‘Jim Anthony, Super-Detective,’ Vol. 5

After a bit, Airship 27 has a fifth Jim Anthony volume, Jim Anthony – Super Detective vs. Mastermind.

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 magazine line featuring risque stories.

But first, a little background for those who didn’t read my earlier postings on Anthony. 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; Dawkins, his butler; and Dolores Colquitte, the daughter of a U.S. senator, and his fiance.

This time we get a single novel, though broken up into four parts, by Adam Mudman Bezecny. Set in 1937, before the original stories, this novel has Jim going up against a different super criminal in each part of the story, before figuring out there is someone behind it all. These stories take him to a wide range of locations around the world: Crete, Panama, Cameroon, and other locations. While Tom Gentry helps him at times, Mephito has but a small part to play in one story, and his butler, Dawkins, has an even smaller part in another. Dolores is not mentioned, though based on the date of the story, maybe the idea is he hasn’t met her yet.

There are a few “additions” to the world of Jim Anthony in this story. Jim teams up with Maria Flores and her female fighters in one story, whom he has worked with before. I wonder if they will appear in any future Jim Anthony story? And he is given a speedboat, the Comanche, in another. While not a feature of the original stories, having a speedboat makes sense.

Overall it’s a good story. It has been awhile since anyone has done a new Jim Anthony story (other than the recent team-up with Captain Hazzard). Hopefully we’ll still see more from Airship 27 and maybe also Pro Se Press. I am still awaiting the next volume of Jim Anthony reprints from Altus Press. They’ve only done three so far.