Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction. An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm
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Private Eyes
Hero Pulps
Comics
Western
Spy
3. Modern Pulp
4. Missing the Mark: Singletons, Police, Private Eyes, Criminals and Other Oddities
Singletons
Novelizations
Police
Private Eyes
Criminals
Other Oddities
5. The Female of the Species
Pulp Mystery Women
Female Superheroes
Girl Detectives
Female Spies
Sexy Spies
Modesty Blaise
Female Serial Vigilantes
Team Players
Blaxploitation
Female Private Eyes
Eros Comix
Distaff Versions
Adventuring Archaeologists
Back to the Streets
Conclusion
6. The Future of the Serial Vigilante
Reprints and Revivals
Female Serial Vigilantes
The 1990s
September 11, 2001
Private Security Firms
Supernatural Serial Vigilantes
Conclusion
Bibliography
* * *
Bradley Mengel
Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction.
An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm
Acknowledgments: I want to acknowledge and thank the following people for their support, advice, information and encouragement: David Aubrey, Matthew Baugh, Peter Coogan, Henry Covert, Chet Cunningham, Win Eckert, Lee Goldberg, Gillian Hallam, Andrew Henry, Keith Hetherington, Chuck Loridans, Patrick Lozito, John Mengel, Stephanie Mengel, Mike Newton, Dennis Power, John Small, Douglas Wojtowicz.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
To all the writers whose works made this book possible
Introduction
Some of my fondest memories from my childhood were staying up with my father and watching The A-Team, Knight Rider, Airwolf, The Equalizer and MacGyver. My first taste of what I came to call the serial vigilantes in a print format came a few years later, when I discovered The Destroyer series by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy. Over time, I began to become curious about other similar characters. So I decided to find what information was available.
I found that there has been little written critically on this particular sub-genre of crime and mystery fiction. Critics like Julian Symons totally ignore the subgenre, it does not even rate a mention in any of the three editions of his crime fiction reference Bloody Murder.
I discovered an article by Alice K. Turner (1977) in the compilation Murder Ink and William Kittredge and Steven M. Krauser briefly discuss the type in the introduction of the anthology The Great American Detective (1978).
I also uncovered William H. Young's A Study of Action-Adventure Fiction — The Executioner and Mack Bolan (1996), which examined The Executioner series in great detail and contained a chapter on other series but never really looked at what defined these series.
The internet was of limited help. Some series, such as The Butcher, were virtually impossible to find information on. Some websites provided inaccurate information (one site suggested that The Penetrator was first published in 1991 based on the fact that eight books from that series were reprinted at that time). I did find some very good sites on the Executioner and the Destroyer.
With this partial information, I began to collect the various series referred to in the above texts, discovering new series through advertising material and searching through used bookstores.
With the books, I was able to discover what made these series unique as well as allowing me to:
• Name the sub-genre,
• Create a definition for the sub-genre,
• Identify and describe series belonging to the sub-genre.
Nomenclature
The nomenclature of the sub-genre is not consistent. The publishers of these books label them as fiction, novel, horror, crime, adventure, action /adventure and men's action. And the categories can be changed from book to book within the same series; for example, Pinnacle books labeled the Destroyer #55: Master's Challenge as fiction, the Destroyer #56: Encounter Group as men's action and the Destroyer #58: Total Recall as action/adventure. With this level of inconsistency there is a need to turn to critical sources to name the type.
Turner (1977) labels the type as "the paperback hero" or "paperback series hero," basing the name on the fact that nearly every series was published exclusively in the paperback format. While this is an accurate assessment, the label is too general; a number of spy, private eye, western and crime series were also published as paperback originals. Turner's list includes characters that do not fit the mold of what she is trying to describe.
Also Turner claims that the paperback hero started in 1969 with the publication of the first Executioner novel by Don Pendleton. The listing of series includes Jonas Ward's Buchanan, Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm, John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee and Gerard De Villiers' Prince Malko Linge series (see Malko), which made their debuts between 1956 and 1965.
While Turner does make some interesting comments on the sub-genre, she appears to be unclear on what does fit into the group, including western and private eye series as well as the revival of Kenneth Robeson's pulp hero, The Avenger, onto her list.
Young (1996) offers the name of action /adventure fiction; this has the advantage of being one of the terms used by the publishers but, like the title of the paperback hero, this is too broad. Also, Young does not define what he means by this term. Young adopts the view that these characters are the evolution of the dime and pulp novels of earlier times.
John Cawelti suggests the term the Enforcer in "Myths of Violence in American Popular Culture" (1975) and 'The New Mythology of Crime" (1975). He defines the Enforcer as an individual who operates outside the regular system of the law to enforce justice. This may be a Mob Enforcer as seen in The Godfather and other gangster stories or it may be a vigilante against the Mafia and other lawlessness. However, the Enforcer — while narrower than paperback hero or action /adventure fiction — it is still too broad and has not been used in other critical sources. The Enforcer can also be a confusing term as Andrew Sugar wrote a series called The Enforcer.
Kittredge and Krauser (1978) suggest the title of the Aggressor. Pringle (1987) also uses this term in his description of the Executioner. The term has also been used in a brief biography of Don Pendleton, crediting him with the creation of the type, which appeared in the back of the Executioner #46: Blood Sport. Coogan (2006) uses the term "the Aggressor" in a discussion of The Punisher.
Critically, this is the most commonly used term for this type of book. Kittredge and Krauser describe the Aggressor as different from the classical detective (Sherlock Holmes or Ellery Queen) or the hardboiled dick (Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe). These detective types are reactionary in that each is "presented with a puzzle and he solves it" (Kittredge and Krauser, 1978, p. xxix) whereas the Aggressor is moved to change society and wipe out the sources of corruption.
Ultimately, the Aggressor is unsuitable for use in this book as an aggressor is anyone who acts in an aggressive manner. Also the term can be confusing as it possible for there to be a character calling himself the Aggressor.
This book will use the term serial vigilante. This term was used in "A Real Rain" episode of Criminal Minds to describe a killer who is targeting people who have escaped justice. This term highlights the fact that these characters are vigilantes, taking the law into their own hands, as well as the fact that their activities are organized in a serial fashion.
The Qualities of the Serial Vigilante
The serial vigilante is a crusader for moral order. This comes from a sudden realization, typically an act of violence, that society is not doing its job and protecting people. Philip Magellan, The Marksman, expresses his philosophy to an FBI agent in #19 Icepick
in theSpine.
Your thing is to catch criminals again and again and run them over and over through the courts, hoping they'll eventually be put out of circulation, and my thing is a hell of a lot more direct my verdicts are final, because they come down the barrel of a nine millimeter automatic [Scarpetta 7].
The serial vigilante will determine the greatest threat against society and attack that threat. After thirty-eight books of battling the Mafia, the Executioner began to battle terrorists in the Executioner #39: The New War. Don Pendleton explains this in the introduction to the listing of terrorist organizations in the Executioner #63: The New War Book (1984):
The Mafia is not nearly as strong now as when Bolan first began his one man vigilante war; but I would have reshaped the series even if this was not true because I believe that the hard challenge of today is not organized crime but the organized savagery that we see today as international terrorism [Pendleton 143]. There are many things that most of the serial vigilantes have in common, aside from the threat against society. Their attacks against these threats are aggressive and violent. Turner (1977) quotes Andy Ettinger, editor for Pinnacle books, the publisher of many of serial vigilante heroes, as saying "without violence these books wouldn't sell." For the Destroyer handbook Inside Sinanju, Will Murray (1985) interviewed Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, creators of the Destroyer series who confirm this:
cccMURPHY: ... we had a little fight with the publisher, who wanted us to do more of an Executioner....
cccQUESTION: So they wanted another war against the Mafia series?
cccSaPIR: No, what they wanted was bodies. Like the Roman arenas. They wanted more blood and more blood [Murray 146].
However, Sapir and Murphy did not increase the level of blood but instead created their own type of serial vigilante laced with humor and satire.
The typical serial vigilante character has served in Vietnam and learnt the skills used in his crusade. This can be seen in the history of the Executioner, the Destroyer, the Penetrator and Able Team, to name a few. Others gained this training in different ways. The Butcher was a high-ranking member of the Mafia who turned against it as an act of redemption for the evil he had committed. Dagger was a war correspondent, and Carl Lyons of Able Team was a police officer. Others, like The Death Merchant, offer no explanation as to how they gained their skills.
Kettredge and Krause (1978) point out that the serial vigilante's crusade is sparked by an incident, which alters their perception of society. It may be something that happened to loved ones: The Executioner's father killed his family after discovering that his daughter was prostituting herself to help pay off his debt to Mafia loan sharks; The Satan Sleuth's wife was killed by Devil worshippers; Robert Briganti became The Assassin when his family was killed after he refused to help the Mafia; Dagger's fiancee was killed after he exposed a conspiracy.
Others will have the incident happen to them: the Penetrator was bashed and left for dead after tracking down some black marketers; the Destroyer was framed and went through a fake execution.
The incident does not need to physical. Nile Barrabas, leader of The Soldiers of Barrabas, was court marshaled and dishonorably discharged for crimes he did not commit.
Nearly all the serial vigilantes are male, though Cherry Delight, The Sexecutioner; Penelope St. John Orsini, The Baroness; and Su-Lin Kelly of The Girl Factory are some exceptions to this. Females are common in teams. S-Com, Z-Comm, the Soldiers of Barrabas, and Black Ops all have one female member, Warhawks, Inc. has two and Codename has three.
Generally, lone serial vigilantes are racially Caucasian, though Mark Hardin, the Penetrator, is part Cheyenne; John Eagle, The Expeditor, is raised as an Apache; Su-Lin Kelly (the Girl Factory), Mace (Kung Fu) and Chong Fei K'ing (K'ing Kung Fu) are half Chinese. A few, such as the Assassin (Robert Briganti) and The Sharpshooter (Johnny Rock/John Rocetti) are ethnically Italian.
True racial diversity can be seen in the series featuring teams. The 11 members of the Soldiers of Barrabas include a Hispanic, an African American, an Osage Indian, a Chinese, an Italian, a Greek, a Jew and an Irishman. Phoenix Force was devised as an international force and was made up originally of an Israeli, an Englishman, a Canadian, a Cuban and a Japanese. After the death of the Japanese member partway through the series, an African American replaced him. S-Com has an Australian, a Cuban and an Israeli. Warhawks, Inc., have an Australian, a German, a Frenchman and an Israeli.
What separates the serial vigilante from other sub-genres is the notion of sanctioning. The serial vigilante operates in two different ways. Either the crusade is totally personal, operating without the support or influence of any government agency, or any support received is unofficial.
In the personal crusade, we see the serial vigilante operating solely on his own agenda. He may have a support network but they have no connection to any official agency. The Hitman, the Penetrator, the Expeditor and the Assassin (Briganti) are all examples of this type of serial vigilante.
In the case of unofficial sanctioning, the serial vigilante is supported by a government agency that cannot admit to supporting the serial vigilante or the government agency itself is covert. The Hard Corps is often hired by the CIA to take on missions that the agency may wish deny any involvement with. Similar arrangements operate for the Death Merchant and the Soldiers of Barrabas. These serial vigilantes are able to take on other missions and, in the event of trouble, may be able to have assistance. The Destroyer on the other hand works for a covert agency known as CURE, which officially does not exist and is able to operate outside the limitations of the American Constitution. The Butcher, the Sexecutioner, Phoenix Force and Able Team operate under similar conditions.
Some serial vigilantes can operate in both fashions throughout their series. The Executioner started out on a personal crusade, but after thirty-eight books is pardoned and is unofficially sanctioned to fight international terrorism. The MIA Hunter seeks to find prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict and is so effective that by the seventh book the CIA uses him to rescue operatives who have gone missing in action. In the tenth book, he returns to a private crusade to rescue an army buddy who went to work for the Drug Enforcement Agency and was kidnapped by a drug kingpin.
Due to this unofficial status conveyed upon the serial vigilante, he is often seen to achieve more than conventional agencies are able to. Every book in the Destroyer series points out that the agency he works for, CURE, was founded because America "can't handle crime.... If we live within the Constitution, we're losing all hope of parity with the criminals, or at least the organized ones. The laws don't work. The thugs are winning.... We [CURE] are going to stop the thugs. The only other options are a police state or a complete breakdown.... We are going to operate outside the law to break up organized crime" (Sapir and Murphy, 1971 p. 35-36).
Similarly, The Black Ops commandos were "created by an elite cadre of red-tape-cutting government officials, to avenge acts of terror" (ad for Black Op series). In MIA Hunter #10: Miami War Zone, the MIA Hunter and his team do more damage to the drug trade in a week than the DEA had done in many years. One of the drug barons acknowledges it is because they "are not playing by the rules" (Buchanan, 1988, p. 107).
The serial vigilante's adventures are contemporary, although there have been occasional flashback tales.
So as can be seen the serial vigilante has many of the following characteristics: After gaining skills in the Vietnam conflict, some event, usually of a violent nature, happens to the hero, causing him to become aware of a threat to society. A violent crusade against this threat is launched, which is either unsanctioned or partially authorized by various government agencies. Because the serial vigilante doesn't follow established rules he is often quite successful in his crusade. In most cases the serial vigilante works alone but teams of serial vigilantes do exist. The lone serial vigilante is predominantly Caucasian, with teams tending to be more multicultural. The events of the serial vigilante's crusade are contempor
ary.
History of the Serial Vigilante
All four sources agree that the serial vigilante started in 1969 with the publication of The Executioner #1: War on the Mafia by Don Pendleton. But Kettredge and Krauser (1978) suggest that he is the evolution of the American detective. There is some merit in this especially since Pendleton acknowledged in an interview with Mediascene (1973) the writings of Mickey Spillane were an influence upon him as a writer and on the character of Mack Bolan. Sapir and Murphy in a joint interview for Inside Sinanju state that in the creation of The Destroyer, they were trying to do James Bond with the fun of Doc Savage.
In between the private eye and the serial vigilante is John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee. McGee operates unofficially in his salvage operations, where McGee recovers stolen property for a fee of half its value plus expenses. McGee can be seen as a precursor to the serial vigilante, with his unofficial activities, but, like the private eye, he operates on a case-by-case basis. He does not crusade to stop thefts.
In 1963, nine new adventures of the Shadow were published; these stories were contemporary and had the Shadow facing CYPHER, a spy agency not unlike SPECTRE or THRUSH from James Bond and the Man from U.N.C.L.E. respectively.
A year later, Bantam books started to reprint Doc Savage's adventures which were a resounding success. Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir acknowledge Doc Savage as an inspiration for the Destroyer (Murray, 1985, p. 158).
The same year saw the third incarnation of dime- and pulp-novel hero Nick Carter. No longer a private eye, this new Nick Carter was a spy, code-named "'The Killmaster," and was granted an N3 rating, an American "license to kill." A number of authors worked on this series, hidden by the pseudonym of Nick Carter, and went on to work on serial vigilante series, either under their own names or other pseudonyms. It could then be argued that this incarnation of Nick Carter was the first instance of the serial vigilante and that the Executioner was the first serial vigilante with no links to earlier series.