With success of these revivals of pulp heroes, the way was paved for the introduction of a new series hero. If one looks through the different series, references can be found to various pulp heroes as if to acknowledge the debt they owe. In Executioner #1: War on theMafia two mafia hoods compare the Executioner to the Shadow and the Phantom (Pendleton, 1969, p. 83) although Pendleton claimed in The Executioner Speaks Out that he had never read pulps and couldn't comment on the suggestion that the Executioner is a resurrection of the pulps.
But the popularity of the serial vigilante worked the other way, influencing reprints of the pulp heroes. In 1975, four adventures of The Spider were reprinted. Unlike the Doc Savage reprints, these were rewritten to make the adventures contemporary with the publication of the books. The re-writers kept the adventure but altered many of the small details. They changed The Spider to just Spider, perhaps to make it sound more like a codename. They removed his Spider disguise of a fright wig, fangs and hunchback, keeping him in plain clothes, as none of the serial vigilantes wear costumes like the pulp heroes. His background was also altered; no longer a veteran of World War I, he became a veteran of Korea. But what did stay intact was the violent crusade against crime.
They say that nothing breeds imitation like success and Turner (1977) reports that the success of the Executioner had brought forth more than forty original series by 1971. My research shows that new series continued to be developed after that until the present. There have been over 100 series developed with over 1,800 volumes published in that time.
In the explosion of these series there have been several series, though unrelated, that shared the same name. These include the Assassin (Robert Brigand) (1973), The Assassin (Justin Perry) (1983), the Hitman (Mike Ross) (1973), The Hitman (Dirk Spencer) (1984), The Revenger (John Stark) (1973) and The Revenger (Ben Martin) (1973).
However, most of 120 series ended after the publication of less than thirty books in the series. A few lasted longer; these are the Butcher (35), Soldiers of Barrabas (38), the Penetrator (53), Phoenix Force (55), Able Team (56), the Death Merchant (71) and Nick Carter, The Killmaster lasted 259 books.
Currently, there are several serial vigilante series in publication. The Executioner and its spinoffs, Super Bolan (longer length Executioners) and Stony Man (which continues the adventures of Able Team and Phoenix Force) are currently published by Gold Eagle. The Destroyer, starting with #146 Guardian Angel as The New Destroyer is published by Tor books with creator Warren Murphy returning to write the series and restarting as #1. Avon books are publishing the Home Team series and Gold Eagle has launched the Rogue Angel series.
Other Mediums
While the serial vigilante began in the novel format, he has been adapted into other mediums with varying degrees of success. The Destroyer and the Executioner have both been made into comics.
Death Wish (1974 and sequels 1982,1985,1987,1994), The Black Samurai (1976), the Destroyer (Remo: Unarmed and Dangerous 1985 and Remo Williams 1987 television pilot), the Penetrator (Firing Line 1991); and The Specialist (1994) have all had movies made of their adventures.
New serial vigilantes were developed for other mediums. The Punisher (1974 in Amazing Spider-Man #129: The Punisher Strikes Twice) is Marvel Comics' version of the serial vigilante. Marvel's New Universe line featured the serial vigilante Marc Hazzard: Merc (1986). Charlton Comics had Vengeance Squad (1975), Atlas-Seaboard had Targitt (1975) (which became John Targitt, Man-stalker, with the second issue), DC comics created their own serial vigilante in Vigilante (1982, in New Teen Titans Annual #2: The Murder Machine) which all made use of the serial vigilante format.
Movies like The Exterminator and its sequel (1980 and 1984), Jake Speed (1986), Dark Avenger (1990) and Darkman and its sequels (1990, 1994 and 1996) give us cinematic versions of the serial vigilante. But it was television that made the most of the serial vigilante formula with series like The Persuaders (1971-72), Knight Rider (1982-86) and its spinoffs, Daltons Code of Vengeance (1985-86) and Team Knight Rider (1997), The A-Team (1983-87), Airwolf (1984-87), Street Hawk (1985), Equalizer (1985-89), MacGyver (1985-92), Stingray (1986-87), Soldier of Fortune, Inc./Special Ops Force (1997-98), and Vengeance Unlimited (1998-99).
These new serial vigilantes were then, in turn, adapted into other media. Many television series and movies were novelized. These novelizations generally retold the plot of the movie or episode, although some, such as MacGyver, the A-Team, Tomb Raider and Darkman, had original exploits written for them. Many of the television series were the basis of original comic strip exploits in British magazines such as Countdown, TV Action and Look-In. Others were adapted into comic books in America.
Other Genres
With any successful formula, other genres will borrow the format for their own use. Three genres that borrowed the formula were the western, war and science fiction.
Western series, like the Six-Gun Samurai, Edge and Steele, adopt the serial vigilante and place him in the old West, taking cues from "spaghetti" westerns like A Fistful of Dollars (1964). The Punisher was re-imagined in the old West for Marvel Comics in A Man Named Frank (1994).
Serial vigilante-inspired war stories set in World War II include Jeff Rovin's Force: Five series and Klaus Netzen's The Killers series. Vietnam War series such as Eric Helm's Vietnam: Ground Zero and Jonathon Cains Saigon Commandos took the serial vigilante back to the Vietnam War and told their tales. Marvel Comics' The 'Nam used this formula and featured Frank Castle in a cameo. Indeed there have been serial vigilante tales which tell of exploits of serial vigilantes in the Vietnam War such as the Punisher: Born, Super Bolan #4: Dirty War and the Soldiers of Barrabas/Executioner crossover "Incident at Hoi Binb" in Executioner #63: The New War Book where Mack Bolan clears Nile Barrabas of the charge of massacring civilians.
But the science-fiction serial vigilante who wanders a post-apocalyptic world is the most prolific. This type of serial vigilante include James Axler's Deathlands and Outlanders series, Richard Harding's Outrider series, Jerry Aherns Survivalist and Defender series, and D.B. Drumm's Traveler. The Mad Max movie series utilizes this format.
The success of the serial vigilante format can be seen from the fact that different genres have utilized the format and it has influenced the way that these genres have expanded.
Conclusion
The serial vigilante genre, so named because of the aggressive qualities of its protagonists, was first named by Kittredge and Krauser in 1978. Since then it has been used many times in other critical works. The serial vigilante has come to the realization that society's system of justice is flawed, which is generally sparked by a tragedy, and has decided to level the playing field. Just as the criminals operate outside the law and utilize legal loopholes, the serial vigilante also operates outside the law — acting for justice rather than the law. The serial vigilante's actions are never formally sanctioned; either they operate totally alone or any authorization of their activities is unofficial. The serial vigilante's justice is final and swift — a speeding bullet cannot be bribed. The serial vigilante's adventures are contemporary. Most commonly the serial vigilante is a lone male, although he may work as part of a team.
A number of pulp revivals and reprints throughout the 1960s paved the way for the introduction of the serial vigilante. In 1969, Pinnacle Books published War Against the Mafia, the first Executioner novel, starting the serial vigilante genre. The success of the Executioner paved the way for more serial vigilante series, several of which continue to the present. The serial vigilante format was adapted across various mediums appearing in comics, film and television. It has also been modified for use in other genres, such as war, westerns and science fiction.
The purpose of this encyclopedia is to offer a source of information about the serial vigilante series that have appeared in the various mediums.
The Vigilantes
Able Team
Fifty-one books by "Dick Stivers"
To get the full history of this
spinoff of The Executioner we have to go back to the Executioner #2: Death Squad. In that novel, Bolan decides to use some of his fellow Vietnam veterans in his war on the Mafia, his Death Squad. In the final assault everyone except Mack, Rosario "Pol" Blancanales and Herman "Gadgets" Schwartz were killed. The idea was to confirm to Mack that this had to be his personal crusade. Also introduced in that book was an LA cop by the name of Carl Lyons who was after the Executioner, but by the end of the book he became Bolan's ally.
These three characters appeared sporadically throughout the series as Pendleton continued writing. Pol and Gadgets set up a detective firm, Able Investigations, with Pol's sister Toni.
Then Pendleton sold the Executioner to Gold Eagle. Mack Bolan had been pardoned and given the new identity of John Phoenix, the base Stony Man Farm and a new war on terrorism. Pol, Gadgets and Lyons became Able Team, Mack's force to fight terrorism on American soil, although the team operated in other countries.
Carl "Ironman" Lyons was the team leader, Gadgets was responsible for the electronic equipment, and Pol, which is short for Politician, was the negotiator for the group. Over the series Able Team was aided by other warriors but these three remained the core.
Behind the Scenes
Initially, the series was written under the byline Don Pendleton and Dick Stivers, highlighting the series' connection to the Executioner series. The non-existent Stivers was given the biography that he was a volunteer for Vietnam but was too young to see any action. His first taste of battle came during a mugging in Los Angeles. A traveler and adventurer, Stivers travels the world tackling crime. In truth Stivers did not exist and the books were written by several writers using the house name. These writers include:
• Norman Winski, also the author of the novelization of The Sword and the Sorcerer, the Hitman series and several works on astrology. Winski was also a member of the Chicago Beat scene and Charles Bukowski (Barfly) was godfather to his son.
• Ron Renauld, who wrote five A-Team novelizations as Charles Heath and wrote book 7 under his own name. He has also written for the Executioner.
• Nicholas Cain — a former military police officer. Cain wrote the semi-autobiographical Saigon Commandoes series. Under the pen name Jonathon Cain, he wrote the Little Saigon series about a former MP turned LA police officer working in the Vietnamese community. As Sgt. Nik Uhernik, he wrote the War Dogs series; Uhernik also appears as a character in the Saigon Commandoes series.
• Steve Mertz, who, along with Mike Newton, got his start working with Don Pendleton on the Executioner for Pinnacle Books, later ghostwriting a number of Executioner novels for Gold Eagle books and plotting the MIA Hunter series for Jove books.
The Books
All books were published by Gold Eagle Books. Books 1 to 3 were attributed to Don Pendleton and Dick Stivers; all other books were attributed to Stivers alone.
1. Tower of Terror, 187 pages, 1982 (L.R. Payne)
2. The Hostaged Island, 186 pages, 1982 (Payne & Norman Winski)
3. Texas Showdown, 190 pages, 1982 (Larry Powell & Payne)
4. Amazon Slaughter, 190 pages, 1983 (C.J. Shiao)
5. Cairo Countdown, 186 pages, 1983 (Paul Hofrichter)
6. Warlord of Azatlan, 183 pages, 1983
7. Justice by Fire, 189 pages, 1983 (G.H. Frost)
8. Army of Devils, 186 pages, 1983 (Frost)
9. Kill School, 189 pages, 1983 (Frost)
10. Royal Flush, 182 pages, 1984 (Stephen Mertz)
11. Five Rings of Fire, 179 pages, 1984 (Tom Arnett)
12. Deathbites, 184 pages, 1984 (Arnett)
13. Scorched Earth, 190 pages, 1984 (Frost)
14. Into the Maze, 185 pages, 1984 (Frost)
15. They Came to Kill, 185 pages, 1984 (Frost)
16. Rain of Doom, 185 pages, 1985 (Frost)
17. Fire and Maneuver, 184 pages, 1985 (Frost & Chuck Rogers)
18. Tech War, 186 pages, 1985 (Frost & Ivan Chan)
19. Ironman, 188 pages, 1985 (Frost)
20. Shot to Hell, 187 pages, 1985 (Rogers)
21. Death Strike, 186 pages, 1985 (Frost)
22. The World War III Game, 189 pages, 1986 (Arnett)
23. Fall Back and Kill, 188 pages, 1986 (Rogers)
24. Blood Gambit, 186 pages, 1986 (Arnett)
25. Hard Kill, 218 pages, 1986 (Rogers)
26. The Iron God, 221 pages, 1986 (Arnett)
27. Cajun Angel, 219 pages, 1986 (Rogers)
28. Miami Crush, 219 pages, 1987 (Rogers)
29. Death Ride, 220 pages, 1987 (Arnett)
30. Hit and Run, 220 pages, 1987 (Rogers)
31. Ghost Train, 221 pages, 1987 (Rogers)
32. Firecross, 221 pages, 1987 (Arnett)
33. Cowboy's Revenge, 221 pages, 1987 (Ron Renauld)
34. Clear Shot, 220 pages, 1988 (Renauld)
35. Strike Force, 219 pages, 1988 (Renauld)
36. Final Run, 219 pages, 1988 (Renauld)
37. Red Menace, 218 pages, 1988 (Renauld)
38. Cold Steel, 220 pages, 1988 (Renauld)
39. Death Code, 221 pages, 1988 (Larry Lind)
40. Blood Mark, 219 pages, 1989 (Renauld)
41. White Fire, 218 pages, 1989 (Renauld)
42. Dead Zone, 218 pages, 1989 (Renauld)
43. Kill Orbit, 221 pages, 1989 (Sgt. Nik Uhernik [Nicholas Cain])
44. Night Heat, 220 pages, 1989 (Nicholas Cain)
45. Lethal Trade, 219 pages, 1989 (Pennington)
46. Counterblow, 221 pages, 1990 (Cain)
47. Shadow Warriors, 221 pages, 1990 (Ken Rose)
48. Cult War, 219 pages, 1990 (Rose)
49. Dueling Missiles, 218 pages, 1990 (David North)
50. Death Hunt, 221 pages, 1990 (Pennington)
51. Skin Walker, 221 pages, 1991 (Rose)
Gold Eagle attempted to utilize the Super Bolan format on Able Team with Super Able Team:
1. Mean Streets, 349 pages, 1989 (Rose)
2. Hostile Fire, 346 pages, 1990 (Rose)
Able Team also appeared in the Anthologies:
1. Heroes I, 588 pages, 1992. Contains Razorback by Dick Stivers (North)
2. Heroes II, 586 pages, 1992. Contains Death Lash by Dick Stivers (North)
3. Heroes III, 445 pages, 1992. Contains Secret Justice by Dick Stivers (Rose)
Members of Able Team have guest-starred in various Executioner, Phoenix Force and Stony Man books.
Other Media
Able Team, as such, has not been adapted into other media, though all three characters appeared in the comic adaptation of Death Squad (see the Executioner entry for more detail).
According to Mike Newton in his interview for Young's Mack Bolan and The Executioner: A Study of Action-Adventure Fiction, stated that NBC had access to the Able Team files in 1982, a year before NBC produced The A-Team, suggesting that the television series is an unauthorized version of the book series.
Agent for Cominsec (Taggart)
Six books by Ralph Hayes
Taggart is a former Mafia executioner who became the top agent for COMINSEC (Committee for International Security). Taggart and four other agents independently investigate various conspiracies that threaten world peace.
For example in #4: The Hellfire Conspiracy four billionaires put an impostor in place of the president to stir up trouble with the Soviets and Chinese so that they could make more money from the arms sales. Taggart determines that the president is an impostor and is able to assassinate him.
COMINSEC is run by five generals representing their member nations, America, Britain, France, Germany and Japan (called Generals A, B, F, G and J, respectively), who use violence to solve the world's problems. (Imagine CURE from the Destroyer on a more global scale.)
In the final book of the series, Death Makers Conspiracy, Taggart teams with the Japanese agent for COMINSEC, implying that all member nations of COMISEC have one agent and that Taggart is America's agent.
Behind the Scenes
Ralp
h Hayes was born in 1927 and served in the Air Force 1945-47. After leaving the Air Force he studied and became a lawyer, specializing in insurance. In 1969, Hayes became a freelance writer, writing a number of travel guides and individual novels as well as the Buffalo Hunter western series and Stoner, The Hunter and Checkforce series. Under the Nick Carter house name he wrote eight Killmaster books. Hayes traveled extensively and utilized that experience for his travel guides and the settings for his books (Contemporary Authors Online, 2002).
The Books
All books were published by Belmont Tower books:
1. The Bloody Monday Conspiracy, 188 pages, 1974
2. Doomsday Conspiracy, 171 pages, 1974
3. Turkish Mafia Conspiracy, 170 pages, 1974
4. Hellfire Conspiracy, 174 pages, 1974
5- Nightmare Conspiracy, 201 pages, 1974
6. Death Makers Conspiracy, 180 pages, 1975
Ape Swain
Three books by Daniel Da Cruz
The man known as Ape Swain uses a variety of names; sometimes he is known as Alfred Paul or Anthony Phillip; on other occasions he is called Alan Patrick. All of his aliases have initials A.P., leading some to suggest that this is the source of his nickname Ape. Others suggest that his long arms and short legs and the pelt of hair that has covered his arms, chest and back since puberty may be the source of the name. Now at age thirty-four, Ape is used to the strange looks he gets and the fact that his appearance leads people to underestimate his intelligence, facts that Swain exploits to his advantage.
Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction. An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm Page 3
