The Wraith

THE WRAITH

(The Dread Avenger)

Creator: Frank Dirscherl

Paul Sanderson (First Wraith)

Michael Reeve (Second Wraith)

Leena Patterson (Lover of Michael Reeve)

Max Horton (Aid to The Wraith)

Judy Hess (Lover of Paul Sanderson)

Jonathan Simpson (Butler & Aid to Sanderson)

Robert Lathan (Crime Lord, Metro City)

Charley Grieco (2^nd In Command to Lathan)

General Abdelkrim (African Military Gang Lord)

Paul Sanderson, of Metro, is a spoiled rich kid reaching for attention from his mother and father and can’t find it. As an adult he sets out to travel the world looking for his place in it. Almost dying in the African desert, he is saved by a native who tells him there is an ancient prophesy about a white man coming who will save the world, and Paul is the fulfillment of that prophesy. He is taken to a mountaintop where an old man trains him for his coming place in history as the Wraith. But it goes deeper than this. If Paul dies, he is to pass on the power to someone else.

That power is passed on to the second Wraith, Michael Reeve, a Metro police officer.

The outfit is comfortable, as well as protective. It’s reinforced with Kevlar and tear resistant. If it doesn’t stop a bullet, it will slow it down, and is resistant to most blades. The cape is tougher and will reflect anything but high-powered bullets. His belt has pouched that hold all manner of objects, including gas grenades and other essentials needed in his warfare with the underworld. The cowl resembled the mask Zorro wore, made of heavy duty rubber with a knot at the back.

            There has only been the prose origin story published to-date, though evidently several comic books published featuring the character of The Wraith.

“Sanderson of Metro” (Trinity Comics) Oct 25, 2017 (With Bobby Nash)

Midnight Guardian

THE MIDNIGHT GUARDIAN

Creator: John C. Bruening

Characters

Jack Hunter (Asst. D.A.)

Frank “Buzz” Hunter (Jack’s cousin)

Ed Gallagher (D.A.)

Betty Carlyle (D.A. secretary)

Sam Tagert (Chief of Police)

Lt. Mike Dugan (Chief of Detectives)

Bart Maxwell (Tribune Reporter)

Dan “Doc” Kendall (Pharmacist)

Stephen Bentley (Mayor)

Hank Cremshaw (Fire Chief)

Nicholas Diamond (Mob Boss)

Vinnie Marshall (Nicky’s childhood friend)

Luke Simone (Mob lieutenant)

Johnny Kawalski (Mob driver and gunman)

Dominic LoCastro (Mob Lawyer)

Anthony Reynolds (Judge – in pocket of the mob)

Oliver Pruett (Sparks – explosive expert)

It’s 1936, and after more than a decade, Nicky Diamond is out of prison and back in Union City. He had tried to take over the town during Prohibition, but a police officer had stopped his men before they killed him. Now that police officer’s son, Jack Hunter, is the Assistant D.A., and he wants to put a stop to the crime lord for good. The police have proven ineffective against the mob boss, and the D.A.’s office needs proof to put Diamond back behind bars.

Jack and his cousin, Buzz Hunter have always been good at making things and working with equipment, and Buzz has invented a battery operated mask with goggles that gives the wearer heightened abilities, such as seeing in the dark, able to anticipate movements, and the ability to move faster than normal, and react with lightning reflexes. Jack tries them on one night and is impressed. Now maybe he can do something the police can’t do, like get evidence.

Wearing the headset with goggles and a leather jacket, Jack Hunter becomes the Midnight Guardian. He rides a Henderson motorcycle he has engineered for high speed.

Oliver Pruett is working with the police to identify the explosives used by Nicky Diamond, while really working for the Mob Boss as Sparks. However, the supposed duel role does not escape the reader.

So far there has only been one novel published.

“Hour of Darkness” (Flinch Books) 2016

The Black Spectre

THE BLACK SPECTRE

Creator: Roger Alford

Characters

Brent Gregor

Bernard Worthington

Victoria Rose

Frank Matson

Abigail Wentworth

Mayor E. Leland Tackman

John Nibley

Big Jack Terrisimo

Three-finger Ned Vogel

Harry LaSalle

Harvey O’Donnell

Vito “Spats” Gennaro

Dennis Morris

Madame Ouspenskaya

The Black Spectre was dressed all in black, with a large, flowing cloak, a wide-brimmed hat, and a long scarlet headscarf beneath it. Covering his face was a facemask – a gleaming white skull. Pulling the black glove from his right hand revealed a fire-opal ring that glowed brightly.

The Brent Mansion is forever known as The Murder Mansion after Brent’s father, the District Attorney is murdered, and young Brent is shot and left confined to a wheelchair. His old butler, Bernard Worthington remains by his side throughout all the hardships.

         Abigail Wentworth is a beautiful young swan with long, flowing brunette locks that framed her lightly freckled face and cascaded down her shoulders. Her natural radiance and unadorned out-shown everyone else around her beauty. Her voice was soft and melodic. She was raised near Brent as a child and later became his fiancé after college. She wanted to fly and travel the world, but Brent was stuck to land and the wheelchair.

Harry LaSalle is the Chief of Police, and a no-nonsense man with a thick head of white hair and thick-rimmed glasses.

         Victoria Rose, called “Red”, is a reporter fore the Daily Crusader. She’s stuck in the City Hall beat but wants to be on the Crime beat, and sticks her neck out to find front-page crime for her paper

         Frank Matson is the City Editor for the Daily Crusader, and Red’s immediate boss.

         Mayor E. Leland Tackman is the current Mayor, and in the pocket of the mob. He has a heart attack while dallying with a young girl in his room. Red sneaks in a removes the girl while getting the sordid story.

         With the death of Mayor Tackman, John Nibley moves into the Mayor’s position and tries to clean up the police department, but is soon murdered by the mob and another man put in his place.

         Big Jack Terrisimo is the Mob Boss in the city, and controls City Hall as well as the police department. It was his orders that had killed Brent’s father.

         Three-finger Ned Vogel murdered Brent’s father in 1921. He was captured, declared insane, and put in the local asylum. However, the asylum was run by the mob, and Vogel has the run of the place. It’s as good as a hideaway for whenever he is needed by the mob again.

         Vito “Spats” Gennaro is a soldato and works for Big Jack Terrisimo.

         Dennis Morris works in the newspaper morgue and is sweet on Vicky. He is tall and gangly.

         Harvey O’Donnell agreed to confess to a mob murder for money given to his wife and children. But when he went to trial the judge sentenced him to the death chair. Now he can’t back out, but Vicky knows he isn’t guilty and wants to prove his innocents, if she can just get Brent’s help.

         Madame Ouspenskaya is a Gypsy woman with a magic ring for Brent if he will agree to help bring justice to those that need it. For there have been many to wear the cloak and ring of The Black Spectre.

         There have been five stories so far. One paperbacks and four eBooks.

“Ghost In The Asylum” (Black Hood Press) August 2015

“No Victory Without Scars” (Black Hood Press) Nov 2017

“Vengeance Waits At The Door” (Black Hood Press) Dec 2017

“Death Is A Silent Intruder (Black Hood Press) July 2016

“Invitation To Death” (Black Hood Press) April 2010

Dr. Vigilante

DR. VIGILANTE

Creator: Alberto Hazan

Characters

Dr. Robert McKenzie

Dr. Donohue: Tall, broad-shouldered, and handsome

Dr. Sanchez

Dr. Simone

Dr. Raj Singh

Dr. Valentine

Dr. Cheng

Sharon Reede

Michelle Rivera, RN

Detective Macy

Detective Landers

Doctor by day. Vigilante by night. Robert lives a double life in New York City. He spends his days treating patients at the St. Jude's Hospital ER and his nights going after the psychopaths who wrong them: the child molesters, wife beaters, and rapists. But when the fiery, beautiful new social worker discovers his secret identity and their love affair takes off, Robert is forced to face some hard questions: Do the ends justify the means? After years of hunting down psychopaths, is Robert turning into one himself? An action thriller with strong, distinct characters, filled with suspense and surprise, Dr. Vigilante is also a love story unfolding amid the turmoil and drama of a busy ER.

Robert McKenzie, 43, is built like an All-American linebacker with the agility of an Olympic gymnast: He carries ten thousand worth of miniaturized spy equipment; dressed in long-sleeved elastane top and his favorite pair of dark polyester pants. Takes him 8 seconds to karate whip two hoodlums.

His apartment closet: He pressed a hidden button and there was a low hum. The opposite wall slid open, revealing a hidden storage compartment.  He pulled open a drawer and took out one of seven neatly folded black outfits. They looked like thin wetsuits, but the material was much more durable, capable of protecting him from most knife blades and small caliber bullets. Over these he slipped on a pair of Diesel jeans and his favorite cotton tan sweatshirt. In another compartment was revealed  a polished steel safe. An 8-number combination and the safe clicked open. Inside was his arsenal: handguns, shotguns, knives, syringes, and all sorts of explosives. His preferred weapons are a SIG Sauer 9mm P226 and HK 45, and Glock 17, as well as a small shotgun that fits in a scabbard on his back.

Newspaper headlines call him the Psychopath Hunter, the Manhattan Vigilante, and Avenger.

A lone wolf, he rides a Ducati motorcycle, sometimes reaching speeds over 120 mph.

            Guillermo Martinez : Central America’s fiercest  freedom fighter taught him street fighting and modern warfare when Robert served as a doctor in his country.

Sharon Reede, 28, ER Social Worker: Recently arrived from Indiana, she has long blond hair, large brown eyes, and a small frame. Her feisty attitude and “no quit” spirit captured Robert’s heart, and they soon become lovers.

Detective Macy and Detective Landers are the police investigating the Manhattan Vigilante, and they also suspect Robert as the city’s Avenger. At the end, Detective Landers catches him about to set fire to two neo-Nazis. Holding a gun on him, the detective gives him two choices: Do the deed and die, or leave them for the police and he’ll give him 24 hours to disappear from the city before an arrest warrant is issued.

There are four novels in this interesting series. In the last two novels we have a villain enter the stories called The Owl.

Dr. Vigilante #1 (VB Publishing) 2013

Dr. Vigilante #2 (VB Publishing) 2016

Dr. Vigilante #3 (VB Publishing) 2016