Goal

This Site is for essays on The New Pulp Heroes. It’s about time we catalog new characters appearing in books and anthologies. Since I do not have time to read everything being published, I will offer space here for legitimate creators of new pulp characters to send me their data, and I will post their essays. It is not my place to say what is, or what is not a new pulp hero, and the only changes I will make to essays will be editing and format. If you wish, include a jpeg of a book cover or b&w illustration if you have permission from the artist. By sending me your essays, you are giving me permission to promote and showcase this data. Essays should be up to 500 words, and include information on MC and back up characters, creator, title of books, and where the stories can be found. A paperback edition is now available for $12.00, plus $3.99 postage (US). The book will only be sold through us: Tom Johnson, 204 W. Custer St., Seymour, TX 76380. Send questions or data to fadingshadows40@gmail.com

Monday, July 29, 2013

The Mind Master


The Mind Master

Creator: Tom Johnson
Characters
Dr. Daniel Sherwood
Rocky Carver
Jae Lee
Kay Shannon
Steven O’Malley
Carol
Billy Wild (Mouse)
Jeanie Wild (Daughter)

The Mind Master is dressed all in black, including a short waist jacket and fedora. A red scarf covers the bottom half of his face, while the hat obscures his eyes. An electrical shock altered his brain, giving him the power to project images to frighten his enemies. Now he’s on a mission to clean of crime in New York.
Dr. Dan Sherwood is over 6 foot 4 inches tall, lean and athletic, is a blind criminal psychologist working for the police commissioner.
Rocky Carver was once a heavyweight contender until the mob drugged him, causing him to lose a fight. The Boxing Commission barred him from the ring after finding drugs in his system. When he went after the mob, The Mind Master rescued him from a mob hit. Now he is the chauffeur and bodyguard of Dan Sherwood.
Jae Lee was born in America, of Korean parents, and a martial arts expert. He was on a path of destruction until The Mind Master took him under his wing. Now he is The Mind Master’s arm of justice.
Kay Shannon, a petite blonde, blue eyes and beautiful; she was a talented cabaret singer until she witnesses a drug deal. Her boss orders her death, but The Mind Master removed the threat. Now she works as Dr. Sherwood’s secretary, and new member of The Mind Master’s rogues.
Steven O’Malley, 6 foot 5 inches tall, a star basketball player in college, is now the police commissioner. A long time friend of Dan Sherwood since college, and total Irish.
Carol is O’Malley’s secretary.
1) The Mind Master (Kindle Edition)
2) The Man In The Black Fedora (Short Novel) 

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Mistik


MISTIK


Creator: O’Neil De Noux
Artist: Vincent De Noux
Cast of Characters:
Mistik (Marc LeRoux)
Aimee LeRoux
Alyssa Lupo
Hemlock

         Being Different Is Lonely … Until You Find Another Like You
         A troubled 17-year old boy finally admits to himself he is different from other boys. Marc LeRoux is the finest athlete in his high school, but his abilities go far beyond what he’s demonstrated on the gymnastics team. On a lonely walk along the neutral ground (medians are called neutral grounds in New Orleans) not far from his home, Marc is attacked by two men, one with a gun. He turns on the muggers and uses his powers to knock both out and escape. It is exhilarating and he feels good for the first time in a long time.
         From his mother, he learns the family’s secret. Marc is an ADVANCED HUMAN a leap in human evolution which gives him super-human strength and magnifies his senses. He can see, hear, smell, taste, and his sense of touch is better than any human. His sense of balance is most acute.
         Learning the family’s hereditary secret, Marc (of ancient French-Creole ancestry) must give up his dream of college athletics and the Olympics. Torn between two worlds, he must learn to live as an ‘advanced human’ in a world of humans. A freak, someone to be feared, Marc needs to vent his energy. He takes to the rooftops of the New Orleans French Quarter in a super-hero costume and quickly meets another ‘advanced human’, the beautiful, alluring sixteen year old Alyssa Lupo. The mutual attraction he feels for this haunting girl is challenged by others, those bent on using their powers for evil purposes. The star-crossed romance between them is the central focus of the novel.
         Strong on setting, our tale takes place primarily in the French Quarter, where this young super-hero in a black costume, calling himself MISTIK, prowls the roofs and lacework balconies in search of villains. A teenager, MISTIK’s powers are still evolving and he will use them to right wrongs, because he can.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Chu Jung


Chu-Jung
Creator: Eric Turowski
Characters
Raymond Siu
Lily Wing
Harry Marsden
Professor Black
Matt Bingham

From out of the mist of time to the fog of San Francisco streets, a visage appears to strike fear into evil hearts …
Chu-Jung: His face was utterly blank, with empty eyes. A long black cloak, lined with silver silk, and with many cleverly hidden pockets. Between the cover and silk were scales of armor. Scales and links of bronze and steel hung together in a complex net, as flexible as heavy leather, as intricate as clockworks. Catches disguised as decorations on the paldrons and gorget held the garment together. The collar concealed a hood that almost completely covered his head. The yoke hid armored shoulders. He slipped into the cloak, and tied a bronzed-bound wooden sword under his left arm. The mask was of red and black lacquer. He had smashed up crime syndicates at Oxford and in Chicago’s Chinatown. Now he was in San Francisco’s Chinatown to do the same thing.
Raymond Siu is American-Chinese. He is tall for his race.  Worked as a stage magician while attending the university at Oxford. Trained in the ancient fighting technique of Chu-Jung, named after the Chinese Lord of Fire – the god who kept order on Earth. He is employed in San Francisco’s Cultural Museum.
He lives in a small apartment in a Chinese flat. The courtyard consist of a maze of alleyways, the majority of which were not accessible from any of the main streets. He could hear the cluck and scratch of penned chickens around the corner.
Lily Wing is a famous archeologist and cartographer. She has traveled to Egypt, Greece, and other parts of the world in her studies. Her hair is elaborately piled atop her head and fastened with a gold butterfly pin, her smooth shoulders revealed by a low-cut evening gown. She is employed in the Asian exhibition at the museum.
Harry Marsden is the Chief of Police, the police official in the series.
Professor Black is Head of the San Francisco Cultural Museum.
Matt Bingham is the assistant director of the Northern European Exhibition Department, and is a racist.
There has been one story so far, “The Face of Chu Jung, published in TALES OF MASKS & MAYHEM V #3.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Frank Devlin


FRANK DEVLIN - THE DEVIL OF HARBOR CITY

Creator: John L. French
Cast of characters:
         Detective Sergeant Frank Devlin (aka The Devil) of the Harbor City Police Department
         Detective Sergeant Benjamin Campbell of the Harbor City Police Department
         Harbor City’s (unnamed) Police Commissioner
         Anton Szold, head of Harbor City Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit
         Michael Shaw (formerly the vigilante known as the Nightmare but not identified as such)
         Louis Martinelli, gang boss
         Angela Martinelli, Martinelli’s beautiful daughter.
         Nicholas, Martinelli’s top aide
         Alexander Tomas, Enoch Kruger, Jonas Lombardi, Harry Pratt – gang bosses
         Wolf Hopkins – out of town criminal

Harbor City was ruled by the gangs. City Hall, The DA’s office and the courts were in their pockets. Thanks to a quirk in the law, only the Harbor City PD was relatively free of the corruption that plagued the city. In desperation, the police commissioner promotes Officer Frank Devlin to sergeant and charges him to clean up the town “anyway he can.” And so Devlin launches his campaign, one in which he does whatever it takes to make things right.  But what will be the cost of Devlin’s saving the city – his life, or his soul?
The Frank Devlin stories first made their appearance in Tom Johnson’s Fading Shadow magazines. They were then reworked into the novel The Devil of Harbor City which was first published by Wild Cat books and which is now available from Dark Quest Books.

The Grey Monk


THE GREY MONK

Creator: John L. French
Cast of characters:
            The Grey Monk aka “Lewis.”
            Father Richard Harper, pastor of Saint Sebastian’s Catholic Church
            Amos Hoffman, police detective
            Tremaine, drug kingpin
            Kevin Little (aka Little Kev), Andray Davis and Andre Smith, members of Tremaine’s gang
            Dorothea Watkins
various members of the Pure Race Fellowship
           
Dressed in a hooded, dark grey habit, the Grey Monk stalks the streets of a modern day big city, meting out justice to those beyond the reach of the law. The city is unnamed, but bears a remarkable resemblance to Baltimore, MD. More than a crime fighter, the Grey Monk believes that he has been divinely appointed to fight the evil that infests the city. “Vengeance is Mine, sayeth the Lord  ...” The Grey Monk is his agent.
The Grey Monk is assisted by Father Richard Harper for whom he (the Monk) acts as sexton. The Monk is reluctantly aided by Detective Amos Hoffman, who knew Father Harper when the latter was a cop.
The Grey Monk made his first appearances in Tom Johnson’s Fading Shadows magazines. Some of these stories were reprinted in volumes 1-3 of Tales of Masks and Mayhem (edited by Virginia E. Johnson).  The complete chronicles of The Grey Monk are collected in Souls of Fire, which was originally published by Wild Cat books and which will be reprinted by Padwolf Publishing as The Grey Monk: Souls on Fire.