The Secret 6, not to be confused with the similarly named groups from DC Comics, was Harry Steeger‘s Popular Publications‘ attempt at doing its own version of the popular Park Avenue Hunt Club series: that of a group of vigilantes fighting crime. (Though the Park Avenue Hunt Club is itself based on the earlier English series, the Four Just Men.)
Of course, Popular Publications has to do it differently with both the characters and the villains they go up against. All written by G-8 author Robert J. Hogan, who is the only major hero pulp author that I know of who never had to hide behind a pseudonym.
The Secret 6 is made up of:
- King, their leader. His father was detective killed in the line of duty, and his uncle the Chief of Police of a mid-western town, also killed in the line of duty. King was an aviator in WWI.
- The Bishop, a former man of the cloth.
- The Key, an expert locksmith and safe-cracker
- The Professor, a former professor of criminology.
- The Doctor, a man of science, chemistry, and medicine. Gave the members of the group treatments to alter their fingertips.
- Shakespeare, a former well-known actor and expert on makeup.
- Luga, a former Zulu chief. After King saved his life, Luga became his self-appointed guide and aide.
Yes, the identities of all the members were unknown to both the reader and the other characters. This was due to the fact that all of these men were wanted by the police for crimes they didn’t commit. Yeah, if I was on the run from cops, I wouldn’t spend my time going after other bad guys…
The villains were all over-the-top, weird menace villains common to Popular Publications. And in that, the series was different from the Park Avenue Hunt Club, which fought regular criminals. One commentator points out that in some ways the Secret 6 was like Doc Savage and his aides, with King being a sort of “de-emphasized” Doc. I think it also interesting that King is a WWI ace, considering that Hogan’s major character is G-8!
The first story has the group battling the Red Shadow, a mysterious villain who is unmasked at the end. The next stories were even wilder. The second starts with a case of wealthy victims becoming zombies, to a climax in Mayan ruins going up against bat-men! Then there is the story of monstrous killers that seems based on the Doc novel, “The Monsters.” The last story has a giant golden alligator set in the Florida Everglades.
Sadly the series lasted only four issues. Altus Press has reprinted all the stories in “The Secret 6: The Complete Adventures.” Check it out.
