Friday, January 24, 2014

The New Adventure of The Green Ghost


The New Adventures of The Green Ghost (Mystery)
By Bobby Nash, Don Thomas, Terry Alexander
ISBN #978-1492949336
Pro Se Press
Paperback 5 X 8
112 Pages
Price $9.00
Rating 5-Stars

In this small anthology, Danny Blaney, an ex cop framed by criminals and kicked off the police force, though he was acquitted, has taken on the guise of a masked vigilante called The Green Ghost to go after gangsters. Originally created by Johnston McCulley, the costume is a simple affair consisting of a green hood pulled over his head.

Though not one of my favorite of McCulley’s creations, I am glad to see the series continue with new authors. This volume contains three novelettes: “Manifest Destiny” by Bobby Nash; “My Brother’s Keeper” by Don Thomas; and “Beware … Fixer” by Terry Alexander. In “Manifest Destiny”, someone is torching old buildings in the K-Block near Danny’s Cigar Shop, and The Green Ghost looks into the case. In “”My Brother’s Keeper”, it appears that The Green Ghost, welding a machine-gun, is killing mobsters and the innocent. This brings the real Green Ghost out, and he discovers a maniacal mobster dressed in a green hood like his own, slaughtering indiscriminately. The third story, “Beware … Fixer”, a known killer is releasing a deadly new weapon on the tenements in Danny’s area, and when he goes after the killer, he discovers a deeper plot that involves the whole US.

The stories weren’t bad reading, and the whole package was a nice production.  I really think The Green Ghost deserves a chance to return to print in these new adventures. Johnston McCulley created so many costumed heroes, many were merely carbon copies of each other, and The Green Ghost may have suffered from his own brother competitors.

Tom Johnson
Detective Mystery Stories

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