The Pink Reaper

THE PINK REAPER

Creator: Patrick Thomas

Cast of characters:

          The Pink Reaper aka Kaye Chandler

          Nemesis, goddess of Vengeance, head of Nemesis & Co. aka Leda Troy

          Detective Mydnight

          The Stringer, aka Maxine Franklin, reporter for the Gotham Sentinel

          The Green Hood, criminal, master of manipulation and blackmail

          Rhino Johnson, crime boss

          Zeus, king of the Olympian gods

          Tyche, Goddess of Luck

          The Nightmare aka Michael Shaw

            Seamus Moran, leprechaun and owner of Moran’s tavern.

          The Blue Scorpion

          The Dead Lady

          Shargrin

            and assorted monsters, creatures, thugs and ne’er-do-wells

The Pink Reaper first appeared in the Mystic Investigators book  From The Shadows  in which she teams with Nemesis and John L. French’s The Nightmare. 

To avenge the death of her brilliant scientist uncle, debutante and Olympic athlete Kaye Chandler uses his inventions and some of her own to become The Pink Reaper. Foremost among these is a pink gas that induces fear in those exposed to it, which is worsened by viewing the color pink. Also it heightens certain aspects of the male libido, making it difficult to not stare fearfully at female anatomy, making it difficult for them to focus on anything else but their own terror. The Pink Reaper’s outfit is designed to take full advantage of these side effects. Her large pink metal gun shoots multiple forms of gas (including fear and knockout) as well as electric darts which can stun or even kill. Her cape is made from a material that is flame resistance and bullet proof and she has made protective outfits and weapons for other heroes. The skull on her neck also holds a small supply of gas.

          Relying on her devices and wits, The Pink Reaper fights not only criminals but supernatural menaces. She also lives and runs a soup kitchen in Hell’s Kitchen. The Pink Reaper is a member of the pulp era Nemesis & Co. along with The Dead Lady and Shargrin as well as a member of The League of Shadows.

The Pink Reaper has appeared in:

1) FROM THE SHADOWS (Dark Quest Books, 2012) in which she and Nemesis team with John L. French’s The Nightmare character. *

 (*Virginia E. Johnson has called FROM THE SHADOWS “the best new pulp I've read in years.”)

 2) “The Games People Play” TALES FROM THE PULPSIDE (Dark Quest Book, 2013). This story tells the tale of The Pink Reaper’s first encounter with the Green Hood and the reader meets Detective Mydnight and The Stringer for the first time.*

 (*Ron Fortier has said in Pulp Fiction Reviews that “Tales From The Pulpside delivers what it promises and then some.  Guaranteed to entertain any true pulp fan and hopefully help recruit many new ones along the way.  We would truly love to see more like this.” And calls The Pink Reaper “one of the most audacious pulp characters ever envisioned.”)

 3) “Dysorder” LORE & DYSORDER (Padwolf Publishing, 2011). This story features a modern day appearance of The Pink Reaper, Nemesis and several surviving members of the League of Shadows as they help one of their own take back an afterlife from his goddess ex-wife.

As soon as enough stories have been written and published, there are plans to publish a Pink Reaper collection.

Captain Liberty

Captain Liberty

Creator: Steve Mitchell

Characters

Gardner Grant/Thomas James Wakefield

Angelo Raven (SGO)

Kathleen Murrell (sister of Adam Stone, the original Dreadstone)

Susan Lin (Dreadstone #2)

            We know the story: in 1940 scientist experimented on a young soldier turning him into a super soldier to fight the Axis in Germany. The experiment turned young Gardner Grant into a large, fast, and strong individual they called Captain Liberty. He, along with other heroes, fought the axis powers throughout the war, but at the end of WWII Nazis shot Captain Liberty. Wounded, he was taken to the hospital in Berlin. When the Russians entered Berlin they found him and carried him off to Russia, where he was drugged and brainwashed. For the next 54 years he followed Russian orders in all their skirmishing as Red Wind, killing Americans, South Koreans, and other allies of America, until the Special Coordinating Group in America brought him out of Russia again, and for two years American doctors returned him to h is identity of Gardner Grant.

            Giving Grant the new identity of  Thomas James Wakefield, his SCG contact, Angelo Raven sends him to Bay City under cover as a member of The State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, where he was to again fight an enemy, but this enemy was within America itself.

            Captain Liberty never wore a costume, though occasionally did wear a mask.

            Little information is shared on Angelo Raven, except that she is a black woman and is an agent of SCG, and she only has contact with Gardner/Wakefield prior to leaving for Bay City. In the story, “In  Final Battle”, featuring Dreadstone, The Shape, and Princess Athena, she joins them in the Middle East where they find Captain Liberty.

            Susan Lin is an Asian/American, possibly Chinese. She is short and slim, with glossy back hair that hung down to her shoulders. A mysterious person gave her a ring on a necklace with a stone called a Chintamani, which once belonged to the super hero known as Dreadstone, who had been killed in Afghanistan. Now she has absorbed that hero’s great strength and speed, and becomes the modern day Dreadstone.

            Other heroes are mentioned from the war years, Adam Stone (Dreadstone), Doc Pagan, Athena, Pendragon, the Black Guardian, and Madame 13. It appears that Madame 13 is now also among the living, though all the great heroes had perished after the war.

            A contemporary comic books series from WONDER ADVENTURES, features the exploits of “Captain Liberty, America’s Ace Avenger”.

            There have been three stories in the Captain Liberty series so far:

Captain Liberty DOUBLE DANGER TALES #51

Shadow of The Stone DOUBLE DANGER TALES #55

Four Color Adventure DOUBLE DANGER TALES #59

Number 9

Number Nine

Creator: Sean Danowski

Characters

Paul Highland

Danny

Miss Reeves

Gray eyes behind a domino mask, Number Nine is a master of deception, and a man of countless faces whose own face was not known and never seen by friends, enemies, or the public at large for he was almost always in disguise. Long ago, after the Great War, he had established himself as a crime fighter. During the war he had been assigned to an elite group of airmen, ten men who were sent on a mission behind enemy lines to France. He was the ninth man, and the only one to survive, but ten graves were left in France, leading the military to believe all ten had died. Only one man knew the secret, the officer who had sent them on the mission, Commander Paul Highland.

Vance is a sharp dressed man in fedora, pastel tie, pinstriped suit and leather gloves; the brim of his hat cast a shadow over his face. This was the only name revealed for the mysterious manhunter.

Paul Highland is now the assistant district attorney for the great city. He has a deep, commanding voice.

Danny is a police desk sergeant, and a spy for Number Nine.

Miss Reeves is Paul Highland’s secretary.

The NEW YORK HERALD is the city’s newspaper.

Number Nine uses coded words to identify himself to Paul Highland with, “One from the grave.” Highland responds with, “Who is lost to the living.”

Only one novel was published as a four-part serieal:

“Siege of Satan’s Death Brigade” CLASSIC PULP FICTION STORIES #13, 14, 15 & 16.

The Blue Scarab

The Blue Scarab

Creator: Steve Mitchell

Characters

Garrett Drake

Brett Carter (Drake’s cousin)

Susan Benner (Carter’s fiancé)

Marsha James (Blonde reporter for Crown City Clarion)

Franz Albrecht, a refugee Austrian scientist hiding from Nazis)

When Garrett Drake finished college he returned to Crown City and joined the police department. His father, Detective Captain Michael Drake was gunned down by the notorious Green Mask Ring, and Garrett hunts the killers down as a vigilante wearing a simple mask . Later, Franz Albrecht, a Austrian refugee hiding from Nazis, is rescued by Garrett, the scientist makes him a distinctive and unusual garb to cover him from neck to feet in a substance resembling chain-mail armor. The suit is fashioned from amazing flexible, ultra-light alloy developed by Franz, and he serves as friend and advisor to The Blue Scarab. He’s the only one who knows the Blue Scarab’s identity.

There is only one story so far. Professor William Gregory has invited several people to his home in the country, where he intends to kill them. During WWI, he had been left for dead by his unit as the German soldiers were advancing, but had been taken prisoner, and blamed those who had left him. Only one of them still lived, but their children would pay for their sins. However, unaware that one of his intended victims had invited a friend on the special invitation to a party, The Blue Scarab is also on hand.

Master of Hidden Doom DOUBLE DANGER TALES #50

Nightwind

Nightwind

Creator: Tom Johnson

Characters

Sheriff Steve Mason

Deputy Johnny Southern

Deputy Jerry Taylor

Kim

Karen G. Reynolds

In 1867, Oregon City was just the name of a small community. Settlers had moved in after the War between the North and South, building small shacks near the Salt Fork of the Brazos River. Wagons had brought in lumber and furniture, and brave souls banded together to fight the Comanche and outlaws, and build homes while living in dugouts. The shacks finally got built, and soon other establishments started sprouting up. One of the first was a trading post that eventually became a general store, operated by an Easterner named Powell. Everything else sprung up around the general store.

Across from Powell's General Mercantile store was the Wild Skunk Saloon, set two feet off the ground on wooden porches, the swinging doors open for business. Down the wooden walkway was Scanlon's gun shop, and around the back was a set of stairs leading to an apartment on the second floor, with a sign reading, "Doc Benson". At the end of the street was an open barn, and a heavyset man was shoeing a horse. Evidently, the local blacksmith, though there was no name over the wide portal. A white sign hung from a two-story faded-brown building, calling attention to the Gibson Hotel.

Sheriff Steve Mason is tall and slender, with broad-shoulders and dark hair. He is an hombre with smiling brown eyes and tough as they come. His pa was a white man, but his ma was a Cherokee squaw. Steve ran away from home after his ma died, learned to fight and shoot, cleaning up several border towns. When his pa died, he returned to the ranch to raise horses for the cavalry. He was lightning fast on the draw. After the war a lot of gunfighters showed up to draw on him! It became a regular thing, him being an Injun and all. And he was getting a reputation as a gunfighter. One day a gunman showed up itching for a gunfight and drew down on Steve in the middle of the street. Without hesitation, he drew and shot him smack between the eyes, then found out the kid was only fifteen years old, but big for his age and fast on the draw. But he was still just a kid. Steve took off his gun belt that day, and hung 'em up. He ain't worn his six-shooters since.

Deputy Johnny Southern was decked out with two guns, crossed on his waist, and tied down. His hair was greased and slicked back. A long rifle was in the saddle boot on the side. Johnny was only nineteen. His father had been killed in the war, and his mother died from a broken heart a year later. He didn't want to die for lack of shooting power.

            Deputy Jerry Taylor was mature at twenty-four years of age. He had been a lieutenant in the Confederate Army. Shorter than the sheriff, he had sandy hair and blue eyes. His parents had sent him to the best schools before the war between the North and South, and he was well educated, though cocky. He only wore one gun in a holster on his right, though it was hung low on his side, and he was fast on the draw. In one boot was a small knife kept in a secret scabbard. He marries Karen G. Reynolds – Kagee – after the first story.

Kim: Sheriff Mason’s cook at the ranch was a Priest in a Korean Temple before coming to America, and master of strange fighting techniques!

Bobby is the saloon bartender.

Nightwind: The giant black stallion called Thunder was standing in the moonlight with a rider dressed all in black, from wide brimmed hat, to black boots. A long black cape swirled outwards, blowing in the wind, and a 15-foot bullwhip curled in one hand. A black silk mask completely covered his face. Two pearl-handled Cult .45s were nestled in black holsters on his waist, the only thing besides the silver buckles on the belt that broke the scheme of black in his attire.

Imp is a small creature dressed all in black, a red sash wrapped around his waist. He rides with the mysterious masked rider of the plains.

There has only been one story so far:

Haunted Range (ALTUS PRESS) Pulp Detectives