One of the more unusual pulp heroes is the short-lived Captain Satan from Popular Publications.
Lasting five issues of his own series in 1938, the magazine was really a renaming of Strange Detective Stories. After two issues of that magazine, which focused on “bizarre, thrilling, eerie-laden, mystery stories” and featured a host of bizarre crime fighters (Seekay appeared in the first two), the title was renamed to Captain Satan.
After five monthly issues, it was ended and soon retitled back to Strange Detective Stories. That is the only example I know of this happening.
While it is very common among comic books to re-title failed comics to save on postal registration, this sometimes also happened in the pulp field. But this is the only time I know of a re-title going back to its original name.
Captain Satan was really Cary Adair. He seems your typical, rich, bored playboy. We never learn why he operates as Captain Satan, nor if he was wealthy before becoming Captain Satan. He leads a group (more a gang) in going after bad guys, and we learn he has been operating for awhile (how long, we don’t know). He is sometimes characterized as a Robin Hood-type, as he takes from the bad guys. But he is more a privateer. He takes a third cut, the rest divided among his men.
Then you have his gang. Some have referred to them as the “Ambassadors from Hell,” but this term isn’t really used in the stories (though it was the title of a chapter and sort of the last story title). They are referred to sometimes as “Satan’s Crew.”
His righthand man is Slim, who addresses him as “Captain”. The rest address him as “Cap’n.” The men come with a wide range of skills and talents. A few are former crooks, but not all. All go by nicknames, none know each other’s real names, and they are usually masked when together.
Being part of Satan’s gang is dangerous. In the first story, someone has eliminated one of Satan’s men and then tries to infiltrate the gang, but is exposed and killed. A second member is killed when the bad guys attack their meeting place, along with a third who turned out to have been a traitor. In the second, two new men are brought into the crew, and another member is killed during the story. This holds true for most of the series, with one or two joining each story, and someone getting killed.
Cary Adair is also friends with Joe Descher, who is chief (or chief agent, it’s not clear which) of the FBI. He is a source of info for Satan without knowing it. Adair also has a manservant, Jeremy, who isn’t involved in the action (or is he?). We have no idea if he knows of Cary’s double life, but it seems probable he does. There is no love interest. Any girl that pops up in a story that would be is usually snapped up by one of his crew.
There is, sadly, a bit of formula in all the stories. All start with Joe dropping by Cary’s penthouse, and telling him about the latest mystery he is dealing with. He often complains about the mysterious Captain Satan (probably to explain who he is for the audience). Cary then says he’s off on another trip, as a cover for going after the latest mastermind behind the mystery. After Satan and company puts an end to things, Satan arranges things to explain Cary’s absence. And at the end, Joe drops by and sees the evidence of Cary’s latest trip. Most interesting are the schemes, how they work out, and Satan having to figure what’s going on and putting a stop to it.
The first story, “Mark of the Damned,” has Satan and gang go after a mysterious group trying to infiltrate the government. This group seems to be a criminal gang and not a foreign government, but what is their aim? Satan intends to find out and stop them. Will he succeed?
The second story, set about three months later, is “Parole for the Dead.” It is a mystery where several very rich criminals die in jail — but in ways that they have to be identified by their dental records. Is someone breaking them out? Satan and his gang go after a new menace behind this.
In “Dead Man’s Express,” something strange is going on with trains. Some disappear, only to re-appear in another location. Train cars show up in locations quicker than they should. Satan and crew must confront the sinister Hyena to unravel this one.
Next up in “A Ghost Rides the Dawn,” Satan and his men go up against the Emperor of Death, who leads a bizarre group of fire-cultists. “Pay or die” are their orders. Which will Satan do? And can he figure out the real reason for the crimes?
And the final story, “Ambassador of Hell,” which refers to Captain Satan, he and his crew must look into a bizarre case of missing money from banks, but there has been no thiefs. What is going on?
Altus Press has recently reprinted the entire series in two volumes. The first has the first two stories and uses the cover from the first story. The second volume has the final three, and uses the cover from the third story. While the interior artwork is included, the covers of the whole series are not included, sadly. Also disappointing is there is no introductory article. Nothing about the author of this series, a William O’Sullivan who I am not familiar with, nothing about the character or the bizarre change in Strange Detective Stories. This was something I was looking forward to in getting the volumes from Altus, and was very disappointed by these absences.
Captain Satan, because he is still under copyright, hasn’t been used much since the original stories. I’m not aware of any pastiche, other than in Wayne Reingel‘s Pulp Heroes series, where the Captain and his men are wiped out by the bad guys at the beginning.
Millennium Publications tried to do a Captain Satan comic book as part of a New pulp line after losing the Doc Savage license. But it never got past the first issue, which, as I recall, wasn’t very faithful to the character.
Check out this different pulp hero.
I was also disappointed to see no introduction, but these are rare magazines, and I was glad to see them reprinted. I asked Matt Moring why no introduction and he said no one knew much about William O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan (his real name) was a pulp writer who wasn’t really prolific, but he also did some air-war stories, etc. I talked with Ed Hulse about maybe doing an article on him for Blood ‘n’ Thunder.