‘The Avenger: Double Feature’

Street & Smith’s pulp hero The Avenger is one of the few original pulp heroes to get additional approved stories.

After Warner Books reprinted the original 24 Avenger novels, they had Ron Goulart write 12 additional novels. Since then, Moonstone Books has been doing new authorized Avenger works. First three collections of shorts stories, a new novel, and now a pair of stories in one volume: The Avenger: Double Feature.

Richard Benson, The Avenger, was S&S’s next attempt to repeat the success of The Shadow and Doc Savage by combining elements of both. The Avenger also had stories that varied in style from Doc-like adventure tales to The Shadow super-crook tales. And like both characters, he had others who worked with him in Justice Inc.

In this volume we get a pair of stories by experienced New Pulp authors: Bobby Nash and Chuck Miller. I was surprised they are very different in length, with Nash’s work being three times the length of Miller’s.

Bobby Nash has done several New Pulp stories and has created the air-adventure character Lance Star and the Sky Rangers. He has already done a new Avenger story.

Chuck Miller has created several New Pulp stories, many tied to The Black Centipede.

In this volume, Nash’s contribution is “Black Water,” which has a bizarre threat to New York (and the world) that has been around for a millennium that The Avenger and team must confront. While a good story, for me the villain is of the type we wouldn’t have seen in The Avenger pulps.

Miller provides “Face of Death.” Being very short, this story features only Nellie helping out the Avenger, which considering the length made sense. Here a woman contacts The Avenger because she saw the ghost of a long-dead serial killer. Then new people are killed in the same manner. Can The Avenger and Nellie figure things out before more are killed? Another good story.

This is not the last time we will see new Avengers works from Moonstone. There is already another new volume of stories out with a new novel coming.