Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction. An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm
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The Books
Books 1 — 64 were published by Pinnacle Books, books 65-70 and Super Death Merchant by Dell Books.
1. The Death Merchant, 188 pages, 1971
2. Operation Overkill, 187 pages, 1972
3. Psychotron Plot, 157 pages, 1972
4. Chinese Conspiracy, 190 pages, 1973
5- Satan Strike, 189 pages, 1973
6. Albanian Connection, 191 pages, 1973
7. Castro File, 218 pages, 1974
8. Billionaire Mission, 213 pages, 1974
9. Laser War, 187 pages, 1974
10. Mainline Plot, 184 pages, 1974
11. Manhattan Wipeout, 179 pages, 1975
12. KGB Frame, 180 pages, 1975
13. Mato Grosso Horror, 180 pages, 1975
14. Vengeance of the Golden Hawk, 180 pages, 1976
15. Iron Swastika Plot, 178 pages, 1976
16. Invasion of the Clones, 181 pages, 1976
17. Zemlya Expedition, 177 pages, 1976
18. Nightmare in Algeria, 182 pages, 1976
19. Armageddon USA, 183 pages, 1976
20. Hell in Hindu Land, 198 pages, 1976
21. Pole Star Secret, 195 pages, 1977
22. Kondrashev Chase, 210 pages, 1977
23. Budapest Action, 202 pages, 1977
24. Kronos Plot, 200 pages, 1977
25. Enigma Project, 196 pages, 1977
26. Mexican Hit, 184 pages, 1978
27. Surinam Affair, 182 pages, 1978
28. Nipponese Nightmare, 198 pages, 1978
29. Fatal Formula, 181 pages, 1978
30. Shamballa Strike, 208 pages, 1978
31. Operation Thunderbolt, 180 pages, 1978
32. Deadly Manhunt, 180 pages, 1979
33. Alaska Conspiracy, 220 pages, 1979
34. Operation Mind Murder, 184 pages, 1979
35. Massacre in Rome, 173 pages, 1979
36. Cosmic Reality Kill, 169 pages, 1979
37. Bermuda Triangle Action, Y77 pages, 1980
38. Burning Blue Death, 183 pages, 1980
39. Fourth Reich, 183 pages, 1980
40. Blueprint Invisibility, 181 pages, 1980
41. Shamrock Smash, 180 pages, 1980
42. High Command Murder, 187 pages, 1980
43. Devil's Trashcan, 184 pages, 1981
44. Island of the Damned, 185 pages, 1981
45. Rim of Fire Conspiracy, 184 pages, 1981
46. Bloodbath, 183 pages, 1981
47. Operation Skyhook, 202 pages, 1981
48. The Psionics War, 185 pages, 1982
49. Night of the Peacock, 197 pages, 1982
50. Hellbomb Theft, 202 pages, 1982
51. Inca File, 202 pages, 1982
52. Flight of the Phoenix, 198 pages, 1982
53. Judas Scrolls, 200 pages, 1982
54. Apocalypse USA, 201 pages, 1983
55. Slaughter in El Salvador, 201 pages, 1983
56. Afghanistan Crashout, 200 pages, 1983
57. Rumanian Operation, 200 pages, 1983
58. Silicon Valley Connection, 218 pages, 1984
59. Burma Probe, 215 pages, 1984
60. Methuselah Factor, 216 pages, 1984
61. Bulgarian Termination, 215 pages, 1984
62. Soul Search Project, 260 pages, 1985
63. Atlantean Horror, 242 pages, 1985
64. Pakistan Mission, 231 pages, 1985
65. Mission Deadly Snow, 182 pages, 1986
66. Cobra Chase, 183 pages, 1984
67. Escape from Gulag Taria, 188 pages, 1986
68. Hindu Trinity Caper, 187 pages, 1987
69. Miracle Mission, 188 pages, 1987
70. Greenland Mystery, 188 pages, 1988
Super Death Merchant
1. Apocalypse, 398 pages, 1987
Parodies
The Death Merchant was parodied as Nicholas Lizzard in Destroyer 38 Bay City Blast.Lizzard is not as adept at the art of disguise as he thinks, appearing as a women while he still has a three-day growth. Eventually, he is killed by Remo and Chuin.
Spinoffs
In 1977 and 1978, Assassination: Theory and Practice (161 pages) and Mind Murder: The Art of Behavior Modification (129 pages) by Richard Camellion were published by Paladin Press. These books are nonfiction examinations of the espionage skills of assassination and behavior modification, with Camellion essentially acting as narrator for these documentary books.
Death Squad
Two books by Frank Colter
The Death Squad is three San Diego police officers who have had enough. Enough of the stupid regulations that bleeding-heart judges place on the police and the criminal lawyers who use every loophole of the law to get their clients back on the street. Regulations that got police officers killed. During a routine call, a rookie cop was killed because these officers played by the rules, unable to draw their weapons. The death pushed the three officers too far, ready to take immediate action. The three police officers were:
• Mark Sanders: police sergeant with six years of experience on the police force. The six-foot-three, muscular thirty-one-year-old partner to the rookie cop.
• Sam Durham: A six-foot-four twenty-six-year-old African American police officer with a body of rock-hard muscle. Durham had to fight all through his childhood as the first African American in an all-white neighborhood. The rookie cop was a friend who followed him onto the force.
• Raul Gomez: A five-foot-ten Chicano, a tough and stocky twenty-eight-year-old officer.
The trio takes down cop killers, rapists, rich kids who think their wealth and connections mean they can flout the law, contract killers and others who openly operate outside the law.
Behind the Scenes
Frank Colter is the pen name used by Dan Streib. Streib, born in 1928, served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War (1950-53) and died in 1996 of a heart attack. An extensive traveler for both work and pleasure, San Diego-based Streib used the locales he visited in his works, which include the Hawk and Counter Force series under his own name, romances under the names of Louise Grandville and Lee Davis Whilloughby, and westerns under the names Jonathan Schofield and J. Faragut Jones.
The Books
Both books were published by Belmont Tower:
1. Gang War, 168 pages, 1975
2. Killers for Hire, 1975
Death Wish (Paul Benjamin)
Two books by Brian Garfield
Paul Benjamin was an accountant who had liberal political views until the death of his wife and the rape of his daughter during an invasion of his apartment. Paul was forty-seven years old, slightly overweight with freckles. After the attack, he became restless knowing that the men who killed his wife and victimized his daughter would never be caught. Walking the streets one night, he was attacked by a mugger and fought him off with a roll of quarters in a sock. In an effort to help him get over the death of his wife, his firm sent him to Arizona for a pre-takeover audit. During that time Benjamin bought a gun and, on his return to New York, began killing criminals, often baiting them, setting himself up as a target or staking out a car for car thieves. In his final gun battle Benjamin is seriously wounded and fears capture by police but the police officer turns a blind eye in a show of support.
In the second book, Paul has been transferred to the Chicago office and begins his vigilante hunting again. This time there is a rival vigilante and Benjamin's secret has been discovered by a friend of his new girlfriend.
Behind the Scenes
Brian Wynne Garfield was a writer of westerns and thrillers. He tells of an incident in 1971 where the roof of his convertible was slashed and some minor items stolen that inspired Death Wish. Garfield was so disappointed with the movie version missing the point of his story chat he wrote Death Sentence. There was a plan to novelize Death Wish III, published by Heroic Press, but it was discovered that only Garfield had rights to produce sequel novels.
The Books
1. Death Wish, 189 pages, 1972, McKay (US) Hodde
r & Stoughton (UK)
2. Death Sentence, 157 pages, 1976, M. Evans & Co.
The Movies
When Garfield's novel was adapted to the screen, several changes were made. The hero's name and occupation was changed from Paul Benjamin, accountant, to Paul Kersey, architect. Kersey was played by Charles Bronson, who was not overweight and didn't have freckles. The plot played out the same, although when Kersey was sent to Arizona to redesign a housing estate, he was given a gun as a gift. The police were actively hunting Kersey for his vigilante action and there was a conspiracy to cover the effectiveness of his actions. Indeed the police capture Kersey and tell him to get out of town.
This spawned four sequels where Kersey returns to his vigilante ways when either his friends or family have been attacked. These films form a separate continuity from the novels with none of the films adapting Death Sentence.
1. Death Wish, 93 min, 1974, producers: Hal Landers & Bobby Roberts
2. Death Wish II, 88 min, 1982, producers: Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus
3. Death Wish III, 91 min, 1985, producers: Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus
4. Death Wish IV: The Crackdown, 99 min, 1987, producer: Poncho Kohner
5. Death Wish V: The Face of Death, 95 min, 1994, producer: Damian Lee
According to Bronsons Loose: The Making of the Death Wish Films. There were plans for a sixth movie, "Death Wish VI: The New Vigilante," but this never came to fruition, although Talbot suggests that the 2001 vigilante movie Death Game from the same production company deliberately touted itself as from the producer of Death Wish.
Death Sentence by Brian Garfield was the basis for the 2007 movie Death Sentence; however, the lead character played by Kevin Bacon is now named Nick Hume. Hume witnesses the murder of his son and feels that the justice system is not doing enough and takes the law into his own hands.
Related Books
Talbot P. (2006). Bronsons Loose!: The Making of the Death Wish Films. New York: iUniverse, Inc.
The Destroyer (Remo Williams)
Ongoing series created by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
His name was Remo and he was dead. Many years ago a secret government agency known as CURE framed him for a crime he did not commit and had him executed on an electric chair that did not work. When he awoke Remo was offered the chance to work as the enforcement arm of CURE. He was selected because he was an orphan with no ties and his record in both the Marines in Vietnam and the Police in Newark showed that he was a patriot.
CURE then assigned him to be trained by "karate" instructor Chuin. Chuin was in reality the Master of Sinanju, the source of all martial arts. When Chuin saw that Remo was absorbing the basics of Sinanju, he left off with karate tricks and began to make the man he considered his adopted son the next Master of Sinanju.
Over the years Remo and Chuin, at the bequest of Harold W. Smith, former OSS and CIA agent and head of CURE, saved America from many different foes, such as Niuhc (Chuin's nephew and renegade master), the Dutchman (Niuhc's pupil), Mr. Gor-dons (an android built for survival), and many others.
The Destroyer series is arguably the most successful of the serial vigilantes with continuing publication and forays into other media.
Behind the Scenes
The Destroyer was created in 1963 by New Jersey reporters Richard Ben Sapir and Warren Murphy. The pair initially conceived the character in the James Bond mold as a psychiatrist who fought crime, but eventually settled on the idea of a dead man framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to work for a secret agency (Murray, 1985). Both Murphy and Sapir left the series at various periods to try other books.
Richard Sapir wrote a number of books as Richard Ben Sapir, such as The Far Arena, Spies, Bressio, The Quest and The Body. Sapir lived in Boston, Massachusetts, with his wife Patricia Chute. Sapir passed away in 1987; this was revealed in Warren Murphy's introduction to Destroyer #75.
Warren Murphy's efforts outside of the Destroyer have included the Digger/Trace series, the Razoni & Jackson series, the screenplays for Lethal Weapon 2 and The Eiger Sanction, the Grandmaster series and an Arthurian fantasy series, The Forever King and The Broken Sword; the latter two series were co-written with his wife Molly Cochran. Cochran also served as ghostwriter for the Destroyer books, making her one of the few female writers of serial-vigilante fiction.
Over the course of the series, a number of ghostwriters wrote for the series, including Ric Meyers, Robert Randisi, William Joy, Ed Hunsburger, Mike Newton, Alan Philipson, Will Murray, James Mullaney and Tim Somheil.
Will Murray is a pulp historian and the author of numerous articles and books on the pulps. He has written a number of short stories that have appeared in Batman, Wonder Woman and Cthulhu anthologies. Under the name Kenneth Robeson, he has written seven new Doc Savage novels based on notes and outlines left by Doc's creator, Lester Dent.
James Mullaney has also written an Iron Fist mini-series Breathless for Marvel Comics in 2004. Tim Somheil has written several books for The Executioner series.
The Books
Books 1-58 were published by Pinnacle Books; 59-94 were published by Signet Books; 95-145 were published by Gold Eagle. The New Destroyer was published by Tor Books. Unless otherwise attributed, all books were written by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy:
1. Created, The Destroyer, 187 pages, 1971
2. Death Check, 190 pages, 1972
3. Chinese Puzzle, 187 pages, 1972
4. Mafia Fix, 184 pages, 1972
5. Dr. Quake, 187 pages, 1972
6. Death Therapy, 188 pages, 1972
7. Union Bust, 190 pages, 1973 (Sapir)
8. Summit Chase, 158 pages, 1973 (Murphy)
9. Murder's Shield, 190 pages, 1973
10. Terror Squad, 188 pages, 1973
11. Kill or Cure, 191 pages, 1973
12. Slave Safari, 186 pages, 1973
13. Acid Rock, 187 pages, 1973
14. Judgment Day, 184 pages, 1974
15. Murder Ward, 176 pages, 1974
16. Oil Slick, 179 pages, 1974
17. Last War Dance, 178 pages, 1974
18. Funny Money, 180 pages, 1975
19. Holy Terror, 182 pages, 1975
20. Assassin's Playoff, 178 pages, 1975
21. Deadly Seeds, 180 pages, 1975
22. Brain Drain, 180 pages, 1976
23. Child's Play, 183 pages, 1976
24. King's Curse, 178 pages, 1976
25. Sweet Dreams, 174 pages, 1976
26. In Enemy Hands, 178 pages, 1976
27. The Last Temple, 180 pages, 1977 (Murphy & Meyers)
28. Ship of Death, 179 pages, 1977
29. The Final Death, 177 pages, 1977 (Sapir, Murphy & Meyers)
30. Mugger Blood, 182 pages, 1977
31. The Head Men, 197 pages, 1977
32. Killer Chromosomes, 181 pages, 1978
33. Voodoo Die, 181 pages, 1978
34. Chained Reaction, 178 pages, 1978
35. Last Call, 182 pages, 1978
36. Power Play, 180 pages, 1979
37. Bottom Line, 178 pages, 1979
38. Bay City Blast, 179 pages, 1979
39. Missing Link, 172 pages, 1980
40. Dangerous Games, 188 pages, 1980 (Murphy & Randisi)
41. Firing Line, 180 pages, 1980 (Murphy)
42. Timber Line, 181 pages, 1980 (Murphy & Joy)
43. Midnight Man, 162 pages, 1981 (Murphy & Randisi)
44. Balance of Power, 183 pages, 1981 (Murphy, Sapir & Cochran)
45. Spoils of War, 192 pages, 1981
46. Next of Kin, 183 pages, 1981 (Cochran)
47. Dying Space, 196 pages, 1982 (Cochran)
48. Profit Motive, 256 pages, 1982
49. Skin Deep, 199 pages, 1982 (Cochran)
50. Killing Time, 199 pages, 1982 (Cochran)
51. Shock Value, 199 pages, 1983 (Cochran)
52. Fools Gold, 245 pages, 1983
53. Time Trial, 201 pages, 1983 (Cochran)
54.
Last Drop, 199 pages, 1983 (Cochran)
55. Master's Challenge, 245 pages, 1984 (Sapir, Murphy & Cochran)
56. Encounter Group, 185 pages, 1984
57. Date with Death, 186 pages, 1984 (Murphy, Cochran & Hunsburger)
58. Total Recall, 185 pages, 1984 (Murphy & Randisi)
59. The Arms of Kali, 253 pages, 1984
60. The End of the Game, 205 pages, 1985
61. Lords of the Earth, 254 pages, 1985
62. The Seventh Stone, 223 pages, 1985 (Sapir, Murphy & Hunburger)
63. The Sky Is Falling, 255 pages, 1985 (Sapir & Murray)
64. The Last Alchemist, 221 pages, 1986 (Sapir & Murray)
65. Lost Yesterday, 255 pages, 1986 (Sapir & Murray)
66. Sue Me, 221 pages, 1986 (Sapir)
67. Look into My Eyes, 253 pages, 1987 (Sapir)
68. An Old-Fashioned War, 224 pages, 1987 (Sapir)
69. Blood Ties, 252 pages, 1987 (Murphy & Murray)
70. The Eleventh Hour, 222 pages, 1987 (Murphy, Murray & Cochran)
71. Return Engagement, 253 pages, 1987 (Murphy & Murray)
72. Sole Survivor, 222 pages, 1988 (Murphy & Murray)
73. Line of Succession, 252 pages, 1988 (Murphy & Murray)
74. Walking Wounded, 224 pages, 1988 (Murray)
75. Rain of Terror, 256 pages, 1988 (Murray)
76. The Final Crusade, 223 pages, 1989 (Murray)