While there are several classic pulp heroes I have yet to do a posting on, mostly it’s because I have yet to read their original stories. This is because I want to get a feel for the character before I do a detailed posting, and before I read new stories of them, I’d like to have done this as well.
One such character is G.T. Fleming-Roberts‘ The Green Ghost.
So far, the only complete reprint of this character is from the Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, and it’s a bit pricey. I keep hoping one of the other pulp reprint houses like Altus Press will come out with this series in less expensive paperback. Now Airship 27 has come out with a collection of new Green Ghost stories, so I’m kind of stuck.
So who is The Green Ghost? The character was created for the Thrilling line of pulps in the early ’40s by Fleming-Roberts, when they were coming out with more pulp heroes. He is the only one that Norman Daniels didn’t have a hand in. And, confusingly, we have another Green Ghost (created earlier by Johnston McCulley that I’ve covered before), and this character has gone through several name changes, as evident by the changes in magazine titles.
Overall, the character had 14 original stories from 1940-44. He first starred in his own pulp magazine in 1940, titled The Ghost-Super Detective for three issues. It was renamed to The Ghost Detective for one issue, then The Green Ghost Detective for three issues. He then moved to Thrilling Mystery where he was known as just “The Ghost” for six stories. A final story appeared in Thrilling Detective, where he was renamed “George Hazzard” and all mention of being The Green Ghost was dropped, which was a common fate for many of Thrilling’s later pulp heroes.
The Green Ghost, which is what most pulp fans call him, was really magician George Chance. This was interesting, because Fleming-Roberts had recently done a series of stories about a magician-turned-detective named Diamondstone! (See my postings on the original and the new stories.) Similar to some other Thrilling heroes, Chance gets involved helping the police with tough cases, putting to use his skills as a magician, and finds he enjoys it.
Chance disguises himself as the mysterious “Green Ghost,” using makeup to give him a ghoulish green appearance. He is aided in this by several others. There is his assistant, Glenn Saunders, who looks just like him. This is useful to throw people off from thinking Chance is the Ghost. There is his love interest, Merry White, who often gets in trouble. Tiny Tim Terry is a midget and friend of George’s, and Joe Harper is another member of his staff who helps out. There is also the Police Commissioner Standish and chief medical examiner Dr. Robert Standish, who also knows who the Ghost really is.
Now, since I can’t review the original stories, I’ll review the new stories from Airship 27. This volume, their first, has four stories. Each of the stories to a lesser or greater extent make use of Chance’s background as a magician, and all are pretty good mysteries.
The first story, by Michael Panush, makes use of old Coney Island amusement parks and sideshow freaks, in a story about a haunted abandoned park and mobsters. There are some interesting historical ties in this story.
The next story by Greg Hatcher has a murder mystery involving Chance’s old mentor that involves several other magicians as well. Once again, there are some interesting real-life magicians who serve as inspirations for some of the characters.
B.C. Bell‘s story doesn’t use magic as a central part of the story, but con man “games,” and also ties into the growing war issue. It was interesting seeing how the con games were worked into the story.
The final story, by Erwin K. Roberts, also makes use of the coming war, in a story of foreign saboteurs working in the U.S. Magic plays a lesser part. There is also a nod to another character that Fleming-Roberts had a hand in, so maybe readers may pick that up.
Overall, a pretty good collection. It’s clear from the afterwards by the authors that all took the time to do some good research on The Green Ghost and related matters to put into their stories. I look forward to the next volume, whenever that may appear.
I think a teamup or encounter between Fleming-Robert’s two magician detectives, The Green Ghost and Diamondstone might be interesting.
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