Here we have a new collection of original stories of Jim Anthony, a sort-of Doc Savage clone published by Trojan/Culture Publications in the early 1940s, a publisher of the “spicy” pulps, a kind-of soft porn magazine.
He lasted 25 stories, and Altus Press is reprinting the whole series. We now have the third volume, with the seventh, eighth and ninth novels.
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 he owned and had a secret mansion in the Catskills called “The Tepee.” He was assisted by a small group of people including Tom Gentry, pilot and right-hand man; Mephito, his shaman grandfather; Dawkins, his butler; and Dolores Colquitte, the daughter of a U.S. senator and his fiance (something unusual, as while some pulp heroes had a love interest, none were noted as their fiance). He also owned the New York Star and other papers, and made use of them in his adventures.
His series ran for 25 issues of Super-Detective magazine in 1940-43. For the first 10 or so issues, he was “Super Jim Anthony” (as most refer to him today), where he fought against science-fictional menaces. After that, he was sort of “de-powered” and lost most of his aides except for Tom after the 10th issue. He turned into more of a hard-boiled detective. At the beginning he was written by Victor Rousseau Emmanuel. It is now believed that he wrote the first 12 stories.
As noted, this volume reprints the third trio of stories, all by Rousseau: “Murder Syndicate,” “The Horrible Marionettes,” and “The Border Napoleon.” In addition, we get the letter page from a couple of these pulps, the interior artwork, and the covers of all three are shown on the back, all showing Jim Anthony in his yellow swim trunks and nothing else.
After the 10th issue, things were less fantastical. But even in these stories we see the start of this. With the stories in this volume, the title went bi-monthly, so perhaps this was a partial cause as the publisher reacted to lower sales.
In the first story, Jim Anthony takes a “vacation,” but one where he disguises himself as a cripple and lives in a tenement. But he gets pulled in a mystery of murder, a missing gun moll, and a gambling ring fixing sport games. His exceptional physique and super-science helps him prevail, though.
But in the second, Anthony has developed a super-science device to protect America: the Anthony Anti-Aircraft Ray Projector. He and his associated have set up shop in the Upper Peninsula in “the Cavern” to develop it, and worked with a handful of industrialists to build and deploy them. But Anthony has also uncovered a fifth column group and he uses a radio personality to expose them. But the head of the group is one step ahead, as he uses gas and sinister marionettes to turn the tables and start killing the industrialists and working to get his hand on the new ray devices. Will Anthony prevail and protect America?
This story we finally see the vaulted “Anthony organization” in operation, as well as several of Anthony’s super devices.
A more politically involved story has Anthony and friends looking into a ranch on the Rio Grande in the Big Bend area. The owner is a megalomaniac and sadist. He hopes to interfere in the recent elections in Mexico to put a fascist in charge, with him the power behind it all. But he made a mistake in extorting another rancher to sell him his ranch, which Anthony’s associate Tom had put an option in for. The strange goings on pull Anthony in as well.
Sadly, unlike the last two volumes, there is no additional material. I hope we see something in the next volume. I look forward with mixed feelings about the next volume, which should have the final three novels written by Victor Rousseau, because it will be during those we see the end of “Super Jim Anthony.” So would like to see something about this change over in style.
