An interesting pair of characters from Joel Jenkins are the Eel and the Adder, who have appeared in several stories across several anthologies, not all of which I’ve read. Thankfully a recent collect from PulpWork Press, Midnight Avengers, collects all their stories where they go up against Nazi threats in New York, joined by the Bomber and a girl from Kansas.
I had read some of these stories in Tales of Mask & Mayhem, Vol. III and a couple volumes of Mystery Men (& Women). A trio of these stories also appeared in the three volumes of the Weird Worlds of Joel Jenkins. But there are others I hadn’t read.
So who are these characters?
The Eel is a former cat burglar turned escape artist who rivaled Houdini. But a near-death experience turned him on a path where he fights the mob. The Adder is a former actor who has been scared by fire and may be a little insane. He is a master of disguise who uses his skills, including a sword cane, to also fight evil. Both fight their own fights, but meet up and start dealing with the threat of Nazis. They will later be joined by the Bomber, a formed Army demolitions expert who was injured with shrapnel in his leg, and Emma Trubody, a girl from Kansas who gets involved with their fight in more than one way.
First up is “The Dust of Death,” where our heroes meet for the first time. They run into each other while fighting the mob and learn of a deadly threat by Nazi agents. The Nazi agents have a poisonous material they plan on dropping on Manhattan by dirigible. Will the heroes succeed in stopping this threat?
In “Death in Black,” the Eel and the Adder again find themselves thrown together dealing with a mobster after them, which leads them to another Nazi threat. This time, they find an American company is helping develop a new Nazi war machine, the Black Death. Can they stop it, or will it stop them?
The last story indicated that an American company was helping the Nazis. And Emma is engaged to help them get information. But instead it leads the trio to the “Iron Monster of Death,” yet another deadly Nazi threat.
In a change of pace, in “Cult of the Strangler,” the trio come up with a new threat: a dangerous gang of Thuggees. This time around they are joined by the Bomber. We learn more about the origin of the Adder, and it appears the head of the Thuggee band is holding his former fiancé. In the process, they are able to rescue the fiancé’s niece and a teller that the Eel rescues will hook up with the Bomber.
“Fire the Asylum” is a shorter story, this time without the Bomber. They find a potential source of information dead, and the Adder decides to disguise himself as him to gain access to the asylum he worked at, to find out what happened. But things don’t go as planned. Emma then goes undercover as a nurse, but is almost exposed. Things come to a head when what is going on is discovered. And the Adder finally confronts the arsonist who caused his injuries, and puts him to a final use.
When the Bomber, in “The Phantom Derelict,” 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. This time the Nazis are planning on using again the “dust of death” from the first story, but now spread by a fleet of zeppelins.
And we get a resolution to the matter of the Thuggees, but also a new Nazi threat in “Return of the Tiger King.” While investigating an American industrialist, Emma and the Eel are almost killed. When they take their evidence to a senator, they find him murdered. In looking further into it, they discover that the Thuggee leader from earlier is now in league with the Nazis with a new weapon: Die Glocke. He plans on using it on New York. Working to stop him, they are able to put an end to the Thuggee leader. And give the Adder a happy ending.
I’m not sure if we’ll see more stories of the Eel and the Adder (plus the Bomber). But considering it’s not the end of WWII, and there is still the subplot of the American industrialist working for the Nazis, there certainly can be more. I will look forward to them. These are a unique set of WWII-era New Pulp heroes. Check them out if you haven’t already.
