Conan the Usurper

Conan the Usurper was published in 1967 by Lancer with a painted cover by Frank Frazetta. It was later reprinted by Ace once Lancer ceased publishing operations. The book includes an introduction by L. Sprague de Camp and two short stories solely authored by Robert E. Howard. There are two additional stories included that were manuscripts by Howard that de Camp took it upon himself to edit and complete. 

According to L. Sprague de Camp's introduction in Conan the Usurper, de Camp discovered unpublished manuscripts written by Howard in 1951. With one of the manuscripts, “The Black Stranger”, de Camp took the liberty of editing and re-writing the story as an adaptation into the Conan saga, specifically Aquilonian revolution. Lester del Rey, editor of Fantasy Magazine, made further additions and deletions and published the manuscript as “The Black Stranger”. The story was re-titled to "The Treasure of Tranicos" and included the same year in a Gnome Press hardcover omnibus called King Conan. de Camp explained that the title change was a result of too many of Howard's Conan stories containing the word “black” in their titles. That story appears in this collection as "The Treasure of Tranicos".

In "The Treasure of Tranicos", the titular hero is running through the Pictish Wilderness, crossing Thunder River and brushing up against the Western Sea. Chased by Picts, Conan is shocked when the painted, savage warriors refuse to venture forward. Instead, as if scared of this part of the mountainous shoreline, they retreat. Conan, puzzled by the experience, finds a wooden door recessed into the mountain. Forcing it open, he discovers a dark cavern filled with preserved bodies and shiny piles of hidden treasure. But, he's quickly choked by hands that appear out of a dark mist. Then, Conan disappears for the bulk of the narrative's first half. 

In the next chapters, readers learn that this shoreline is a residence inhabited by Count Valenso. The Count, and his people, became shipwrecked and trapped on the shore months ago. Caught between the ocean and the savage Picts, the Count built a fort and has defended it since. Two rivals appear before the Count's fort, both greedy, savage pirates with a multitude of nefarious crewmen. It turns out that they have read pieces of a treasure map that points to the shoreline's location as home to hordes of precious loot. But, as Conan learned, it might come with a deadly price.

I can see that Howard's original manuscript was borderline Conan material. The Cimmerian isn't necessarily integral to the story, but by adding in a few descriptive details, and a brief mention of Aquilonian history, it works as another installment of the Conan mythos.

The next story in the book is "Wolves Beyond the Border", authored by both Howard and de Camp. Technically, it's in the same fictional universe and mentions the hero, but Conan doesn't actually appear in the story. It takes place along the Pictish border. For Hyborian Age rookies, the Picts are similar to the Native American tribes of the North American continent in the 1500-1800s. If you read early frontier novels by the likes of James Fenimore Cooper (Leatherstocking Tales) or later, traditional westerns by Zane Grey (his Border Trilogy for example), the narratives mostly consist of early settlers and pioneers struggling to live in the same territorial regions as Native American tribes. So, Robert E. Howard used this as a blueprint when creating Conan stories like “The Treasure of Tranicos” and “Wolves Beyond the Border”. The Pictish borders are similar to the surrounding areas of North America's early Ohio River Valley.

This story is told in first-person narrative by a border ranger. In the early pages, this ranger (unnamed and referred to as Gault Hagar's son) witnesses a bizarre ritual by the Picts, where they torture a man and then magically place him in the body of a snake. It is a disturbing, horrific passage that surpasses even the mad-scientist terrors lurking in “The Scarlet Citadel”. This ranger sees that an Aquilonian named Lord Valerian is conspiring to secretly ally with the Picts. This is important because the story is set during a time when Conan was attempting to overthrow Aquilonia's leaders and become the new king. An alliance of Picts and Aquilonian noblemen doesn't promise success for Conan. 

At nearly 60 paperback pages, the story becomes bogged down and convoluted in the middle. The ranger hero confronts Lord Valerian and Pictish leaders at a swamp cabin and there's a fight and a capture. The beginning and end are exciting skirmishes and chase sequences, but overall I found the story to be of middling quality.

"The Phoenix on the Sword" follows. In 1929, Robert E. Howard submitted a story called "By This Axe I Rule" to magazines like Argosy, Weird Tales, and Adventure. The story starred King Kull, the hero of Howard's published story, "The Shadow Kingdom", which is arguably the grandfather of the sword-and-sorcery genre. "By This Axe I Rule" received the same cold shoulder as 10 of Howard's other Kull manuscripts. Instead of giving up on the story, Howard modified the manuscript to include a different king, a dark haired barbarian called Conan. The story was re-titled as "The Phoenix on the Sword" and published by Weird Tales in December, 1932.

The story begins with an outlaw named Ascalante formulating a plot to assassinate King Conan of Aquilonia, a country that has turned against their king due to his foreign heritage. The Rebel Four (Volmana, Gromel, Dion, Rinaldo) all feel as though they are employing Ascalante's services. In reality, Ascalante plans on betraying the killers so he can seize the crown for himself. Ascalante's ace-in-the-hole is Thoth-Amon, an evil wizard he has enslaved to do his bidding.

A number of events occur that aid King Conan in escaping the assassination. A dead sage (ghost?) appears before Conan and warns him of the plot, allowing the barbarian king to prepare for their arrival. Additionally, this dead sage singes Conan's sword with the symbol of the phoenix, a tribute to a God named Mitra. At the same time, Thoth-Amon gains back a magical ring he lost years ago. To exact revenge on Ascalate for enslaving him, he conjures a large ape-like creature to venture out to hunt and kill Ascalante. All of this culminates in a bloody and vicious fight in Conan's throne room as he battles the Rebel Four, Ascalante, and sixteen of his rogue warriors. 

Obviously, there's a lot to digest over the course of this 9,000 word short story. In the manuscript's original form as "By This Axe I Rule", the magic element is absent, replaced with a simpler approach of Kull being warned of the assassination plot by a slave girl. Perhaps the story was too simple for Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright. Thus, Howard injects a magical pageantry to the tale, mystifying readers with political intrigue, monstrous mayhem, and a violent hero to cheer. The story is beautifully constructed with all of these moving, intricate parts blended together to create an artistic apex. This is Howard in brilliant form.

The last story is "The Scarlet Citadel" written solely by Howard. It was originally published in the January 1933 issue of Weird Tales. It was later included in the King Conan (1953) omnibus. The story was published more recently in The Conan Chronicles Vol. 2 (2001) and Conan of Cimmeria Vol. 1 (2003).

“The Scarlet Citadel” features Howard's famed Conan the Cimmerian in a much later period of his life. Readers discover that Conan is now an older, wiser warrior that has taken the crown of Aquilonia. King Conan receives a message from the king of Ophir claiming that the emperor of the nearby region Koth is threatening his kingdom. Ophir needs Aquilonia's assistance, so King Conan generously leads an army of 5,000 knights to fight Koth's invasion. 

Upon arrival, Conan discovers that it was a trap. Both Ophir and Koth's leaders were working together to ensnare the hero. Their secret weapon is Tsotha-Lanti, an evil sorcerer that captures Conan and places him in a deep, multi-chambered dungeon in a high tower. It is here that Conan experiences horrifying creatures that have been created or altered by the “mad scientist” Tsotha-Lanti. His biggest rival is a giant, slithering serpent that seems to guard the dungeon's cavernous hallways. 

In an attempt to escape, Conan frees a powerful wizard named Pelias. In a short backstory, Pelias explains to Conan that he was a rival of Tsotha-Lanti before being captured and imprisoned for ten years by the mad sorcerer. As the story continues, there's a prison escape, Conan riding a flying dragon (?), and an epic showdown as Conan and Pelias extract their revenge.

This story is on par with “The Tower of the Elephant” and “Rogues in the House” in terms of pure storytelling excellence. The escapism, extraordinary sense of adventure, and suspenseful dungeon horror are key elements that catapult the story into the higher echelons of Howard's literary showcase. His attention to detail grips the reader with an ominous overtone that promises nothing short of death and bloody destruction. Howard's lengthy paragraph describing Tsotha's castle overlooking the city, its lone road with steep, daunting hills on each side, makes for an impregnable tomb. This description makes Conan's dazzling, unorthodox escape more powerful and entertaining. 

Overall, the quality of both "The Phoenix on the Sword" and "The Scarlet Citadel" make Conan the Usurper a must-have book. However, at this point in time you can easily obtain these two stories in other editions, including the fantastic collections published by Del Rey. The other two stories aren't mandatory reads and serve as filler to pad out the page count. If you are a Conan completist you probably need this book just for Frazetta's painted cover alone. Recommended. Get the book HERE.

Ranking May Reads

In the video, Eric counts down his top book reads from May, ranking them from worst to best. He shares brief reviews, shows the book covers, and provides publication history and reprint details for each vintage paperback. Stream below or watch on YouTube HERE.

The Terminator #03 - The Kill Squad

Dennis Rodriguez wrote the six-book series The Terminator using the name John Quinn. The series was published by Pinnacle between 1983-1984. Thus far, I'm batting .1000 with hits in all three series installments I've read – Mercenary Kill, Silicon Valley Slaughter, and Crystal Kill. I was glad I found the third book, The Kill Squad. It was published in September 1983 with cover art by series regular Bruce Minney. 

The villains in The Kill Squad are international political assassins that live in the U.S. Under the disguise of being “weekend warriors”, these killers live in a camp in rural Arkansas. It's here they have recruited rednecks from town to join them in this survivalist dream of planning for an inevitable U.S. invasion from the bad commies. It's funny – the baddies HAVE invaded and living under the noses of the paranoid small town America. They even threaten the local hick sheriff to allow them free reign.

Rodriguez has a number of characters thrown into his violent narrative. First, a rogue town resident has spilled the beans to a friend in New York, a D.A. who wants to expose the survivalist camp. The killers, led by a crazed lunatic named Max, find the townie and the D.A. and ice them both. Next, they track down the townie's sister and girlfriend and kill them. This is the long way of how The Terminator, Gavin, gets involved. Remember, Gavin is a retired C.I.A. assassin that wants to pursue easy living in the mountains reading books and banging his girlfriend. Terminating the bad guys isn't something he sets out to do in these books. 

Gavin heads to New York first and gets into an amazingly (read that as savagely violent) well-written fight with the two killers in an apartment. I'll never look at my kitchen knives the same. Next, he heads to Arkansas and gets in the fight through a woman named Pam. She was raped by the bad guys and, to add lime juice to wound, they murder her father. This plot and takeoff was just fantastic. Unfortunately, Rodriguez doesn't stick the landing.

Gavin's placement in Arkansas is wasted. He doesn't do much to protect Pam, all these innocent characters pretty much become raped or killed, and the excitement of breaking into the camp and bashing brains takes place on pages 190 through 194. The problem? There are 199 total pages in the book. I was expecting so much more after this 190 page set-up and it was all just a big waste of time. I can't completely obliterate the book or Rodriguez's writing because it mostly worked. This was just terrible execution. The Kill Squad was The Kill Flop. Read at your own risk.     

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 120

In this episode, Eric explores the life and career of Lou Cameron, a comic book artist who became a prolific paperback writer and pioneer in the adult western genre. He also reviews a Booktuber, showcases his latest used book acquisitions, and discusses the newest issue of Men's Adventure Quarterly. Stream below, watch on YouTube HERE, or download HERE.

Listen to "Episode 120: Lou Cameron" on Spreaker.

Paperback Warrior Primer - Lionel White

I was honored when Stark House Press asked me to write the introduction for the 2022 edition of Lionel White's The Mexico Run and Jailbreak. I wanted to share that write-up with the Paperback Warrior readers and fans that didn't have an opportunity to buy the book. I hope you enjoy it. - Eric Compton

"Lionel White: The Perfect Getaway"

All good things must come to an end. It’s a sentiment that may have been echoed by Lionel White (1905-1985) as he typed the last line of Jailbreak. This aptly titled prison break thriller proved to be White's last novel. It was published in the U.K. in 1976 by Robert Hale as The Walled Yard and in paperback as Jailbreak in the U.S. by the lowly, scrupulous Manor Books. It was a step backward from White's prior, much more prestigious American publishers like New York Dutton (Penguin) and Fawcett Gold Medal. Manor Books was mostly reserved for a variety of disposable, low-brow team-commando, western and vigilante men's action-adventure titles. Not something from the esteemed mind and talented fingertips of Lionel White.

In reading Jailbreak, and his late career entry, 1974's The Mexico Run, I questioned if the New York author realized this was the end of the literary road? Can authors sense when the creativity think-tank has become dry? It's hard to imagine that White, an astute, literary powerhouse could have been that obtuse. Could White have theoretically known his career was nearing the end years before drafting Jailbreak? Was that the reasons for the creative change from heist-fiction to something entirely different?

Like other authors that either become complacent with their own style or fail to meet their own expectations, Lionel White became aware that he had written himself into a corner. Beginning with his 1952 novel, Seven Hungry Men!, published as a Rainbow Digest and later re-printed by Avon as Run, Killer, Run, White launched a successful career that seemingly elevated, or at the very least defined, what we now consider heist-fiction, or simply “caper novels.” 

White's classic novels, which were influences for Donald Westlake's own revolutionary heist-fiction series Parker (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark) and critically-acclaimed writer and director Quentin Tarrantino, featured anti-heroes planning extensive crimes like robbery or hijacking. These books were nearly step-by-step blueprints showcasing not only the scheming and strategics of committing the crime, but also the mental capacities criminals possess. 

White's caper novels possessed an uncanny transcendence from real-world crimes to printed page. These bank robberies, diamond heists, kidnappings and hijackings come to life through supreme, suspenseful storytelling that forces readers to sympathize, cheer, or jeer these anti-heroes in their pursuit of fortune and high-level criminality. It is these types of stories that calculatedly blend the criminal elements, emotional anguish, and melodrama with unexpected levels of violence and unrest to create the ultimate, satisfying crime-fiction formula. 

Caper plot-devices became a mainstay in White's narratives, reaching a proverbial peak with White's career highlight and genre high-water mark, 1955's Clean Break. In that novel, an ex-con plans a high-stakes robbery at a horse-racing track. The dangling carrot is $2 million bucks, which comes with a number of complications among the plan's faulty moving pieces. It was adapted into the film The Killing directed by iconic filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. 

White's other heist novels were equally as entertaining, including – The Big Caper (1955), Operation -Murder (1956), Hostage for a Hood (1957), and Steal Big (1960). Due to his sheer perfection of inventing riveting fictional crimes and the compelling people who plan and execute them, White found his niche, but the ability and freedom to tell a different type of story was confounded by reader and publisher requests for more heist-fiction. White was trapped in his career trajectory, but wanted to explore his literary boundaries. 

One of crime-fiction's overused plots was the “innocent man on the run” routine. Authors like Henry Kane and Day Keene both recycled the concept, and in 1957 Lionel White utilized the idea for his novel The House Next Door. He used it again in 1962's Obsession, the basis for the French film Pierrot Le Fou (Pete the Madman). Both novels saw White exploring fictional ideas outside of his moneymaking wheelhouse. Other non-heist novels like The Merriweather File (1959), Rafferty (1959) and Lament for a Virgin (1960) are all well-received by crime-noir readers, but failed to meet the high expectations of White's loyal heist-fiction fans. 

By the late 1960s, White's collective body of work was impressive and studded with high-shelf heist-fiction. But, the idea of continuing to write these types of stories for another decade was probably creating some personal angst. I liken it to the same problem that bestselling western author Louis L'Amour was confronting. 

In 1974, after 25+ years of range wars, cattle drives, brutish gunfighters, and frontier Indian skirmishes, L'Amour had become complacent with telling the same tales and decided to switch creative direction. Despite his publisher's wishes, L'Amour ended his career writing early American history novels about a fictional Sackett family arriving in North America in the early 1600s as well as a high-adventure, modern novel called Last of the Breed, set in the Soviet Union. In late interviews, L'Amour had plans for more books set in America's Revolutionary War and Civil War.

In the same year that Louis L'Amour was bucking his trend, Donald Westlake issued a temporary farewell of sorts when his novel Butcher's Moon was published. The novel ended a 16 book run that saw his Parker series of heist-fiction simply disappear for over 20 years. Like White, Westlake needed some breathing room and an escape from the same character and series that earned him so much respect and success. While not career ending, Westlake simply wanted to pursue other projects that were sidetracked due to the immense success of Parker.

Following suite, White's very different novel The Mexico Run was published in 1974 by Fawcett Gold Medal. It proved that the author, while not crafting traditional heist-fiction, was still edgy and entertaining. By exploring the more modern, violent savagery of drugs and human trafficking, White was able to explore different storytelling during the sunset of his career. While it will never be mistaken for White's career best, The Mexico Run is a fresh and enjoyable prose with a remarkable twist ending that hits like a lead pipe. Instead of small town banks, urban jewelry stores, or vulnerable vehicular settings, White's workman hero frequents seedy Mexican motels and abandoned coastal villas. The narrative is devoid of robbery or hijacking, the nearly mandatory staples of White's career. The Mexico Run delves into drug cartels and runners (mules), and has a different type of heist, this one involving illegal entrance in and out of U.S./Mexican Customs.

Two years later, his farewell novel Jailbreak involves cons planning to escape from prison. Like his heist formula, White builds the team, introduces the key players, and outlines the strategy for a successful break. But, there's a more modern realism that borders on action-adventure instead of a suspenseful safe-crack or getaway plan. The main character isn't quite an anti-hero, but more of a protagonist that is simply stealing a priceless object – freedom. The novel possesses a lot of gritty, prison terms and behavior, elements that typically wouldn't saturate a 1950s crime-noir paperback. 

White's last streak of publications included The Mind Poisoners (1966), which was an installment of the long-running Nick Carter: Killmaster series of spy adventures. Other non-heist novels included The Crimshaw Memorandum (1967), Death of a City (1970), and A Rich and Dangerous Game (1974). 

Both The Mexico Run and Jailbreak, represented here in this Stark House Press twofer, represents White's honesty with himself. Both of these novels are good enough to compete with his contemporaries, and in some author lists, would even foster career bests. He left behind a legacy of phenomenal crime-fiction literature, what many critics, scholars and fans would consider some of the best heist-fiction of all-time. 

Sensing his career's downward slope, Lionel White retired from writing shortly after Jailbreak's release. But, he did it his way and purged all of his remaining creativity in those final years. He told the stories he wanted to tell, broadened his literary approach, and refused to be cornered. He successfully cracked the safe and made the perfect getaway.

Eric Compton
St. Augustine, FL

July, 2022

Carmody #01 - The Slavers

Peter McCurtin’s Carmody series was a knockoff of the Lassiter western series written by several authors, including McCurtin, under the house name Jack Slade. The first in the series was released in 1970 and remains available today as a cheap ebook.

Carmody is differentiated by other western series titles by the first-person hardboiled narration from our hero. McCurtin is clearly trying to mimic the popular narrative style of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer that was selling quite a few books at the time.

As a main character, Carmody is a benevolent outlaw who is thrust into situations where he is forced to set aside his criminal nature and be a hero. In The Slavers, it’s 1885 in New Mexico and Carmody reconnects with an old buddy who discloses that their mutual friend, a Navajo Indian (a Christian!) was killed and his wife and daughter has been enslaved. Together, they devise a plan for Carmody to save the girls.

McCurtin does a nice job giving readers a quick history regarding the legality and practice of taking and holding Indian slaves. Short version: Enslavement of Native Americans was completely forbidden, but not always strictly enforced, by 1885. The Civil War is long over, Santa Fe had rudimentary plumbing, and an early automobile had been invested in Europe. This was a new era.

All roads lead to the involvement of the town’s wealthy rancher, Thatcher McKim, and his goons fall like dominos under the hail of bullets from Carmody. The tough guy dialogue and patter throughout the novel was simply superb. The explosive set-pieces split the difference between classic westerns and the violent novels forthcoming in series titles like Edge.

Overall, Carmody is a hero worth reading, and The Slavers made me happy to have a new old series to collect and enjoy. Get the paperbacks HERE and digital HERE.

The Hard Corps #02 - Beirut Contract

Chris Lowder and William Fieldhouse, writing as Chuck Bainbridge, had to use 320 pages to unveil The Hard Corps team in the series debut. That book, which was published by Jove in 1986, was an entertaining team-commando novel that showcased the strengths of a five-man group of mercenaries operating out of the Pacific Northwest. The next year both writers were back at it again delivering the next installment, Beirut Contract, in a thinner and more manageable 179 pages.  

The novel is dedicated and inspired by the events surrounding Colonel Art “Bull” Simons, the legendary military strategist and combatant that helped mastermind the freeing of two American men from Iran (described in Ken Follett's On Wings of Eagles in 1983) for Texas businessman Ross Perot. 

In this paperback, a wealthy New York publishing executive named Banks is informed that his daughter Georgette has been snatched by a terrorist group calling itself the Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Lebanon. On page, readers experience the turbulent gunfight leading to her capture, orchestrated by a madman named Abdul. In the early sequence of events it is suggested that Georgette's capture will lead to a negotiation and ransom netting millions for the terrorist group. 

After a U.S. Delta Force plan fails, due to an American media leak, Banks takes the matter into his own hands and seeks help from the Hard Corps team. What sets this action-adventure series apart from others is that this team works with the U.S. government. While the team works clandestine missions, they aren't violating or breaching any type of U.S. diplomatic boundaries. The team is assisted by the military in helping create the rescue plan. Some interrogation scenes involve the heroic mercenaries even operating inside of a U.S. embassy. I really like that aspect of this series. 

The Beirut Contract takes readers on intelligence retrieval missions to drill down a specific location that Georgetta is in. While I didn't quite understand some of the logic, the end result was an explosive novel featuring several violent gunfights as the good guys stop the mean 'ole baddies. It is simple entertainment written with a clear consumer base in mind. The bigger the bang the bigger the bucks. This one was effective and entertaining and that's all one can ask for.  Get these books HERE.

Men's Adventure Quarterly #12

The Men's Adventure Quarterly Magazine are highlights of my year. Thankfully, the boys behind this amazing publication put in the hard work and are dedicated to keep these books coming. This is the quarterly magazine edited by both Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham that focuses on vintage men's action-adventure magazines, but delves into other media like paperbacks, comics, films, and books about books. Guest contributors in this issue are James Reasoner, David Avallone, John Harrison, David Spencer, and Paul Bishop. Every MAM Quarterly has a theme. Prior issues were dedicated to themes like juvenile delinquents, spy, vigilante, Vietnam War, and western. This one is right up my alley. It is the Private Eye Issue. At 160 pages this thing is stuffed with content. I'll hit the surface just to give you an idea of what you get with this amazing issue. 

In the opening pages, Bob Deis gives a thoughtful and mournful farewell to his friend and MAM inspiration, artist Mort Kunstler. The famed artist passed away in February, 2025. Back in 2019, Bob, alongside his editing partner Wyatt Doyle, put together a fantastic book about Kunstler and his career. Bob's message is endearing and one that solidifies the enormous legacy Kunstler leaves behind. He was a talent like no other and he will be sorely missed. 

Bob also rolls into the issue's first short story with an introduction about a real life private-eye named Raymond C. Schindler. Bob delves into the sleuth's life and his appearance in a short story titled "The Case of the Murdering Detective", penned by writer Alan Hynd and originally published in Cavalier in September 1956. Bob and Bill publish that entire story in this issue complete with the amazing original artwork by Norm Saunders. 

I was thrilled to see that Bob included yours truly in an article about popular crime-fiction author Frank Kane. Bob gives a nod to Tom and I and our Podcast Episode about Kane's iconic private-eye Johnny Liddell. Bob gives a little backstory on Kane and the character and even digs into an old Manhunt story featuring the character titled "Party Girl". That story, originally appearing in Manhunt's August 1954 issue was reprinted in Ken for Men in May 1957. Thankfully, Bob turns the favor and reprints the entire story in this issue as well. Of course it is accompanied by amazing artwork by Rudy Nappi featuring men's adventure supermodel Eva Lynd. 

Bob has an article about a rare two-issue men's adventure magazine titled Private Eye. The issues were November 1959 and April 1960. Bob writes about the magazine and features a story from it titled "Sing a Song of Sex Mail" by an unknown author. 

What I consider the main event of the issue is a book bonus of Michael Avallone's The Tall Dolores. This book bonus is titled "Make Out Mob Girl". The story is introduced by David Spencer and features an excerpt from Spencer's non-fiction work about paperback novelizations aptly titled The Novelizers. The gatefold artwork for the story is by Frank Soltesz. Accompanying this story is an article by Michael Avallone's son David titled "A Little Something About My Father". 

If you are a fan of the Honey West franchise then this issue's MAQ Gallery is a must. There's tons of paperback cover art from books like Dig a Dead Doll and Girl on the Prowl. There's art from TV Guide, an episode guide from the show, and a short story titled "The Red Hairing" which was originally published in the June 1965 issue of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine with art by Leo Morey. 

James Reasoner's article is titled "The Top Ten Western Detectives" and it looks at characters created by the likes of Loren Estleman, Steve Hockensmith, John Reese, Craig Johnson, and A.G. Guthrie Jr just to name a few. Paul Bishop has a detailed article titled "Sherlockian: The Game is Still Afoot!" that examines Sherlock Holmes short story collection Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories, The Fight Card Sherlock Holmes Omnibus, and his own edited book out now titled 52 Weeks 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels. John Harrison's article looks at specific examples of futuristic private eyes, so that adds a little something unique and different to round out the issue. 

As always, with these issues of Men's Adventure Quarterly, high-quality is the absolute goal and every single issue delivers it in spades. I don't know how they do it but Bob and Bill are a terrific duo that put in a ton of hard work to get this to print four times per year. I'm impressed. Again, this is Men's Adventure Quarterly #12 and it's out now. Get it HERE.

Jon Messmann: Vengeance is Mine

The following article appears in the Afterword of the Brash Books edition of the 1973 hard-hitting vigilante novel The Revenger. I wrote this to commemorate not only this series but also Messmann's long and lasting body of work. I hope you enjoy it. - Eric Compton

"Jon Messmann: Vengeance is Mine"

It's a human flaw, either well-conceived or spontaneous, and often is devoid of any real sense of right and wrong. This reactionary process, often spawned by grief and anger, makes it a swinging pendulum that authors can use to transform characters and enthrall readers. This reliable character arc can spur a story into a tumultuous second or third act. The thrills arise from the metamorphosis as the character changes and responds to some sort of emotionally jarring or horrific event.

The concept has remained a steady, consistent staple of literature dating back to ancient Greek tragedies of the 5th century BC. It consumes the third play of the Oresteia trilogy as Clytemnestra kills her husband Agamemnon for the sacrificial murder of their daughter. This sets off a chain of events in which Clytemnestra's remaining children plot to kill her to avenge the death of their father. A compelling, awe-inspiring cycle of violence as family matters turn to splatters.

William Shakespeare's longest play, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is perhaps the epitome of revenge tales. Written between 1599 and 1601, the play's central theme is vengeance – served cold and calculated. Hamlet's dead father appears and explains that Claudius murdered him, thus fueling a desire for revenge. Thankfully, it became a rather complicated, emotional murder plot that propelled the play to eternal popularity.

Fast-forward to the 20th century's Western fiction and the classic revenge story becomes a familiar genre trope. Respected author Frank Gruber (1904-1969) codified the Western plots and includes revenge as one of seven basic plots. Gruber described the revenge story as the pursuit of a villain by an individual he wronged, but mentions that it also could involve elements of the classic mystery story. The protagonist's southern drawl can be heard to say something like, “you're the dirty rascal that shot my pa” or “the bastard had it coming.”

Two stellar Western novels exemplify the revenge plot. Charles Portis' 1968 novel True Grit centralizes vengeance as a 14 year old girl hunts her father's murderer with the aid of a rugged U.S. Marshall. The novel explores the price of revenge and the toll it takes on the avenger. It was adapted twice to film, the first time capturing an Academy Award for John Wayne's portrayal of Rooster Cogburn. Two years later, Clifton Adams won his second consecutive Spur Award for the gritty novel The Last Days of Wolf Garnett (published a year before his death). The plot is simplistic, but presented in an atmospheric, crime-noir way. A man is searching for his wife's killer, the despicable Wolf Garnett. But, he later learns that Garnett may already be dead and his opportunity for vengeance has been stolen. It's as dark as a mortuary drape and explores the seeded, deep longing for vengeance.

In men's action-adventure literature, the undisputed catalyst for the 1970s-1990s vigilante heyday is War Against the Mafia. It was authored by Don Pendleton and originally purchased by Bee Line, who then published the book in 1969 under a subsidiary called Pinnacle Books. In the novel, Sergeant Mack Bolan is serving as a U.S. Army sniper in the Vietnam War. With 97 confirmed kills, he earns the bleak moniker, The Executioner. Unlike the decades of vengeance tales before it, Pendleton incorporated a murder-suicide into the character arc. Bolan's sister and father became financially controlled by the Mafia. The stress and financial burdens provoked Bolan's father into killing his wife and daughter before committing suicide. Bolan learns of the deaths and flies home, never to return to the military. Instead, he becomes a one-man army to exact revenge on the Mob. In essence, it is the classic revenge story modernized.

Early editions of War Against the Mafia suggests the book was originally planned as a one-off. However, the sales solidified the idea that readers desired more of Mack Bolan's vengeance. Later printings would include the #1 to indicate that the book was a series debut. Don Pendleton authored another 36 installments before selling the series to Harlequin. Under their subsidiary, Gold Eagle, The Executioner became the most popular men's action-adventure series of all-time with an astonishing total of 464 installments through 2020.

Beginning in 1970, countless publishers wanted to create another Mack Bolan clone to capture the same success that Pinnacle was experiencing. The Executioner directly influenced countless novels, series titles and publisher demands for more revenge stories with a gritty, violent delivery. Like the pulps of the 1930s and 1940s, these titles needed a tragic origin story to propel the hero into action. Publishers, desperately wanting The Executioner readers and consumers to gravitate toward their titles, pitched their ideas and marketing designs to a revolving door of blue collar, working man authors. Along with the look and feel of a vigilante story, the publishers (including Pinnacle and Gold Eagle) created names for their heroes that sounded similar to the word “Executioner” - Butcher, Terminator, Avenger, Hawker, Dagger, Penetrator, Enforcer, Sharpshooter, Stryker, Ryker, Keller, Peacemaker, Liquidator, Inquisitor. Even Marvel Comics received permission from Pendleton to clone Bolan as The Punisher, one of their most consistently selling comic titles of the last 50 years. Obviously, the prerequisite for any proposed paperback warrior was that the title had to end in the letter R.

Or, in some cases begin and end with that letter. Like, The Revenger.

John Joseph Messmann created The Revenger series in 1973 for publisher Signet, then a division of New American Library. But, Messmann's path to vigilante fiction was the proverbial long and winding road. Born in 1920, Messmann began his artistic career by playing the violin, an extracurricular activity forced on him by his parents. By 1940, Messmann began writing for the up-and-coming comic industry, a period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. His first gig was for Fawcett Comics, an early, successful comic book publisher of that era. His co-workers were a dream-team of comic book icons including Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Chic Stone. Messman wrote for a decade on titles like Captain Marvel Jr., Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Gabby Hayes, Don Winslow of the Navy, Tex Ritter, and Nyoka: The Jungle Girl. He even created a comic strip technique as an education program conducted for the United Nations Information Office.

In 1950, Messmann, now using Jon J. Messmann, co-created Carousel, an 8-page tabloid comics section in the Pittsburg Courier. This featured many of Messmann's ideas including secret agents, historical romance, sea adventure, private-eyes, jungle girls and even fairy tales. Carousel lasted five years and was distributed by New York's Smith-Mann Syndicate. Over time, Messmann was no longer content with the comic industry.

Beginning in the 1960s, Messmann’s transition into paperback, full-length novels began with Lyle Kenyon Engel’s star franchise, Nick Carter: Killmaster. Messmann’s first contribution was the series' 37th installment, 14 Seconds to Hell, published in 1968. The series, authored by a selection of ghost writers under the name Nick Carter, was a firm stepping stone for Messmann. The series paralleled the pulp industry in terms of campy, over-the-top secret-agent action. Messmann’s experience writing comics and comic strips made him a useful workhorse for Engel to rely upon. The author contributed 14 more installments through 1970 before departing the series.

Engel, pleased with Messmann’s production, paired him with another Killmaster author named George Snyder for a series called Hot Line in 1970. The series lasted only three installments with Messmann only contributing to the debut, Our Spacecraft is Missing!. Again, this allowed Messmann to develop a modern secret-agent, in this case a President’s Man type of hero named Fowler. Also in 1970, while writing Killmaster novels and Gothic romance titles (as Claudette Nicole), Messman wrote two books starring a vagabond hero named Logan. They were inspired by John D. MacDonald’s successful character Travis McGhee.

It was just a matter of time before publishing trends would align with Messmann’s literary strengths. His experience in spy-fiction, Gothics, and action-adventure is a product of that era. Genre fiction was consistently reliable for publishers and there were plenty of ideas, authors, and healthy competition. After The Executioner began to develop banner sales numbers for Pinnacle, it was only fitting that Messmann made his own vigilante footprint. In 1973, The Revenger was born.

It’s a mystery on who originally had the idea for Ben Martin, the former military veteran turned Mafia buster. It could be that Messmann had read Don Pendleton and wanted to try his hand or Signet simply approached Messmann’s agent about the story and needed an experienced writer to tell it. By 1973, Messmann had authored books for Award, Fawcett Gold Medal, Belmont-Tower, and Pyramid. He never played hard to get and had a knack for the business dating back 30 years at that point. With the key words “personal tragedy”, “vengeance”, “hero”, “violence”, “sex”, Messmann’s typewriter lit up with possibilities.

Like any 1970s traumatized hero, Messmann’s Ben Martin is a Vietnam veteran. When the series began, it was during the end of America’s involvement in Vietnam’s affairs. Saigon fell. The world moved on. American soldiers were left to rebuild their lives, overcome emotional distress, and become domesticated. Vietnam veterans became the dominant heroes of 1970s and 1980s men's action-adventure literature in the same way that 1950s and 1960s crime-noir was dependent on WW2 veterans. The buyers and readers that were consuming these books could easily identify with these heroes because they shared the same war experience. Arguably, these books served as a type of therapy. These characters, like Ben Martin, understood the “trial by fire” awakening, just like their readers.

When Messmann introduces Martin, he is an honest living, blue-collar family man who owns a grocery store. His nights of silently awaiting targets in a muddy rice paddy are over. But after the character arc, Messmann is transformed from shop owner back into the prowling warrior. By the book’s fiery finale, he’s either alive or dead. Messmann creates this stirring character arc that feeds off of a very personal tragedy. Like Pendleton’s Mack Bolan origin story, it isn’t a straight-up, traditional “you shot up my family” vendetta. In fact, the tragedy is an accident - caused by evil men - but still an accident. Whether anyone would have died otherwise is in the eye of the beholder. But, Martin’s life is deeply affected, and revenge is the only recourse. In these novels, revenge is always the only recourse. Thus, The Revenger rises.

By the end of the bloodshed, the supposed end of Martin’s war, readers are left to arrive at their own conclusions. Why? The Revenger wasn’t planned as a series. There’s nothing to indicate that Signet had any other plans for Messmann or Ben Martin. The paperback's spine, front and back covers and last pages are devoid of anything suggesting this is a series debut. But, it was. Only Signet and Messmann didn’t know it.

At the very least, the sales must have been satisfactory to warrant a sequel. By that point, five more novels became the new goal. Messmann crafted these novels through 1975 with titles that certainly resonate 1970s men’s action-adventure flare: Fire in the Streets (1974), Vendetta Contract (1974), Stiletto Signature (1974), City for Sale (1975), Promise for Death (1975). While revenge is mostly the catalyst for the first novel, Martin’s life continued to be plagued by violence. Each novel builds to a crescendo with revenge as a silent motivator. The protagonist responds with ample destruction in this profession of violence.

As you read and enjoy The Revenger series, a clear genre standout, take note of Messmann’s special treatment of Martin’s psyche. With an uncanny awareness, he delves into Martin’s warrior soul and deciphers dark emotions for the reader. In many ways, Martin could be the most complex vigilante in terms of repressed feelings and temperament. In the second installment, Martin becomes the vigilante, but he doesn’t really want that burden. He dreams of the life that once was, an existence robbed from him by events outside of his control. The old adage “when you look back, it will be what you’ve overcome” is a staple of Martin’s forward outlook, but it’s a reminder of the scars. In reality, Martin realizes that he’s the blood-craving vampire, only it’s revenge that fuels his existence. The emotion makes him alive and whole, ultimately the reason to rise and exist each day. After nights as a sniper in Vietnam, the ongoing war with the mob, and his transformation into a family man, Martin realizes he’s destined to right the wrongs and be the killer of evil. It was the one constant in his life.

Jon Messmann created another character in 1973 as well, Jefferson Boone: Handyman. It's another series standout featuring a U.S. State Department agent extinguishing international flare-ups that could adversely affect America and its allies. It has the same action-oriented intensity as The Revenger, complete with Boone getting laid...a lot. The sexual escapades of both Ben Martin and Jefferson Boone, as well as the Nick Carter series before that, led Messmann to what would ultimately become his meal ticket.

By 1978, adult Western fiction rose to prominence and was led by a series heavyweight in Lou Cameron's Longarm. The concept was simply to incorporate two to three graphic sex scenes into a traditional western paperback. The main character fights the bad guys and pleases the bad girls. Messmann, following the trend, created The Trailsman series in 1980 for Signet. Like Don Pendleton's The Executioner, Messmann birthed an iconic hero in Skye Fargo – lake blue eyes and bed mattress Olympian – and placed him in nearly 400 total installments. Of those, Messmann wrote nearly half up until his retirement in 1998, a testament to his storytelling skills and craftsmanship.

It was rumored that Messmann had never been to the western regions of the U.S., instead writing every Trailsman novel from the comfort of his Manhattan apartment. He would later die at the age of 84 in a New York nursing home in 2004.

New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg and his Brash Books imprint have been doing God’s work for years by reprinting and reintroducing classic novels by forgotten talented authors for modern audiences. Thankfully, Jon Messmann’s stellar body of work has been recognized and included in the publisher’s superb lineup of novels and collections. I can’t think of a more deserving author than Jon Messmann. I also feel that if he were alive today, he would already be writing a new series of heroic fiction for Goldberg and pitching character concepts for another.

The greats like Jon Messmann never ran out of ideas — they just ran out of time.

01/29/2022
Eric Compton
Paperback Warrior

Jon Messmann - Partial Bibliography

As Nick Carter:
Nick Carter: Killmaster #39 Carnival for Killing 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #43 The Amazon 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #44 The Sea Trap 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #45 Berlin 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #48 The Living Death 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #49 Operation Che Guevara 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #50 The Doomsday Formula 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #51 Operation Snake 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #52 The Casbah Killers 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #53 The Arab Plague 1970 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #54 Red Rebellion 1970 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #55 The Executioners 1970 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #57 Mind Killers 1970 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #60 The Death Strain 1970 (Award Books)

Nick Carter: Killmaster #37 14 Seconds to Hell 1968 (Award Books)

As Claudette Nicole:
Bloodroots Manor 1970 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
The Mistress of Orion Hall 1970 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
House at Hawk's End 1971 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
Circle of Secrets 1972 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
The Dark Mill 1972 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
The Haunted Heart 1972 (Pyramid)
The Chinese Letter 1973 (Popular Library)
The Haunting of Drumroe 1973 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
When the Wind Cries 1976 (Pyramid)

As Pamela Windsor:
Forsaking All Others 1977 (Jove)
Rebel's Rapture 1979 (Jove)
At Passion's Tide 1980 (Jove)

Jefferson Boone: Handyman
The Moneta Papers 1973 (Pyramid)
The Game of Terror 1973 (Pyramid)
Murder Today, Money Tomorrow 1973 (Pyramid)
The Swiss Secret 1974 (Pyramid)
Ransom! 1975 (Pyramid)
The Inheritors 1975 (Pyramid)

Canyon 'O Grady series (as Jon Sharpe)
Dead Men's Trails 1989 (Signet)
Silver Slaughter 1989 (Signet)
Shadow Guns 1989 (Signet)

The Revenger:
The Revenger 1973 (Signet)
Fire in the Streets 1974 (Signet)
The Vendetta Contract 1974 (Signet)
The Stiletto Signature 1974 (Signet)
City for Sale 1975 (Signet)
A Promise for Death 1975 (Signet)

Hot Line (as Paul Richards):
Our Spacecraft is Missing! (with George Snyder) 1970 (Award Books)

Logan (as Alan Joseph):
Logan 1970 (Belmont)
Killers at Sea 1970 (Belmont)

Stand-Alone titles:
The Deadly Deep 1976 (New Amerian Librery)
Phone Call 1979 (Signet)
Jogger's Moon (aka To Kill a Jogger) 1980 (Penguin)
The Last Snow 1989 (Random House)
A Bullet for the Bride 1972 (Pyramid)

Non-Fiction:
Choosing a Pet 1973 Grosset & Dunlap

Comics:
Don Winslow of the Navy 1940-1951
Gabby Hayes 1940-1949
Human Torch 1943
Sub-Mariner 1943
Nyoka: The Jungle Girl #50 1945
Tex Ritter 1950

Captain Marvel Jr. 1940-1949

Before It's Too Late

Thus far our experiences with Lou Cameron have been hit or miss. His 1968 police procedural File on a Missing Redhead seems to be the high-water mark of his bibliography, but his 1960 jazzy crime-noir Angel's Flight and the 1976 WW2 combat adventure Drop Into Hell are worthy contenders to the “best of” Cameron claim. However, there have been a number of real clunkers including his 1977 messy cop novel Code Seven and his 1968 abysmal political thriller The Good Guy. For good reasons I cautiously approached his paperback Before It's Too Late. It was published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1970 and promised “hard-hitting suspense”. 

A former MP named Warren earned a Purple Heart for his service in the Vietnam War. He has returned to his quirky hometown because he's flat broke and needs to earn a living. He takes a job at a collection agency and is quickly assigned the job of retrieving a car from a young college student that defaulted on the loan. Warren successfully swipes the car back but finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation when the kid winds up black and blue and very dead. Like most paperback crime-noir cops the local yokels prove to be inefficient at corralling suspects. But, Warren is eventually released and ordered to get out of town. 

Warren sticks around long enough to get wrapped up in another murder, this one being the swanky hot date he just left. But, just as soon as that investigation gets underway he's paired up with an Israeli hottie that may in fact be a spy. Who's she working for? What intelligence does she need in this little college town? Soon more bodies pile up and the town is pointing fingers at Warren. What is happening in Cameron's goofy plot?

Around page 160 of this 176 pager a minor character asks everyone in the room, “What is any of this all about because I don't understand any of it!” That character echoed my thoughts perfectly – I have no idea what this book was about. It is pages and pages of kooky stuff as Warren hunts down leads like an Abominable Snowman (yep!), a Scooby-Doo type of gimmick with grave robbers, the spy-versus-spy cliché, and a group of biker hippies that can't decide if they want to ball or bang him. For the record, while Cameron's writing is a disjointed mess of ideas, this could be one of the dirtiest Fawcett Gold Medal crime-fiction novels I've read - loads of graphic sex and dialogue. Unfortunately, the book sucks. Stay away.

Justin Perry: The Assassin #02 - Vatican Kill

Justin Perry: The Assassin ran five total volumes from 1983 to 1985. The Pinnacle series was authored by George Harold “Hal” Bennett, an African-American writer that used the name John D. Revere. His other novels include This Passionate Land, a 1979 historical romance written under the pen name Harriet Janeway, and his satirical 1970 novel Lord of Dark Places. 

Missing the first book, I ventured into this bizarre men's action-adventure series with the sophomore effort Vatican Kill. In numerous backstories readers are brought up to speed on the titular hero. Justin Perry is a broad-shouldered, trim-waisted 36-year old assassin for the C.I.A.'s Death Squad. The terrorist organization he's been employed to fight is SADIF, which is fitting considering they murdered Justin's wife. As the book begins we learn that SADIF has launched Kill Venus, a spectacular attempt to destroy the planet with a missile. But, as Justin learns, this is just part of Bennett's insane plot. 

The second aspect of SADIF's Kill Venus part is to blow up the Vatican with 5,000 pounds of TNT. To kick off the fireworks, they plan on assassinating the King and Queen of Spain. Apparently this sequence of extraordinary events will launch Earth's Western Hemisphere into the Dark Ages. The whole operation is led by a pervert named Carl Werner, a Nazi that has catapulted himself into the limelight of various military and terrorist cells throughout the Cold War. Now he's planted in the Vatican as a Cardinal and it is up to Justin Perry to stop him.

As much as books like Roadblaster and TNT pushed the boundaries of over-the-top nonsense, Hal Bennett may have gone one step further and obliterated all traces of anything remotely plausible in a men's action-adventure novel. How on Earth did this get published?!?

Let's start with the guns. The book begins with Perry arming himself with a .38 revolver with a ridiculous silencer and a safety. Additionally, he takes this same gun with him to combat a small army of terrorists fortified in an underground cave. A six-shot revolver isn't exactly the best weapon for mass destruction. But, to top that he uses a .22 bolt-action rifle to shoot his targets at 500 yards away. Totally makes sense. 

In terms of character and interaction, Justin sports a giant boner through a fight with a gang of hungry dogs. Seriously, his throbbing erection nearly slows him down. There's also a woman that Justin has been banging his whole life. She's in the book on nearly every page as one of the surprise SADIF terrorists. She is consistently bringing Justin “around” or “back alive” by...sucking his milk. She's also there for a threesome with Justin and his partner. Justin also fantasizes throughout the book about the time he dressed like Donald Duck for a school event. He also is fixated on a train that derailed killing hundreds of passengers. Every momentous occasion to deliver some type of action is met with these boring bizarre flashbacks of Justin and the duck costume and the train derailment. It is uncanny.

Vatican Kill is certainly in my Top Ten for worst book I've ever read. It is a glorified new inductee into the Paperback Warrior Hall of Shame for many reasons – lame main character, zero action, illogical plot, cartoon villain, an uncommon fixation on the male penis, I can go on and on. This is absolutely the worst of the worst and I encourage you to steer clear of it. Avoid!