Today I’m taking a look at “The Rook, Vol. 4” by Barry Reese.
For those who are familiar with the character (i.e., you’ve read the previous collections or read my prior postings), there is no need for an introduction. For those new, The Rook is a pulp-hero-style character created by Barry. The Rook fights crime and evil in the ’30s and ’40s (and later). Barry mixes in pulp hero, comic book and comic strip characters, along with occult horror/weird menace, and does a good job.
This book has six stories (or short novels?).
“The Phantom Vessel” pits the Rook against the vengeful son of the man who killed his father and made him become the Rook, as well as the ghost of the Flying Dutchmen.
“Death from the Jungle” has the Rook team up with the daughter of The Phantom (not called that, obviously) to fight a foe.
“The Four Rooks” is a generational story that deals with the original Rook and his three successors going after a Mayan tablet wanted by the classic pulp villain Dr. Satan. His son as the next Rook fights the Warlike Manchu for it, then his daughter as the following Rook teams up with the daughter of Leonid Kaslov (Reese’s “Russian Doc Savage” character) to retrieve the tablet. Then, in the near future, the fourth Rook with help from Catalyst (Reese’s original, comic-book-style character) uses the tablet to avoid the end of the world, but at the cost of his life, at which point the original Rook comes back into action. If you don’t know who Dr. Satan, Warlike Manchu, Leonid Kaslov, or Catalyst are, you need to read the previous volumes.
“Spook” has the Rook in Peru fighting an undead sorcerer named The Spook.
“Dead of Night” has the Rook forming an alliance with the Warlike Manchu to get his kidnapped wife back.
“Satan’s Trail” has the Rook again go up against Dr. Satan, this time helped by Frankenstein’s Monster (the Rook is helped by him, not Dr. Satan).
The Rook is one of the better New Pulp characters out there. Check him out. This volume was originally published by Wild Cat Books. Now that Reese is at Pro Se Press, I understand they are working to bring the book back into print as they have done with the first 3 volumes.
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