I have to admit I missed these two comics when I wrote about the original Avenger novels and the 1970s comics. The first is from the people who published The Avenger Pulps, Street & Smith. Shadow Comics was their most popular and longest running comic book. Doc Savage started off with his own comic but after twenty issues he became one of the strips in Shadow Comics. The Avenger never had his own book but went straight to Shadows Comics. His run there was not long, only five issues. I suspect he was phased out because the comic looked too similar to Doc Savage. It’s really hard to make that clay-face gimmick work. Jack Kirby did it in 1975 but comics had become much more sophisticated in thirty-five years (in large part thanks to Jack.)
1940
“The Yellow Hoard” (Shadow Comics #2, February 21, 1940) based on the novel by Paul Ernst as Kenneth Robeson. A bank is robbed and Nellie Gray is framed for the job. Smitty grabs a man standing by the bank at the time. Using television to hypnotize the man, he admits he is Eddie Carg. He was hired by a man named Borg. This man possesses peanut-sized bombs that blew up the bank. Following the clues from Nellie’s dad’s colleague, Chandler, the trio head to Mexico and a fabulous hoard of wealth. They stop the gang who had plans on the hoard. Borg proves to be working with Chandler. Nellie is cleared but doesn’t appear in the next comic.
“Death in the Glass Mountain” (Shadow Comics #3, May 1940) based on the novel by Paul Ernst as Kenneth Robeson. A team of miners digging a railroad tunnel through Rainod Mountain are attacked by the old rain god of the Pawnees. The miners want to leave when men are found electrocuted as if by lightning. Smitty and Fergus try to stop the miners from leaving. Richard Benson arrives in his plane and has to jump when a radio-controlled drone destroys his aircraft. The local chief proves to be the villain. He and his gang have discovered a natural tunnel in the mountain that would have saved the company ten million dollars. Money he plans to keep. The whole lot of baddies die when water sets off the thermite in the cave. We don’t get to see this. Benson just explains it to his friends. This kind of long-winded explaining is typical of these adaptations since an entire 100 page novel has to be encapsulated in ten comic pages.
“Case of ‘The Frosted Death'” (Shadow Comics #4, June 1940) based on the novel by Paul Ernst as Kenneth Robeson. Two scientists, Veshnir and Targill, accidentally drop a capsule they have been experimenting on. It explodes. Veshnir murders Targill to silence him. Sangarman, an investor along with millionaire Taylor, sees the scientists have bankrupted them. He is struck from behind mysteriously. Meanwhile the capsule’s effects begin to kill people, turning them cold as ice. When Sangarman awakens, Veshnir blames him for Targill’s death. He runs off and hides in Veshnir’s cabin. Sangarman’s daughter, Paulette, hires Benson to clear him. (Nellie makes another appearance in one frame but of no real importance.) Fergus and Smitty investigate and find Taylor dead. To be continued…
“The Avenger Tracks Down the Demon Who Shocked the World With His ‘Frozen Death'” (Shadow Comics #5, July 1940) A cure to the Frosted Death is created but is stolen by a criminal gang, run by Vishnir (Veshnir’s name has changed to Vishnir for some reason.) Benson uses his amazing ability to take on other people’s appearance and assumes the identity of Molan Vogg, a gang member. He infiltrates the gang and rescues Sangarman, who believes he killed Targill and Taylor. Vishnir dies when he becomes infected with the Frosted Death powder and runs into a burning building for the cure. Dividing the story over two issues made better sense. In many ways, this reads like one of Edmond Hamilton’s Weird Tales SF stories with a Doc Savage thrown in for good measure.
“No Title” (Shadow Comics #6, August 1940) begins with a gang of anarchists using a disintegrator ray on buildings to frighten the populace. Politicians call in Richard Benson to stop them. The gang capture Benson, Fergus and Smitty, and try to kill them by running their car off a pier. The trio beat up the thugs then coat their plane in barium stearate. This allows them to fly through the destructor ray and appear to be invisible. Their cloaking device fails and they have to shoot the engine out of the villains plane. They are captured and will be put on trial.
Despite that last caption promising more, The Avenger did not return. as I said above, if you look impartially at the Doc Savage and The Avenger comics side-by-side, they are very similar. Strange hero leader with two sidekicks. The comics trimmed off most of Doc’s crew too. The Avenger comic had Nelly Grey in the first adventure. Too bad she wasn’t really made part of the team. It might have been what it needed to be different. Shadow Comics plugged along with Nick Carter, Iron Munro, Carrie Cashin, Bill Barnes, and of course, Doc Savage and the Shadow for 101 issues (until August 1949).
1973
The Shadow had a famous ( I can’t say big, because it only lasted twelve issues) DC comic in the early 1970s, largely driven by the artwork of Mike Kaluta. Mike only stayed for the first four but continued on covers. By The Shadow #11 (June-July 1975), E. R. Cruz was the interior artist. In that issue, The Shadow runs into another Street & Smith hero, The Avenger. Jack Kirby’s Justice Inc. #1 appeared in May-June 1975. Having Richard Benson guest starring was an intentional way to promote this new title.
“The Night of the Avenger!” (The Shadow #11, June-July 1975) was written by Michael Uslan. Things begins with the Shadow receiving a secret message that an invisible army is mobilizing. He gathers his street agents but they are attacked. They capture the leader of the attackers. It proves to be Smitty! Meanwhile, the Avenger gets a visit from Margo Lane, the Shadow’s girl. She tells Benson the Shadow’s whereabouts. She is a traitor to the Shadow! Benson plans on arresting the Shadow and his men. The two meet, fight but realize they have both been drawn by their real enemy, Shiwan Khan. The two team up to blow up Khan’s getaway submarine. The Shadow disappears as he usually does but Benson promises that if the Shadow crosses the line between vengeance and justice, he will be there to arrest him.
Conclusion
I’m not sure why I missed these comics. They didn’t come up on my radar until I was looking for something else. There is always the chance I will stumble upon more. I am aware of the Avenger comics and stories written after 1975 and will be doing those in their own post eventually. I have admit my eagerness for these is not what it was for the Jack Kirby or Ron Goulart’s stuff.
Updating old heroes to modern times is a challenging prospect. Will Murray has done this while keeping the time frame the same. James Patterson has recently tried it with Doc Savage and The Shadow. (Thoughts?) Some can pull it off. I think of James Rollins’ early books, especially Amazonia, as good examples. Jack Mackenzie’s Wild Inc. is another. That being said, Wild Inc. fans: Jack Mackenzie is about half way through writing novel #3. More surprises soon!
