In early 2022, we got the eighth volume in Airship 27‘s Mystery Men (& Women) series of New Pulp characters. This series is kind of like DC’s old Showcase comic book or Street & Smith’s Crime Busters in providing a variety of New Pulp characters. Sadly, we haven’t gotten many who have spawned their own series.
In Vol. 8, we get another quartet of stories, including two characters returning from the previous volumes.
From Kevin Finley is movie stuntman and now radio DJ (and former OSS agent) Dan Everett who is the vigilante Quirt. In this story set in post-WWII Hollywood, Dan helps stop a group of gangsters and former Nazis from taking over the small studios through a union for stuntmen. However, their plans are much bigger than that.
Everett creates the identity of Quirt, wearing a Western outfit but riding a motorcycle. He gets the assistance of some old friends and winds up being a semi-official agent of the new CIA, which means the chance of new action throughout the western United States. I am reminded of DC Comic’s original Vigilante character, who is also a Western-themed character, but operating in modern times (1940s and ’50s) and riding a motorcycle.
Mark Allen Vann operates Xepic Press and has is own line (or universe) of New Pulp characters, but here he presents the first story of Stephen Killdare, who is also Killdevil, the Devil’s assassin. Killdare is a hired killer, working for a local mob boss. But he is also dating in secret an assistant to the district attorney, who is digging into the mob boss’ business. Can he protect her? This won’t be the last of his story.
In a return from volume 4, we get Joel Jenkins‘ Eel and Adder, again joined by The Bomber. When The Bomber discovers a derelict Nazi zeppelin off the coast of New York and brings it in, the group realizes this is but the start of something much worse, which they will face head-on. For those not aware of these characters, the Eel and the Adder have appeared in each of the three Weird Worlds of Joel Jenkins volumes. The Eel is a former thief and escape artist, now reformed and fighting crime as a way of redemption. The Adder is a former actor and master of disguise whose career ended when a fire scarred him for life. These two, now joined by The Bomber, fight crime.
And finally, we get another story with Greg Hatcher‘s Dr. Fixit, who appeared in the last two volumes, and is cover featured for the third time. As Hatcher had passed away, I wasn’t expecting any more stories. But apparently he has written more, so there will be a volume soon with all his Dr. Fixit stories, including an unfinished one. This one is set during the time his wife was still alive, and Dr. Fixit takes her on a vacation to Cancun before it became the tourist attraction it is. There he runs into a former supervillain, thought dead, who is looking for a lair built by another supervillain recently killed. In the mix is an Aquaman-like superhero.
As always, it’s another great collection of stories. I’m not sure when we’ll see the next volume or the return of these characters (and ones from prior volumes). This one came out quicker after the prior one than I was expecting. And I certainly look forward to the upcoming Dr. Fixit volume as well.
