The Phantom Detective

High atop the Clarion Tower, a blinking red light begins to pulse signaling one of New York City’s most illustrious, vigilante heroes, the Phantom Detective. In reality, he is Curtis Van Loan, a debonair playboy millionaire well known in the society columns of all the major dailies. What is hidden from the public is Van Loan’s dedication to law and order. A decorated combat pilot during World War I, he is an expert fencer, ju-jitsu master and speaks a dozen foreign tongues fluently.

Hidden in his Park Avenue penthouse is a secret closet containing clothing of all descriptions and sizes. Along the wall are weapons; automatic rifles, sub-machine guns. There is also a miniature lab along with an extensive make-up kit that allows him to don different faces as his mission requires. Forget the silly Top Hat featured on the old pulp covers, while in action the Phantom Detective wore a belted topcoat, a fedora and black domino mask. He carried a .45 automatic and a hidden knife in his left sleeve.

This popular pulp icon returns now to once more battle villainy and crime in five new cases by Gene Moyers, Whit Howland, Robert Ricci and two from Gary Lovisi. Each recaptures the fun, excitement and thrills of this classic hero from the past—the Phantom Detective!

The Phantom Detective Volume 1 (Pulp Thrills)

By Gary Lovisi, Gene Moyers, Whit Howland, and Robert Ricci

Airship27

ISBN #978- 0997786897

Price $13.23

174 Pages

Rating 4-Stars

This anthology actually contains five stories featuring The Phantom Detective: The Phantom Menace by Gary Lovisi; Circle of Despair by Gene Moyers; Campaign of Destruction by Whit Howland; Harbor Lights by Robert Ricci; and The Devil’s Minions by Gary Lovisi: The Book starts off with a great cover by Pat Carbajal, with some good illustrations inside. My only complaint is that the interior artwork should have featured scenes of action, not just people standing around, or a car parked in front of a building. The pulps gave us many pages of action scenes.

         Gary Lovisi starts the book off with his tale, The Phantom Menace, where the mayor sets the police against the Phantom. But as we quickly learn, he’s getting his orders from someone else. Gary always gives us a good story.

         Gene Moyers’ tale, Circle of Despair could have been in a pulp Phantom Detective issue, as far as I’m concerned. It’s my favorite yarn in this anthology because the author did his homework, and this even smells like pulp. There were more than the usual editing problems in it, but not enough to damage the story. Oh, the Phantom becomes the Shadow at one point, which should have been caught by an editor. Twenty years previous to this tale taking place a group of college friends belonged to an un-American group, and now someone is blackmailing them, and a reporter may have discovered it. Now someone is killing off members of the old group, and it’s up to the Phantom to uncover the murderer.

         Campaign of Destruction by Whit Howland is another plot with the crooks trying to turn the people against the Phantom. They’re running their own man against the current mayor, and trying to prove he’s done nothing to stop the Phantom and crime. Dan Fowler is in town checking on some things, too, and ties up with the Phantom. There’s plenty of action in this tale with enough purple prose to fill a real pulp yarn. Steve Huston, Muriel Havens and her father are in this one too. It is a nice little pulp yarn.

         Robert M. Ricci’s Harbor Lights is my least favorite in the anthology. Basically it’s a tour and history lesson of Boston. Yes, the Phantom comes to Boston in search of Muriel Havens and Steve Huston who have been taken prisoner. A weak plot, and the author says that Frank Havens doesn’t know the identity of the Phantom, so he hasn’t done his research. Frank Havens got Dick Van Loan started as the Phantom. Surprisingly, he does bring in a character not many people know, Jerry Lannigan, a mechanic in Van Loan’s unit in WWI. Lannigan only made a few appearances in the novels, and I liked the character, so it was a pleasure to see him brought back in this story. Oh, we get to meet a young Jack Kennedy also.

         Gary Lovisi is back for the final story, The Devil’s Minions. The Phantom has a lead on a second-story thief, and is watching an apartment when he sees the thief exit a window and come down the fire escape. But then a cop enters the alley and talks with the thief. They are in cahoots, and speak of their boss, the Devil. The thief wants out, so the cop kills him. The Phantom captures the cop but an assassin kills the cop before he will talk. When Van enters the Clarion there’s a new secretary outside Haven’s office, and she listens in on their conversation. When she quits the job and leaves, she’s captured by the Phantom, but slits her wrists while tied to a chair. Her dying words tell The Phantom that “The Devil made me do it.” Unfortunately, it ends at this point, so I’m not sure if this was supposed to be the full story or merely a come-on for Gary’s next story in Volume Two.

         And I do hope there is a second volume. Airship27 has released a volume of Dan Fowler, and now The Phantom Detective, and I would like to see more of them both. Yes, there were some minor problems with this volume, but I highly recommend it for pulp fans of The Phantom Detective.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE PHANTOM DETECTIVE COMPANION

The Green Ghost Volume One

The Green Ghost Volume One

By Michael Panush, Greg Hatcher, B.C. Bell, Erwin K. Roberts

Airship 27

ISBN #978-0615993300

Price $15.29

172 Pages

Rating 4-Stars

The Green Ghost originally appeared in the early 1940 pulp magazines from Ned Pines’ Standard Magazine line. The author was G.T. Fleming-Roberts, whose name was appearing in many pulps of the day. He had already written a good chunk of Secret Agent X yarns over at Ace Magazines before starting The Ghost/Green Ghost stories. The Ghost was George Chance, famous stage magician, who now and then took on the guise of a mysterious crime fighter, with the aid of several friends. Fleming-Roberts was a master of mysteries with hidden motives behind the crimes. There are four stories in this volume by different authors.

“The Phantom Elephant of Coney Island” by Michael Panush gives us an odd story about a phantom elephant haunting an abandoned amusement park. Chance, Harper, and Tiny Tim go there one night to catch the ghost, and find a group of old carnival freaks hiding out, and a mobster trying to destroy the park, even if he has to kill the freaks. To be honest, the story was terrible. George Chance reveals the long-kept secret of his alter ego. There were at least five editing problems in the first two pages, but I’ve come to expect that from all the small press books, and it doesn’t bother me. What does bother me, however, The Green Ghost is ineffective even with his aides helping him; it’s a wonder there was a conclusion to the story. But thankfully, it did come to a merciful end.

“The Case of The Ectoplasmic  Escapist” by Greg Hatcher. Magician George Chance is invited to a museum honoring one of his mentors, Barry Bourdain, who died performing his trade magic act several years previously. In fact, all of the magicians he mentored are invited to Bourdain’s gothic mansion for a party. Chance believes his old friend was murdered, and the tragic magic act was not an accident, so The Green Ghost plans to attend the event.

This one was a gem. Chance, Harker, Tiny Tim, and Merry White sound and act like they are supposed to. One sour note was again revealing The Green Ghost’s identity to a fellow magician (and undercover agent), but the story was topnotch.

“The Case of The Rocketeer Ripper” by B.C. Bell. George Chance and Merry White are traveling across country to speak to servicemen about gambling traps around military bases. Their current stop is at Camp Burlington, but they make a stop in the city of Burlington where Judd Walters works as a rocket engineer for the government. Chance had known Walters when he worked at the circus during college. Arriving at his house, an ambulance and police are already there. Stepping from the car, the police chief recognizes the famous magician immediately, and takes him into the murder scene where he finds Walters, his head severed from his body. Now he has a murder to investigate while in the area.

This one needed to be fleshed out more. I think it would have worked better if expanded to a short novel or novel length. For instance, the policeman had never met the famous magician, and newspaper or poster pictures would not be a good image of him. He could not have been instantly recognized stepping from his automobile in a strange town. Nor would the police have let him enter the crime scene. Even the Phantom Detective had to show his badge. But with more space, this could have been an excellent plot.

“Murder In Sound Effects” by Erwin K. Roberts. George Chance, invited to speak on a radio station, finds a dead man during the program. All may not be what it seems at the station. He discovers that Wonderful Bakery, Inc. bought out the radio, and was it’s main sponsor.  He sent Joe to look in on the bakery, and Merry White to check records, while Tiny Tim visited a friend at the library for other information.

            As with the previous story, “Murder In Sound Effects” this one could have used more space to flesh out the story. We are “told” too much of the mystery, instead of seeing things discovered. A character named Johnston becomes Johnson by the end of the story.

Some final thoughts: The book has a great cover by Zachary Brunner, as well as some fine interior illustrations. I still contend that pulp illustrations had action scenes, but we see too many scenes with no action here - a room with people standing around, or eating at a table, or just standing around talking, etc.  The language in a couple of these stories dishonors the old series, as well. I did notice a bit more editing problems than usual for Airship 27 books, but this should not keep the reader from enjoying the volume. The gem of the volume is “The Case of The Ectoplasmic Escapist” by Greg Hatcher. Overall, the issue is a fun read, and I hope we see more volumes in the future. It would also be fun to see B.C. Bell and Erwin K. Roberts expand their novelettes into novel length adventures.

Tom Johnson

Echoes Magazine

The Crimson Mask Volume One

The Crimson Mask Volume One (Crime Fiction)

By Terrence McCauley, Gary Lovisi, C. William Rosette, and J. Walt Layne

ISBN #978-0615909639

Airship27 Productions

Price $15.29

172 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Pulp Hero Returns In New Adventures”

In this anthology containing four new stories featuring the Crimson Mask, a character pulp that originally ran from August 1940 to January 1945, created by Norman Daniels but written by various pulp scribes for 16 tales. The hero is pharmacist, Doc Bob Clarke, who put on a red domino mask to bring justice to criminals after they kill his policeman father.

Terrence McCauley brings us The Crimson Mask Takes Over, a nice yarn, with a solid feel of the time period. Then Gary Lovisi brings us an interesting yarn, The Mystery Man, about a bank robber with deeper plans. C. William Rosette’s story, The Blood of The Mob has good action, and keeps us turning the page. The final story, J. Walt Layne’s Carnival of Lost Souls was a bit muddy, and very little action from our hero, though an interesting tale.

All in all, the stories were pretty good, and I’m glad to see the Crimson Mask back for new adventures. Since this is volume one, I’m hoping there will be a volume two down the road. There were some minor problems with this volume, but nothing too extreme. I wasn’t sure when some of the stories take place. Rosette’s story included ex Army Rangers, which was curious, as Darby’s Rangers were started in 1942, so for us to have ex Army Rangers you would figure it had to be after 1945. Could be, but curious none-the-less. The lack of action in Layne’s story was a bit of a drag too. The story actually begins in the winter of 1932, eight years before the Crimson Masks began (hmmm). The cover by Andy Fish was pretty nice, but the interiors, though good art, left a bit to be desired. Most of the scenes illustrated were non-action scenes. The pulp interior art always featured our hero in action, not standing around talking or otherwise. I liked the art, but think the artist illustrated the wrong scenes too often.

Overall, this is a fine anthology of Crimson Masks short stories, and highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

Gideon Cain

Gideon Cain (Adventure)

Various Authors

Airship27 Cornerstone Books www.airship27.com  

ISBN #978-193435743

Price $21.95

182 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

Gideon Cain is modeled after Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane. He is a 1600s Puritan, attempting to find and destroy the demon, Azazel. This volume contains seven stories by varied authors: The Girl In The Glass Coffin by Ian Watson; The Scrolls of Destiny by K.G. McAbee; The Shadow of The Valley of Death by David Wright; The Cave of Ssesaterus by Scott Harris; The House of The Witch by James Palmer; The Work of The Devil by Brian Zavitz; and The Red Flame of Death by Van Allen Plexico; plus a poem, Gideon Cain, by David Wright.

This was a nice production, well edited, and all the stories were highly enjoyable. In picking a favorite I was tied between The Scrolls of Destiny by K.G. McAbee and The Work of The Devil by Brian Zavitz. Actually, both had Krakens, a plus for any story. The winner was The Scrolls of Destiny by K.G. McAbee. But great stories all. The interior art by Rod Davis was also fantastic. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Echoes Magazine