The Freedom Alliance

Freedom Alliance

Creator: Steve Mitchell

Characters

Thorn

Archon

Scarlet Sigil (Spencer Adams)

El Segundo (Estaban Marinda)

Night Master

Domina

American Tribune

Mara Steele

Undine

Dark Walker

Blue Blazer (killed)

Battlewing (killed)

Veil (killed)

Atom Boy

Corona

Eidolon

Sekhunet

Aura Rhenes (evil demon queen of illusions)

            Thorn was tall, strongly built, with jet black hair and cold gray eyes. He wore a business suit, trench coat, and hat. Across his face, around his neck, and over his hands, were inscribed hundreds of small purple marks – a seemingly endless repetition of an ancient rune known to the Teutonic and Norse and Anglo-Saxon people as Thurs, Thurisaz – and Thorn. He held a blackshorn staff in his left hand, and a long dagger hung from a sheath at his belt. Thorn was a member of Freedom Alliance, now disbanded.

            The Scarlet Sigil was colorfully garbed; tall and spare, he was clad in a black tunic and leggings, with a red cape and hood. His true name is Spencer Adams, and he was also a member of Freedom Alliance.

            Archon was another member of Freedom Alliance, but no description is given, and he did not appear in the story I read.

            There were several stories written in the series, the heroes fought against demons and spirits, Thorn is after a spirit that has taken over the woman of a human, killing the woman in the process. The spirit cannot be killed, only arrested for a period until she resurfaces.

“The Last Days of The Freedom Aliance” DOUBLE DANGER TALES #47

“In The Bleak Mid-Winter” DOUBLE DANGER TALES #49

“The Interview”* DOUBLE DANGER TALES #62

“Feast of The Devil” DOUBLE DANGER TALES #63

(Note* In “The Interview” we are told some information about The 

El Charo

El Charo

Creator: Octavio Ramos Jr.

Characters

Carlos Angel Cisneros

Arsenio Morales

Cruzita

            Carlos Angel Cisneros, an American, is drunk in a bar in Mexico when the bouncer decides to beat him up and use the American’s money to buy drinks for the house.

            An elderly Filipino man named Arsenio Morales entered the bar to see the young man’s plight. He was small, maybe five feet tall, very thin, almost emaciated. Gray hair, and slit eyes, a small nose and thin lips. He wore a multicolored shirt and gray trousers. In his right hand rested a cane. Made of hickory, the cane’s crook was wider than the average walking stick. Its horn was not round but led to a wicked point. Next to the crook and along the shaft were several grooves designed for rotating the cane with ginger fingers. It was a fighting staff.

            Morales rescued the young Cisneros and took him home to live with him and his niece, Cruzita. There, for the next five years the American is trained by the old man in the fighting technique of Morales Kali, which uses hand, sword, staff, and mind against an opponent.

            At the end of five years, Morales instructs Carlos to take Cruzita to the dance, but he must dress as a charo. This included a Spanish-styled hat, a silky white shirt, a lot cut coat studded with rhinestones, tight fitting pants also studded with rhinestones, and a pair of obsidian boots.

            The bouncer who had beaten him five years ago was also at the dance, and recognizing the American dressed like a clown, he wanted to beat him again. This time, the American was El Charo, and his fighting technique proved superior to the larger brute.

            There have only been two stories so far that I am aware of.

El Charro Genesis    DOUBLE DANGER TALES #30

The Drug Interdiction DOUBLE DANGER TALES #33

The Domino Mask

The Domino Mask

Creator: Ray Capella

Characters

Dominic Orwell

Baryl Chessman

Toshiro Segawa

Herb Chessman

            Dominic Orwell is under thirty, medium build, deep black eyes, with wide shoulders and granite jaw. A crystal had been passed down through his male ancestors that seems to be connected to their inner beings. It gives them the ability to teleport, as long as they can see the place where they want to be. That power now belongs to Dominic.

            The Domino Mask is a trim figure from the black soft-soled boots to the skin-tight hood covering all but his eyes. A white dot over the center of the man’s sternum interrupted the dark fabric that clothed him. The dot flashed in a swift iridescence of color.

            One night, a year ago, Dominic was riding the rails as a hobo, the liquor still on his breath, when he saw several men attempting to kidnap a young blonde girl in riding attire. An Asian man was with her, and fighting the kidnappers in a strange oriental style, but was knocked out by a blackjack. He knew the Asian was protecting the girl, and now she was alone. Using the power of the crystal, he materializes close to the man still standing and knocks him out.

            Turning his life around, Dominic now works as a columnist for the Star News, and trains in martial arts with Baryl Chessman’s bodyguard, the Asian who had defended her that night a year ago. Baryl’s father, Herb Chessman had been with the Chicago mob, but wanted to break away from crime and the evil it begets, but his old pals are still after him.

            Toshiro Segawa had met Herb Chessman in the city’s slum district, as both were trying to stop the flow of drugs. Toshiro’s son was using, and he joined forces with the elder Chessman and became Baryl’s bodyguard.

The Domino Curse  CLASSIC PULP FICTION STORIES #23

The Domino Legacy DOUBLE DANGER TALES #9

Beware The Domino Mask DOUBLE DANGER TALES #10

Three ‘Domino’ Masks Too Many CLASSIC PULP FICTION STORIES #42 

New Pulp Heroes

NEW PULP HEROES now available in 280-page paperback from FADING SHADOWS, $12.00, plus $3.99 postage (US). Tom & Ginger Johnson compile 56 essays on new pulp characters, plus 2 essays on villains, plus much more data. Also included are new pulp fiction stories by grandma & grandpa Johnson: “The Mind Master” by Tom, and “The Origin of Mr. Minus” by Ginger. This will only be sold through FADING SHADOWS. This is very likely the first of several books that will chronicle the history of new pulp heroes, and their creators. Order from Tom Johnson, 204 W. Custer St., Seymour, TX or contact fadingshadows40@gmail.com

Tom & Ginger will be on The Book Cave discussing NEW PULP HEROES the week of January 2^nd, 2014. Please listen in. http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/webpage FADING SHADOWS does not get a free ride, we have to pay the printers, it isn’t printed free, and a 280-page book is expensive to print. Not only that, but the friendly person we were working with retired, and left us in the hands of unfriendly people, so we’re now looking for a new printer for our FADING SHADOWS books. We also commissioned and paid for interior illustrations. Due to this added cost, we were forced to limit interior art to six illustrations. If we hadn’t this book would have ended up with a $24.95 price tag. This is a project I proposed three years ago, but it never came about. When the project looked like it was being revived, it looked like a go, but after waiting a reasonable amount of time it appeared interest had again cooled off. I should have released it in time for Christmas, but waiting on another publisher proved fruitless, and we decided to publish our material through our FADING SHADOWS imprint. We’ve been in the publishing business since 1982, and don’t have to rely on others. Time is right for these essays. This volume is only being sold through FADING SHADOWS, so be the first to get your copies. Fadingshadows40@gmail.com

Mask

Mask

Creator: Wayne Greenough

Characters

Mask

Missouri

Wrangler

Roger Blake

Pete (Bartender)

Smithy (Blacksmith)

Sebastian Jones (Newspaper Owner)

Doc Dakota

The Waddy Bushwhackers

Captain Crawford (Rangers)

Tex

Jack Dugay

         “He who looks upon her true beauty shall forever be enslaved.”

The lawless town of Dead’s Man’s Town is ruled over by Jack Dugay, a bull-shaped, bloodshot black eyes and bushy eyebrows of an hombre. He face was covered with a black beard showing gray streaks, and he was fast on the draw, and had killed many men in gunfights.

         Fighting Dugay and his outlaws is a beautiful woman wearing a black domino mask. Only called Mask, she has short wavy black hair well combed and soft. She wears a long sleeved red shirt, and has green eyes that flash fire. She wears a pair of .44s on her hips, and is lightening fast on the draw with both hands. She is also the saloon singer known as Missouri. Her voice is sensuous and low, melodic.

         Wrangler is Mask’s cook, livestock handler, crop raiser, bullet maker, and sometimes sawbones when needed. He has white, unkempt hair, and dressed in leather shirt and homespun trousers. Wrangler is shy of six foot by a couple of inches, and light of weight. He is also lighting fast with a gun. He raised the young girl who would become Mask after her parents were killed by Jack Dugay.

         Roger Blake had been an outlaw and gunslinger before joining the Rangers. Captain Crawford assigned him to bring law and order to Dead Man’s Town, and bring in the notorious Mask, dead or alive. But was he fast enough to take her, and did he really want to?

         Tex rides tall in the saddle. He has black eyes.

         There has only been one story so far, but another is being written.

“Mask” (DEVINE DESTINIES)