While Johnston McCulley, creator of Zorro, was putting out various costumed heroes and villains, he created a pair of one-off characters in Detective Story Magazine under his “Harrington Strong” pseudonym.
These are The Scarlet Scourge, serialized over four issues from April 27 through May 18, 1920, and The Demon, serialized over five issues from Nov. 2 through Nov. 30, 1920. Both were also reprinted in book form by Street & Smith’s Chelsea House imprint, and reprinted by Wildside Press in recent years.
In The Scarlet Scourge, we meet a strange array of characters centered around an office building. There’s a beauty salon run by Madame Violette, and we meet some of her employees and her son. There are others who work in the building, including Madame Moonshine and the janitor. And we have two crooked brokers who have a falling out after working together for 15 years in various cities.
The brokers have swindled several people, including some of the people in the story, including a new employee of Madame Violette’s, as well as her son. Then a mysterious character called The Scarlet Scourge threatens to expose the brokers. Then one of them is killed. Is the Scourge responsible? As there are many in the building who were swindled by the man, is one of them the Scourge? Who is the Scourge, and why is the Scourage after the brokers? In the end, all is revealed, and it’s surprising who the Scourge is.
In The Demon, we have someone dressing up with a tight full-face red mask with horns. He is going around and beating up crooks and telling them to go straight. Is he a different kind of vengeance hero? We also have a crooked alderman who is killed by a gang leader, who tries to pin it on The Demon.
There are other people in the mix. A former crook with a wife and daughter struggles to go straight. But he is harassed by a crooked cop and his former associates, some of whom are bothering his daughter. There is also a good cop in the mix, trying to fix things in the neighborhood. It all comes to a head when The Demon is revealed. But who is he and why is he doing what he is doing? Will the bad guys be punished? You’ll have to read it.
I found both of these stories interesting, especially as they fit in with McCulley’s other costumed heroes. Most of his tropes aren’t present. There are no “master and man” pairings. No gas guns or the like. No Robin Hood types. There is the “vengeance hero” element, of going after people who have wronged the hero and their family. But different takes on this trope.
So if you are interesting in a different take on the pulp-hero model, check out these two characters.
