Coast division of the Syndicate.
Bucher has an attack of conscience and quits the Syndicate, resulting in a bounty on his head. He was approached by the mysterious government agency White Hat and given an offer to use his skills against the Syndicate. He agrees under the condition that he plays by the Syndicate rules, because having an attack of conscience shouldn't mean you have to stop murdering people.
The Butcher is the first (I think) cash-in on the success of the Executioner, but it has a closer feel to the James Bond knock offs that preceded it, with a bit of Matt Helm and Mike Hammer. I've only read two so far, and they have a weird, almost beat poet vibe to them. They also followed a very specific formula.
In the first chapter Bucher dispatches a team of two Syndicate hitmen, both with depraved back stories. No real action, he just takes them out cowboy style. There is then a country threatening menace that ties into the Syndicate, although the Syndicate doesn't actually make another appearance. In both of the books I read, there is a red herring about scientists creating body doubles.
Reading the Butcher I'm reminded of some of the riffs in the MST3K version of Agent From H.A.R.M.
Mainly about how there are big budget ambitions done on a shoestring. Things like setting and location cost money when you're making a movie, not so much for a book. If anything, I would think it would be easier to write a giant underground base than it would getting into the minutiae of rural Alaska. The Butcher books I've read start off with large scale menaces, but Bucher mainly ends up puttering around and failing to keep people around him from being murdered.
The Stuart Jason name was also attached to several Mandingo style plantation exploiters, presumably also written by Dockery. I've heard the Avallone books are an improvement, so we'll see.
Much more at Spy Guys and Gals.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
The Bounty Hunter Series
The Bounty Hunter by Tiny Boyles and Hank Nuwer
The Bounty Hunter series grew out of a 1979 article in soft porn mag Oui magazine about Tiny Boyles, a fat, hairy, tough guy bounty hunter who evidently has a habit of embellishment.
Playboy Paperbacks got non-fiction writer and journalist Hank Nuwer to ride along with Tiny and write a series of action novels very, very loosely based on his exploits.
The hero of the series is Tiny Ryder, the fat hairy ex-biker bounty hunter. He's assisted by the near mute Hammer and two of his friends from the orphanage: country western musician Jerry Jeffers and journalist Foster Foster. Tiny works for Hollywood bondsman and Mormon Joey Hudson, although he spends little time actually tracking fugitives.
Most of the wordage is spent on banter and anecdotes amongst the gang, which is very well done, making me wish that Nuwer did more fiction - he specializes in non-fiction about sports and hazing. There's a decent amount of action, but Nuwer tends to rush through it, ending action sequences within a page or two. Also, lots of sex, probably at the demand of Playboy Paperbacks.
This is the most unsettling part, as it shift in tone from friendly good-ol'-boy rutting to brutal underage rape within a few pages, making this possibly the sleaziest Men's Adventure series.
1 The Deadliest Profession 1981
2 A Killing Trade 1981
3 Wild Ride 1982
4 Blood Mountain 1982
Here's Mr. Nuwer's recollections on his website.
The Bounty Hunter series grew out of a 1979 article in soft porn mag Oui magazine about Tiny Boyles, a fat, hairy, tough guy bounty hunter who evidently has a habit of embellishment.
Playboy Paperbacks got non-fiction writer and journalist Hank Nuwer to ride along with Tiny and write a series of action novels very, very loosely based on his exploits.
The hero of the series is Tiny Ryder, the fat hairy ex-biker bounty hunter. He's assisted by the near mute Hammer and two of his friends from the orphanage: country western musician Jerry Jeffers and journalist Foster Foster. Tiny works for Hollywood bondsman and Mormon Joey Hudson, although he spends little time actually tracking fugitives.
Most of the wordage is spent on banter and anecdotes amongst the gang, which is very well done, making me wish that Nuwer did more fiction - he specializes in non-fiction about sports and hazing. There's a decent amount of action, but Nuwer tends to rush through it, ending action sequences within a page or two. Also, lots of sex, probably at the demand of Playboy Paperbacks.
This is the most unsettling part, as it shift in tone from friendly good-ol'-boy rutting to brutal underage rape within a few pages, making this possibly the sleaziest Men's Adventure series.
1 The Deadliest Profession 1981
2 A Killing Trade 1981
3 Wild Ride 1982
4 Blood Mountain 1982
Here's Mr. Nuwer's recollections on his website.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
The Phantom Detective
The Phantom Detective
The Phantom Detective was the second pulp hero, the first to come in the wake of the Shadow and just barely beating out Doc Savage. It's one of the most numerous in installments (170 issues) and the longest lasting (1933-53). He was written by a variety of authors under the house names G. Wayman Jones and Robert Wallace.
The Phantom, as he was called in the text, is Richard Curtis Van Loan, a wealthy playboy who trained his body and mind to be a world famous detective when he couldn't return to his idle life after World War One. He's an expert in disguise, ventriloquy, forensics, and escape. He has the unerring ability to detect if someone is lying, except for all the times that he doesn't. He carries a miniature disguise kit, has a badge to prove his identity to law enforcement, and the authorities use a rooftop spotlight to contact him. He's depicted on the cover in a domino mask, tuxedo, and top hat, but he spends most of his adventures in disguise.
A bit tamer than the Shadow or Doc Savage, but more flavorful than the usual amateur detective.
The Phantom Detective was the second pulp hero, the first to come in the wake of the Shadow and just barely beating out Doc Savage. It's one of the most numerous in installments (170 issues) and the longest lasting (1933-53). He was written by a variety of authors under the house names G. Wayman Jones and Robert Wallace.
The Phantom, as he was called in the text, is Richard Curtis Van Loan, a wealthy playboy who trained his body and mind to be a world famous detective when he couldn't return to his idle life after World War One. He's an expert in disguise, ventriloquy, forensics, and escape. He has the unerring ability to detect if someone is lying, except for all the times that he doesn't. He carries a miniature disguise kit, has a badge to prove his identity to law enforcement, and the authorities use a rooftop spotlight to contact him. He's depicted on the cover in a domino mask, tuxedo, and top hat, but he spends most of his adventures in disguise.
A bit tamer than the Shadow or Doc Savage, but more flavorful than the usual amateur detective.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Operator #5
Operator #5
aka Secret Service Operator #5
written by Curtis Steele (Frederick C Davis 1-20, Emile C Tepperman 21-39, Wayne Rogers 40-8)
48 issues 1934-1939
Jimmy Christopher is Secret Service Operator #5, America's super spy facing a different foreign menace each issue. While the Spider was on the run from authorities, Jimmy Christopher had the full cooperation of everyone up to and including the President.
At least the first few issues were very formulaic. A fictional foreign country, typically a stand in for Germany or Japan, attacks America with a piece of advanced technology (sub-orbital airships, a ray gun that removes the oxygen from air, etc). With the aid of young bootblack Tim Donovan, Christopher discovers the invader's plans and thwarts them with large scale military action.
After Tepperman took over writing, the series reportedly took a turn away from the more fantastic pulp hero type menaces and were more straight military adventures, starting with the Purple Invasion, a continuing story that went for thirteen issues.
The cover drawings have Jimmy Christopher as a generic fedora-ed G-Man, but I get a different image from the text. Between him using a rapier as his main weapon and his ability to switch places with his twin sister Nan, I don't see him as the butchest of characters, a welcome change in a genre filled with Lunk Squarejaws.
He has a secret identity as society photographer Carleton Victor, though the only person he seems to interact with as this persona is his humorously clueless butler Crowe. This leads to convoluted segments were Christopher goes through an elaborate series of hidden passages to get to his apartment, when the only person he's concealing his identity from is completely oblivious to the outside world.
Operator #5, at least under Frederick C. Davis, had some of the most exciting action set pieces set to paper. The series also had a weird, clean cut, gee willikers vibe that set it apart from the grim worlds of other pulp heroes. There were even essays in good citizenship after the stories.
aka Secret Service Operator #5
written by Curtis Steele (Frederick C Davis 1-20, Emile C Tepperman 21-39, Wayne Rogers 40-8)
48 issues 1934-1939
Jimmy Christopher is Secret Service Operator #5, America's super spy facing a different foreign menace each issue. While the Spider was on the run from authorities, Jimmy Christopher had the full cooperation of everyone up to and including the President.
At least the first few issues were very formulaic. A fictional foreign country, typically a stand in for Germany or Japan, attacks America with a piece of advanced technology (sub-orbital airships, a ray gun that removes the oxygen from air, etc). With the aid of young bootblack Tim Donovan, Christopher discovers the invader's plans and thwarts them with large scale military action.
After Tepperman took over writing, the series reportedly took a turn away from the more fantastic pulp hero type menaces and were more straight military adventures, starting with the Purple Invasion, a continuing story that went for thirteen issues.
The cover drawings have Jimmy Christopher as a generic fedora-ed G-Man, but I get a different image from the text. Between him using a rapier as his main weapon and his ability to switch places with his twin sister Nan, I don't see him as the butchest of characters, a welcome change in a genre filled with Lunk Squarejaws.
He has a secret identity as society photographer Carleton Victor, though the only person he seems to interact with as this persona is his humorously clueless butler Crowe. This leads to convoluted segments were Christopher goes through an elaborate series of hidden passages to get to his apartment, when the only person he's concealing his identity from is completely oblivious to the outside world.
Operator #5, at least under Frederick C. Davis, had some of the most exciting action set pieces set to paper. The series also had a weird, clean cut, gee willikers vibe that set it apart from the grim worlds of other pulp heroes. There were even essays in good citizenship after the stories.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Mack Bolan, the Executioner
Mack Bolan, the Executioner
The grandaddy of the Men's Adventure genre, the series that started it all, and the only one still in print.
The series was started by Don Pendleton in 1969 with War Against the Mafia. Pendleton wrote 37 of the first 38 installments, though he may have contracted out some of the writing duties. These, the best of the series, had Bolan as lone vigilante fighting the mafia.
Bolan is a Vietnam vet who comes home for leave when most of his family is killed. His father had gone into debt to the mafia, and his sister had turned to prostitution to pay it off. Shamed, his father killed his daughter, wife, and himself, leaving Mack and his high school aged brother (who is promptly forgotten about).
Bolan goes AWOL and begins his war on the mafia, usually with a combination of sniper attacks and infiltrating their ranks. It becomes a running joke that anyone that aids Bolan ends up as "turkey meat", a made up slang term for the bodies left over from mafia torturers.
Bolan avoids Bruce Wayne syndrome and quickly admits to himself that he isn't doing any of this for his dead family. Once the war starts and there's a price on his head, he figures he's a dead man, and that fatalism gives him a boldness and carefree attitude at times. This is helped by Pendleton's occasional poetic flourishes.
Bolan wears a tight black outfit, has a war journal, and drives a tricked out van called his war wagon. If any of this sounds familiar to Marvel fans, the Punisher is a shameless copy.
Pendleton's Bolan also had regular one night stands (ala James Bond) who more often than not met a bad end (ala James Bond). Many of these encounters were with mafia prostitutes. Like, you know, his sister.
Then the 80s happened. Pendleton left, Bolan sold out and joined a shadowy government agency Stony Man and turned his attention to terrorism and communism. The focus went from vigilantism to military fiction, as did Men's Adventure in general.
There were two spin offs, Phoenix Force (51 books, 4 SuperPhoenix Force books) and Able Team (51 books, 2 Super Able Team books), both military group titles. They were kind of combined into Stony Man (130+ books), which is still ongoing.
Bolan himself still headlines two titles, Executioner (425+ books) and SuperBolan aka Mack Bolan aka Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan (165+ books).
While I prefer the original Mafia Wars installments, it's good to see some remnant of serial Men's Adventure survive long enough to take advantage of the 21st century. Reasonable digital editions are available at Amazon
.
More at the official Gold Eagle site and a superior fan site Mackbolan.com
The grandaddy of the Men's Adventure genre, the series that started it all, and the only one still in print.
The series was started by Don Pendleton in 1969 with War Against the Mafia. Pendleton wrote 37 of the first 38 installments, though he may have contracted out some of the writing duties. These, the best of the series, had Bolan as lone vigilante fighting the mafia.
Bolan is a Vietnam vet who comes home for leave when most of his family is killed. His father had gone into debt to the mafia, and his sister had turned to prostitution to pay it off. Shamed, his father killed his daughter, wife, and himself, leaving Mack and his high school aged brother (who is promptly forgotten about).
Bolan goes AWOL and begins his war on the mafia, usually with a combination of sniper attacks and infiltrating their ranks. It becomes a running joke that anyone that aids Bolan ends up as "turkey meat", a made up slang term for the bodies left over from mafia torturers.
Bolan avoids Bruce Wayne syndrome and quickly admits to himself that he isn't doing any of this for his dead family. Once the war starts and there's a price on his head, he figures he's a dead man, and that fatalism gives him a boldness and carefree attitude at times. This is helped by Pendleton's occasional poetic flourishes.
Bolan wears a tight black outfit, has a war journal, and drives a tricked out van called his war wagon. If any of this sounds familiar to Marvel fans, the Punisher is a shameless copy.
Pendleton's Bolan also had regular one night stands (ala James Bond) who more often than not met a bad end (ala James Bond). Many of these encounters were with mafia prostitutes. Like, you know, his sister.
Then the 80s happened. Pendleton left, Bolan sold out and joined a shadowy government agency Stony Man and turned his attention to terrorism and communism. The focus went from vigilantism to military fiction, as did Men's Adventure in general.
There were two spin offs, Phoenix Force (51 books, 4 SuperPhoenix Force books) and Able Team (51 books, 2 Super Able Team books), both military group titles. They were kind of combined into Stony Man (130+ books), which is still ongoing.
Bolan himself still headlines two titles, Executioner (425+ books) and SuperBolan aka Mack Bolan aka Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan (165+ books).
While I prefer the original Mafia Wars installments, it's good to see some remnant of serial Men's Adventure survive long enough to take advantage of the 21st century. Reasonable digital editions are available at Amazon
.More at the official Gold Eagle site and a superior fan site Mackbolan.com
Friday, November 22, 2013
Pulp Hero - Dusty Ayres
Pulp Hero: Dusty Ayres
Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds 1934-5
by Robert Sidney Bowen
12 issues
 |
| pulpcovers.com |
While superficially a cash in of the success of G-8 and his Battle Aces, Dusty Ayres, the structure more closely resemble Operator 5. The series is set in the unspecified future, but could just as easily have been set in the present. The Black Invaders have taken over Europe and Asia, and at the begin of the series invade Canada with an eye of invading our border.
They are led by Fire-Eyes, who I picture from his description as basically Bison from Street Fighter. His top pilot is the Black Hawk, which are actually a cadre of similar looking pilots, with a new one filling the top rank as the old are defeated, something Bowen should have probably kept up his sleeve for a later reveal.
The series follows pilot Dusty Ayres and his state of the art plane the Silver Flash. Ayres is refreshing as a pulp hero. Next to the practically-perfect-in-every-way Doc Savage or Operator 5, Ayres is just a pretty good pilot with a lot of spirit. He's also plagued by insecurities of failing missions and letting America down - not quite at Peter Parker levels, but a nice change from the smug confidence of most other pulp heroes.
And whereas Operator 5 has a letter from the president and everyone in the country will do exactly what he wants, Ayres spends as much time fighting military bureaucracy as much as the Black Invaders.
The plots are formulaic to the extreme, at least in the first three issues I've read. Ayres follows orders to fly somewhere. Something goes wrong. Ayres gains information about the Black Invaders new strategy or weapon. Ayres is captured, questioned, and escapes with the help of deep cover Agent 10. Ayres fights to get some general to believe him, and his intel is valuable in repelling an invasion attempt.
The villains and their sci-fi weapons such as mini-tanks and giant poison gas curtains aren't all that particularly out there, but the action is serviceable, and doesn't get as monotonous as I would expect aerial dogfights to be.
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