‘The Red Menace’ Nos. 1, 2, & 3

A new series appeared from Bold Venture Press recently: The Red Menace.

They have put out three volumes so far, with a further four promised (two of which are already available in ebook format). Written by James Mullaney, probably best known as a ghost-writer for The Destroyer Nos. 111-131, along with the later “New Destroyer” novels. I had gotten into The Destroyer in the late ’80s, reading many of the earlier ones and the then-current ones by Will Murray, before losing interest. So of Mullaney’s I’ve only read the “New Destroyer” ones, as I got them when they came out.

And this isn’t really a “new” series, as the first volume came out from Moonstone Books back in 2013, and the rest followed in ebook format, I assume from the author himself.

The series so far consists of:

• Red and Buried
• Drowning in Red Ink
• Red the Riot Act
• A Red Letter Day
• Red on the Menu
• Red Devil (NYP)
• Ruses Are Red (NYP)

The three volumes so far from Bold Venture also have nice covers by Mark Maddox. Hopefully they’ll use Maddox on the other volumes.

So who is The Red Menace? Well, he is Patrick “Podge” Becket, now a computer tycoon and security expert. We are told his company, Becket International, is IBM’s main rival in the computer industry. Back in the 1950s, he decided to fight back against communism and its agents, creating the costumed persona of The Red Menace. His outfit of cape, hooded mask (described as like an executioner’s hood), and gauntlets are made from a special dye that looks red close up, but black further away. He also has a special gun and other devices. However, in 1960, he stopped. Most likely he realized as he was getting older, he wouldn’t be able to continue and live.

Now in 1972, he reluctantly comes back in action. He is aided by Dr. Thaddeus Wainwright, doctor and inventive genius, who you will soon realize has a mysterious background. He gives Becket a serum that helps him physically, but it doesn’t make him superhuman. His special devices come from Wainwright.

The Red Menace works with (Patrick emphasizes this) an agency known as MIC (Manpower and Intelligence Command), now headed by Simon Kirk, the son of the man who headed it in the ’50s. These three are the only consistent characters in the series.  MIC was formed in the 50s as an inter-agency group, but has since fallen out of favor and power.

Actually, as I read the first novel, I realized that the three characters form a similar dynamic to what is in The Destroyer. Podge/The Red Menace is The Destroyer, Dr. Wainwright is Chuan, and Simon Kirk of MIC is Harold W. Smith of CURE. Like the Destroyer series, there are no other continuing characters (though there was one briefly in that series), and so there is no on-going love interest for Becket (or Wainwright). There isn’t even a new girl that Podge meets and beds each story, either. It will remain to be seen if we get any re-occuring villains, as The Destroyer did have a few.

• No. 1, Red and Buried: This one kicks off in 1958, where The Red Menace is able to penetrate the headquarters of Motherland, the opposite group to MIC, where he embarrasses its head, Col. Strankov, and does something to Lenin’s corpse. Then we jump to 1972, where an MIC agent in Cuba discovers a secret Russian base, and finds Strankov there, where he had been sent to a gulag after what happened in ’58. The agent is captured trying to get more info and is killed.

This leads to Simon Kirk approaching the now long-retired Red Menace to look into things, as the agent killed was a friend, as well as Strankov being back. The only way to do this is to get Fidel Castro to invite Becket to Cuba.  How to do that? Becket’s company does security, but not for dictators. So in a change, he does work for Idi Amin (ugh), which leads to being invited by Castro, and off they go. We learn more about The Red Menace and Wainwright, and it seems he will get in on the action to a degree. They find out what Strankov is really doing (which would end the U.S.) and put a stop to him. And they take care of a few others who deserve it.

• No. 2, Drowning in Red Ink: Following soon after the last one, we find The Red Menace going after some Russian agents in the U.S. Fun.

At the same time, two other things are going on. One is his company gets hit by the IRS saying they owe $18 million, which Becket doesn’t think is correct. And a strange group of hippies, under the leadership of a young woman, somehow are able to blow up the head of Thomas Jefferson at Mount Rushmore, killing the two park rangers. They call themselves The People’s Brigade. A Marxist college professor is involved, though the psychopathic young lady seems to be the main planner behind things (yes, that’s her on the cover!). And they have an unknown source of funding.

Who are they, and what is their next target? And is there any connection between what Becket is dealing with at the IRS and this?

But, of course ,The Red Menace, along with Dr. Wainwright, is on the case. I did enjoy their discussion about having a “RedMenacemobile.” And will we see a return of the two strange Red Army colonels from the epilogue?

• No. 3, Red the Riot Act: This one takes us to Hollywood. The Red Menace decides to break into a high-security prison in California and take care of a certain life-sentence prisoner, and discovers a new menace to America. In part of the prison, all the inmates go crazy, killing anyone.

We soon learn why it happened. A down-on-his-luck perfumer is in the Pacific looking for a love potion to sell, but it has a deadly side affect, which he sadly discovers.  Or I should say his research team sadly discovers it. But he had also recently sold a controlling interest in his firm to a certain High Star Admiral R. Gunn Halifax. A failed comicbook writer turned rising cult leader, Halifax is clearly based on a certain former pulp sf author turned cult leader. Halifax is having his people “test” this substance around the country, including at that prison. He has a plan in mind.  Or someone does. Also in the mix is a failing Hollywood star named Cassandra Vox. I wonder if she’s based on a specific actress?

And those Red Army colonels from the last novel appear again, and things are setup for their return in a future novel.

I enjoyed all three books. There is a level of humor and satire that, in my opinion, raises them above most such series. The Destroyer series, at times, had an element of humor and satire, and I recalled this was certainly the case in the “New Destroyer” volumes that Mullaney was involved in, which is why I enjoyed them.

As noted, you can get the next two in ebook format, but I want them in printed form. And two more are promised. Hopefully, we’ll get the rest soon, and that Mullaney will give us more. I was a kid during the ’70s, so recall some of the things here first hand like Castro, Idi Amin, being worried about Russia and China, and the rest. This is one to check out.