After too long, Pro Se Press is back with a third volume of The New Adventures of Thunder Jim Wade, the short-lived Doc Savage clone. Again, it’s a complete novella by Frank Schildiner: “Tomb of Ancient Evil.”
For those who missed my prior postings on Wade, he was created by science-fiction author Henry Kuttner for the Thrilling line of pulps, and lasted five stories, which have been reprinted by Altus Press.
He is usually written off as just a Doc Savage clone, but he is different enough to warrant a closer look. He was raised by a lost civilization (Minos, a lost colony of Crete in Africa) after his explorer father died. He has various mental and physical abilities, most due to his upbringing. Afterwards, he became a sort-of roving troubleshooter, operating from a secret island in the South Pacific. His main claim to fame is his unique vehicle called the Thunderbug (a combination tank, submarine, airplane). It’s built using a special alloy, and it is hinted that the motor(s) may be atomic.
He is aided by two associates who fill the “Monk/Ham” dynamic: “Red” Argyle” and Dirk Marat. Red is the burly Monk-type, and Dirk is a small, blond man who likes knives, thus the Ham-type.
This time we get an adventure where Jim and his aides go up against a Lovecraftian threat of an ancient inhuman race wanting to take back the Earth, making humans their slaves, and worse. There are hints and asides to past stories and works by H.P. Lovecraft and fellow authors. Hopefully these won’t get in the way for those not familiar with them to enjoy this story. As I’m pretty familiar with them, these didn’t bother me. Having Thunder Jim deal with such threats seems to be a common theme with some authors, I guess trying to use the character in a unique way than as just a standard “Doc clone.” This has been a common theme of Schildiner’s stories since the first volume of new Thunder Jim Wade stories.
And things are setup such that a future story could come out of this one.
We do get a few additions to the “Thunder Jim” world, as Jim and his friends are joined by another aide, Lise Levi. Maybe Schildiner will include her in future Thunder Jim stories. I also thought the brief appearance of fellow adventurer Captain Seas was interesting. Was he intended to be an original character, or perhaps a pastiche of Cap Fury? I won’t mind seeing more of him as well, but he has previously appeared in a collection of stories by Schildiner from Pro Se Press: First Seas and Other Tales.
I wasn’t too keen on having Thunder Jim look like a Doc clone on the cover, what with the torn shirt and jodhpurs. This is done too often with characters like Jim Anthony and Thunder Jim, despite the fact that both have a more distinctive look. They could re-use the Minoan priest outfit that Jim sported on a couple of the original pulp covers, if they need a unique look for him.
I hope we don’t have to wait too long for the next new Thunder Jim adventure. In the meantime, check out Schildiner’s other New Pulp works from Black Coat Press.
Wasn’t one of the bad guys in the George Pal “Doc Savage” movie named Captain Seas?
Yup.
At first I thought the character was the same. But he appears to be different. I’m not sure if he was named as a nod to that character or not.
Not a nod, but a totally different character that appeared HERE first from Pro Se-https://www.amazon.com/First-Other-Tales-Frank-Schildiner/dp/1502537052
Thanks for the heads up. I recall when that book came out, but it didn’t go high on my ‘to buy’ list. As it has the first appearance of Captain Seas, I’ll have to check it out.