Airship 27 is back with a 4th volume of new Jim Anthony stories. For those not familiar, Jim Anthony was a sort-of Doc Savage “clone” published by Trojan/Culture Publications in the early 1940s. Trojan was a publisher of the “spicy” pulps, a sort-of soft porn pulp magazine line.
But first, a little background for those who didn’t read my earlier posting on him. Jim Anthony was “half Irish, half Indian, and all-American.” More emotional than Doc, Anthony was a physical and mental marvel. He had a penthouse in the Waldorf-Anthony Hotel, which he owned, and had a secret mansion in the Catskills called “The Tepee.” He was assisted by a small group of people include Tom Gentry, pilot and right-hand man; Mephito, his shaman grandfather; his butler; and Dolores Colquitte, the daughter of a U.S. senator and his fiance.
Altus Press is collecting the original stories, and already has done two out of a total of six volumes.
This book from Airship 27 has four new stories. As always, when I look at new stories of classic pulp characters, I always consider how true to the original they are.
Joel Jenkins is first up with a story set in Mexico with just Anthony and Gentry. In the days after Pearl Harbor, Anthony is investigating stories of a possible Nazi infiltration close to American borders. In addition, we have Anthony being involved with a local girl and thinking of marrying her. The author has said this story is set in the “early days” of Anthony’s career, before he met Dolores. The only problem is, with the original stories set in the early ’40s, a story set in 1942 is not in the “early days.” Despite this issue, this was a good story with Nazis, drug running, a giant snake, and a sonic weapon.
We next have a story set in New York by Frank Byrns, with Anthony a suspect in the murder of a socialite, several socialites actually. He needs to figure it out before he goes to jail. Also set before he met Dolores, this one features the rest of his cast. The author makes some good use of what was going on at the time, and even incorporates some science-fiction elements. The villain is not your run-of-the-mill villain.
The next story by Erwin K. Roberts is also set in New York, and deals with thugs who seem to be trying to drive out people from the area now know as Tribeca. Jim investigates, and discovers whoever is behind it has political pull. We had cameo appearances, including Dan Fowler, G-Man and several others. If you didn’t catch them, check out the author’s afterward for some hints.
Mark Justice provides the final story, which has Jim go up against a villain in a super-suit. The secret of who the villain is was surprising, because this is not the sort of story that I think would have been done in the original pulps.
Now, one major dink I have to make on this collection is the cover. While the artwork is great, I don’t like seeing Jim Anthony decked out in a torn shirt and jodhpurs. That, to me, just screams “Doc Savage” as seen on the James Bama paperback covers. Regardless of the fact that Jim is a Doc clone or pastiche, he has his own image, as seen on his pulp covers. The cover for the first collection from Airship 27 got it right, with Jim in his yellow swim trunks. They sadly did the same thing to Jim on the cover of the recent Dillon/Anthony team-up book. I hope in future Jim Anthony volumes they don’t do this.
But despite those issues, this is another great volume from Airship 27. I look forward to future stories of the Super-Detective from them.
Sorry, Mike, but Jim ONLY wore the yellow trunks when working in his lab. Not while out adventuring in public. The originals clearly had him attired in the regular clothing of the period. Just because Doc wore such clothes does not mean others could not. Saying only Doc is allowed such is silly…and we’re going to keep dressing Jim Anthony as is appropriate to his time. Really glad you liked the stories.
Having read several of the original Jim Anthony stories, am aware of when he wore the yellow trunks.
But covers often create a distinctive “look” for a character, hence on several of the pulp covers, they had Jim in those trunks. Am ok with seeing him in other period clothing, HOWEVER, the “jodhpurs with torn white shirt” is the distinctive look of Doc per the Bama covers. Portraying Jim the same way as the Bama Doc is what I don’t care for. Come up with a different visual style for Jim on his covers.