I previously posted on a new series from Bold Venture Press: The Red Menace.
It’s written by James Mullaney, probably best known as a ghost-writer for The Destroyer #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.
I had posted on the first three, and was hoping more would come out. And they recently came out with the next three, again with nice covers by Mark Maddox.
So for those who missed the first posting, who is this 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 (and blurry) 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 into 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. We get some of this backstory over the stories so far.
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.
• The Red Menace #4: A Red Letter Day: This one kicks things off with Pogue and Dr. Wainwright in Libya teaching Col. Gaddafi (I think that’s how we spelled it back then, so I think it should have been done that way) for his role in what happened in the previous story. Then we get into things when a construction company unearths a safe that apparently was in the home of J. Edgar Hoover. The foreman was told to call the company owner if something is found, but instead calls the FBI first. But, before either they or the company owner show up, a group with ties to someone else takes it.
We then get several groups scrambling for it, as they think it contains Hoover’s secret files that can be used for blackmail. The mob has it and is trying to open it. A mysterious man named Claudius Long has gotten one of the NASA engineers who worked on it to learn how to open it. And the daughter of a mob boss, who has come under the sway of an environmentalist nutjob, has stolen it. Thankfully, the safe is one that can’t be opened easily. It was designed by Dr. Wainwright! Everyone is scrambling not just to get the safe, but figure out how to open it. Who will succeed, especially when one of them tries to auction it off to the highest bidder?
The character of Claudius Long is interesting, as is his associate Quint. We learn his connection to one of the main characters. I guess we now have a possible re-occuring villain. There is also the storyline with the Soviet colonels from the prior books. We didn’t see anything about them this time.
• The Red Menace #5: Red on the Menu: As usual, we have Pogue and Wainwright taking care of things from the previous novel, in this case, a factory in Tijuana that Long was involved in, avoiding getting killed by heat-seeking missiles. In D.C., Simon Kirk stumbles onto our next big case when a college friend dies in his arms. Literally. From one sniper shot.
From this, Pogue and Wainwright are on the case that leads them to the assassin, Wild Bill Branch, and the man who hired him. And what does it have to do with Franklin Morrow’s Restaurants, which are based on one with orange roofs. I found Wild Bill an interesting foe to deal with, as well as “Reed”, whom he calls in to help him.
There is a girl involved. You can see her on the cover. But for once she is not involved with the bad guys. Sadly, the Soviet colonels don’t appear, nor does Long and his henchman. I really didn’t want to see Long too soon. I’d rather he be an occasional villain for them to deal with, whereas the colonels should be a building threat for them until we get a resolution.
• The Red Menace #6: Red Devil: This one kicks off with the bang, in more ways as one. We get two mysteries that may not be connected. In one, a oil tanker leaves “Saudi Arabia” filled with crude and goes missing, only to be found run aground near New England, where it blows up after fishermen discover it with all hands on board dead and a sinister message in blood. At the same time, The Red Menace is dealing with the hijacking at LaGuardia of a flight from Denver. The pilot is killed on the stairs leaving the plane, and when The Red Menace gets onboard and takes out the kidnappers, including the co-pilot, he finds the plane empty. Before he can figure out were the passengers are, the plane explodes with him in it.
We meet the CEO of the oil company that owns the tanker, Jim Bob Slickens, and he is a right character, yee haw! And his daughter is also a real piece of work. She’s on the cover. She claims to be a witch, and hates her father, saying he’s hurting the world.
When he receives a package with the heart of the tanker captain in the mail and his VP in Arabia is murdered and his oil fields there are destroyed, there is someone serious behind it. Some has it in for Dallaco Oil. And it seems to be The Devil himself! Or is it?
Who is behind it, and what is it all about? Is the daughter involved? Are those Soviet colonels somehow involved? They are back, and I hope we get a resolution real soon, as they really deserve it after this one!
So it’s another fun set of stories. I don’t know when more will show up. I know the next one will be Ruses Are Red, but that’s it.
When I did my first review, I noted the characters/dynamics in The Red Menace series mirror the Destroyer series, other than any re-occuring villains. I really don’t count the Russian colonels, but I think adding Claudius Long adds a character similar to Niuhc from the Destroyer series. We’ll see how that goes.
