Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction. An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm

by Bradley Mengel

  • Shannon, series by Jake Quinn: Patrick Shannon is the most expensive private eye in the world and the star of three books. Shannon is a tough guy and can be "as vicious as the worst Mafia thug who ever used a blowtorch on a stoolie." Shannon operates out of his Manhattan penthouse with his Magnum .44.

  • Triphammer, series by Douglas Enefer: Another tough private eye that lasted for four books.

  Criminals

  Just as the serial vigilantes openly flouted the rules and laws of society in their pursuit of justice, the criminal element in a similar way breaks the rules and laws of society in pursuit of a profit.

  • Nolan, series by Max Allan Collins: A professional thief seeks to retire but is always lured back for one last score. This caper series has seven volumes.

  • Quarry, series by Max Allan Collins: This seven-book series features a hit man known only as Quarry on his various assignments. Quarry initially worked for the Broker but, after being betrayed, went solo. Quarry operates on a code of honor, such as not becoming involved with victims.

  • The Ms. Squad series, by Mercedes Endfield: The two-book series featured the Ms. Squad, a trio of women striking a blow for feminism by recreating great crimes unsuccessfully committed by men and then successfully pulling them off. The Ms. Squad is made up of Jacqueline Cristal, chemical genius; Derma Royce, singer and actress; and Pammy Porter, expert martial artist. The trio is chased by former super spy turned private eye James Stock, a parody of James Bond.

  Other Oddities

  There were several series, one-shots and anthologies which did not meet the guidelines for serial vigilantes.

  • Rogue Warrior, series by Richard Marcinko: After the success of Richard Marcinko's autobiography Rogue Warrior (1992), he was banned from writing any further factual accounts of his adventures, so the former SEAL began to turn out fictional accounts of his team's adventures, currently at twelve volumes. Marcinko has also written three motivational books, Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior (1997), The Rogue Warrior's Guide to Success (1998) and The Real Team (1999).

  • SEAL Team Seven, series by Keith Douglas: This seven-man SEAL team led by Lt. Blake Murdoch travels the world fighting terrorists and other threats to world security.

  • Scorpion Squad/Vietnam: Ground Zero, series by Eric Helm: Initially published by Pinnacle Books for four books, the series features Special Forces commander Anthony Fetterman and his team during their service in Vietnam. The series was then acquired by Gold Eagle Books, renamed Vietnam: Ground Zero and ran for twenty-one books and four super novels.

  • Saigon Commandos, series by Jonathon Cain: The military police who patrolled the streets of Saigon were known as the Saigon Commandos. This series — part war story, part police procedural — follows Sergeant Stryker and the MPs of 7l6th as they tackle crimes during the Vietnam War. This series was the basis for the 1987 movie Saigon Commandos.

  • TALON Squad, series by Cliff Garnett: The Technology Augmented Low Obstacle Networked (TALON) Squad is a high-tech strike force drawn from the various branches of the United States military. This seven-person force tackles the toughest and most dangerous missions.

  • Soldier of Fortune/Mercenary, series: This series of twelve books published by British publisher 22 Books started as the Soldier of Fortune series but with book #10 it became the Mercenary series. This anthology series gave the adventures of mercenaries. Each book followed a different mercenary while many of the books were contemporary. Some, such as #5 Action in the Arctic, were set in World War II. The publisher also publishes series that focus on SAS (Special Air Service) and SBS (Special Boat Service)

  • Soldier of Fortune Magazine Presents: This anthology series of action /adventure titles was produced by Soldier of Fortune Magazine. In the twenty-eight books in the series, there were adventures during the Vietnam War, stories of MIA hunters, cult crashers, revolutionaries, and terrorist hunters.

  • Weird Heroes Anthology, series edited by Byron Preiss: This anthology of new pulp stories is a mixture of short stories and novels. This series introduced the adventures of Cordwainer Bird (Harlan Ellison), Greatheart Silver (Philip Jose Farmer), Guts the Cosmic Greaser (Byron Preiss), Doc Phoenix (Ted White) and Adam Stalker (Archie Goodwin).

  • Blade, series by Jeffrey Lord: This series features British secret agent Richard Blade. Blade was drafted into a top-secret project to travel through dimension X to alternate realities. Blade starts off naked and unarmed and fights his way through the various worlds he finds himself in before returning to his home dimension.

  • Cody, series by David Brierley: Cody was recruited by Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and trained by the CIA. After completing her training, Cody went freelance. In this series of five novels, we follow Cody's adventures.

  • Rambo, original novel by David Morrell: David Morrell's 1972 novel First Blood showed the conflict between Korean War veteran Sheriff Teasle and Vietnam War veteran Rambo (no first name was given) and ultimately Rambo dies. In the 1982 movie starring Sylvester Stallone, Rambo was given a first name, John, and he survived. This was followed by the 1985 sequel Rambo: First Blood, Part II, scripted by Stallone and James Cameron and novelized by Morrell. This was followed by the sixty-five episode animated series where Rambo heads the Force of Freedom against the evil forces of S.A.V.A.G.E. The year 1988 saw Rambo return in Rambo III, where he rescues his mentor, who has been captured in Afghanistan. In 2008, Stallone returned to the character in Rambo, where the hero helps a group of missionaries in Burma. Rambo ultimately is not a serial vigilante as he lacks the ongoing drive to continue fighting; he only acts when he is forced.

  • Bodyguard series, by Richard Reinsmith: This series deals with the adventures of a bodyguard named Ray Martin. Martin is one of the best in the business and he gets many clients whose lives are in jeopardy. He often takes violent action to protect his clients. Martin also manages to bed many women while protecting his clients.

  5. The Female of the Species

  Traditionally, the protagonist of the action /adventure story has been male. But there have been exceptions. Within various mythologies, there have been very few heroic females such as the valkyrie of Norse myths and Amazons from Greco-Roman mythology. The valkyrie were low-level female deities who took slain warriors from battle to Valhalla and determined the outcome of battles and wars. In some cases they participated in the battles. Similarly, the Amazons were a nation of warrior women who were believed to have removed their right breasts to aid them in the firing of arrows, although many artistic representations did not conform to this and heightened the sexuality of these women. Throughout history there have been female heroines, such as Calamity Jane, Joan of Arc, Anne Bonny and Annie Oakley to name a few. These women operated outside of the cultural norms for the time and often were the equal to the men they worked alongside.

  Pulp Mystery Women

  After the introduction of the Shadow, pulp mystery men proliferated. Doc Savage, the Avenger, the Whisperer, the Spider, the Phantom Detective and many other crime-fighters quickly appeared. But mystery women were far less common with the pulps, introducing the Domino Lady and Senorita Scorpion. The Domino Lady was Ellen Patrick, socialite daughter of politician Owen Patrick, who adopted her mystery woman persona to avenge the death of her father. She continued to fight crime through the pages of Saucy Romantic Adventures for five adventures, with a sixth story appearing in Mystery Adventure Magazine during 1936. All stories were written by Lars Anderson.

  For Domino Lady: The Complete Collection, James Sterenko not only provided title page illustrations for the pulp reprints but also wrote the story "Aroused the Domino Lady," telling the Domino Lady's origin in 2004. In 1991, Eros Comics published the three-issue mini-series Domino Lady, which heightened the sexual tension of the original pulps into the realms of the erotic, with the heroine frequently losing her clothes and having sexual adventures while battling a master criminal's attempt to take over the city with dinosaurs and mind c
ontrol.

  Senorita Scorpion was Elgera Douglas, who like the Lone Ranger rode the old West. Senorita Scorpion protected the lost Santiago gold mine against land-grabbers and other threats. The lost gold mine had been in the Douglas family for two hundred years after an Indian attack left George Douglas and an Indian woman trapped in the mine and the hidden valley near it. Elgera is described as a fast draw, able to outshoot the various hired guns she fights against.

  Female Superheroes

  However, it was the early superhero/mystery men comics and comic strips that brought forth a wave of female crime-fighters. Some like Wonder Woman were super-powered but the majority were not. Sandra Knight (the Phantom Lady), Brenda Banks (Lady Luck), Diana Adams (Miss Masque), and Maria Drake (Miss Fury) were all socialites who adopted costumes and fought crime. Similarly, actresses Linda Turner (the Black Cat) and Rita Farrar (Senorita Rio) became costumed crime fighters.

  While Peggy Allen (the Woman in Red) was a police officer frustrated with the rules, Dinah Drake (the Black Canary), a police officer's daughter, was unable to join the force. Secretary Louise Grant became the Blonde Phantom to help her employer Mark Mason, originally an O.S.S. agent and later private eye. Socialite Jan Dodge became Rulah and was considered a Jungle Goddess during her adventures in Africa, joining other jungle queens such as Sheena, Tiger Girl and the nameless actress who played Princess Panther and became too involved in her role.

  Girl Detectives

  There were also juvenile detective series such as Nancy Drew, the Dana Girls, and Trixie Belden, where teenage girls became detectives. These girls became involved in mysteries but did not adopt new identities, instead operating as amateur detectives.

  Female Spies

  During the 1960s, there was a rise of the female espionage agent. This was best personified by Emma Peel but Steed's other partners, Cathy Gale, Tara King and Purdey, as well as Agent 99 from Get Smart and April Dancer (the Girl from U.N.C.L.E.) are other examples. The female spy in this scenario is partnered with the male spy, playing an active role, being an equal partner in the investigations of espionage matters. The female spy is either as competent as or more competent than her male companion.

  Sexy Spies

  With the success of the spy genre, there were a number of soft-core pornographic spy series, most patterned after the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and its spinoff, the Girl from U.N.C.L.E., so there were men from O.R.G.Y., P.U.S.S.Y., T.O.M.C.AT, S.TU.D. and C.H.A.R.LS.M.A. who were quickly joined by girls from PU.S.S.Y.C.A.T, B.U.ST., and H.A.R.D. as well as a lady from L.U.ST. These sexpionage agents work in a world where capture meant depraved sexual torture and any mission offers the opportunity for as much sex play as there is gun play.

  Modesty Blaise

  It was Modesty Blaise who provided the template for many of the female serial vigilantes. Created by Peter O'Donnell for a newspaper strip in 1963, Modesty was a child left orphaned during World War II eventually becomes the leader of the criminal organization known as the Network. The story opens when Modesty and her right-hand man Willie Garvin retire from their life of crime to Great Britain and are offered the opportunity for occasional excitement working as freelance operatives for the British Secret Service under Sir Gerald Tarrant. O'Donnell then attempted to adapt his character to film but, when the studio rejected his script, he turned it into a novel, Modesty Blaise, which started a series of novels and short-story collections that ran parallel to the comic series.

  Female Serial Vigilantes

  With the models in place of Modesty Blaise and The Executioner, it was only a short time before female serial vigilantes were created. The Sexecutioner was the first series created, written by one of the writers of the Lady from LUST, and set the model of a freelance operative who trades on her sexuality and deadly skills. The Sexecutioner works for the New York Mafia Prosecution and Harassment Organization (N.Y.M.PH.O.) fighting organized crime around the world. The Sexecutioner was quickly joined by The Baroness, The Black Swan, and Su-Lin Kelly of The Girl Factory.

  Team Players

  While the serial vigilante team would seem to be a male-only domain, many of the groups have female members. Their roles vary from tactical support such as April Rose and Barbara Price as seen in the Executioner and related series to active team members like Hanni Stein from Warhawks, Inc., and Domino Black from Z-Comm. In every instance they are in a minority.

  Blaxploitation

  The blaxploitation film genre introduced films featuring African-American protagonists such as Shaft. The genre had several female leading characters such as Coffy, Foxy Brown, Cleopatra Jones and TNT Jackson. Cleopatra Jones was the only character to feature in more than one film, also appearing in Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold. Foxy Brown,originally titled Burn, Coffy, Burn, was intended as a sequel to Coffy with the same director and star, but the studio did not wish to make a sequel and ordered a quick rewrite to make an original character. These characters were parodied in Austin Powers in Goldmember by the character Foxxy Cleopatra.

  Female Private Eyes

  In 1977, Marcia Muller published Edwin of the Iron Shoes, featuring the first hard boiled female private eye, Sharon McCone. It was not until 1982 that Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky were able to add their female private eyes, Kinsey Milhone and V.I. Warshawski, and they were followed by many other female eyes.

  Eros Comix

  During the 1990s, Eros Comics introduced two new sexy crime-fighters, Marcia Bolens, the Sexecutioner II, and Razmataz. Like Cherry Delight, the new Sexecutioner used her sexuality and fighting skills to bring down organized crime.

  Distaff Versions

  The 1990s saw several new incarnations of older serial vigilantes and, in an attempt to do something different, made female versions of male heroes.

  • Knight Rider: The television movie Knight Rider 2000, which was to serve as pilot to the series had Michael Knight passing the car on to Shawn McCormack, a female police officer who had one of KITT's computer chips inserted in her head. The movie was never picked up as a series.

  • Vigilante: In the comic series Deathstroke the Terminator, policewoman Patricia Trayce discovered the uniform and equipment of the earlier Vigilante, Adrian Chase, and adopted the identity. Trayce remained a supporting character in several series. Since the conclusion of those series two new male Vigilantes have debuted.

  • Punisher: During the Punisher story arc "Suicide Run," Frank Castle was believed dead and several characters adopted the costume and name of the Punisher. One of those was ex-police officer Lynn Michaels; in Punisher War Journal #62 she officially became Castle's successor. Within a year, all of the Punisher's titles were cancelled and all relaunches have featured Frank Castle as the Punisher again.

  • Femme Fatale: In 2003, Gold Eagle's sister company Silhouette published a collection of three connected novellas with references to the Executioner and Stony Man series. Each novella introduced a female operative of the Stony Man Farm chasing down a terrorist mastermind and finding love. There has not been a second collection.

  All of these distaff serial vigilantes were ultimately unsuccessful and short-lived before other attempts to revive these characters were implemented.

  Adventuring Archaeologists

  In the 1990s, we saw the rise of girl power with shows like Xena, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, VIP and Alias, all of which featured strong female lead characters. At the same time, the Tomb Raider video game was being developed and featured the adventures of Lara Croft, a tomb raider in the Indiana Jones mold. This was the first time a video game was designed exclusively around a female character and didn't give players the option of playing a male character. The game and character were a success and the franchise has expanded from video games to comics, movies and novels. The success of the game inspired the television series Relic Hunter., which featured archaeology professor Sydney Fox and her assistant Nigel Bailey traveling the world searching for relics. The 2006 novel series Rogue Angel featured another femal
e archaeologist, Annja Creed. In this instance, Creed has found the sword of Joan of Arc and is now fighting evil around the world.

  Back to the Streets

  The 2005 movie Hard Candy offered a more streetwise take on the vigilante — a pedophile hunter. Haley meets men online with the screen name thonggirll4 and arranges meetings with the ones who sexually proposition her. Through psychological mind games, the pedophiles are persuaded to commit suicide, believing that it is the only way to avoid exposure.

  Academy award winner Jodie Foster played the vigilante Erica Bain in the 2007 movie The Brave One. Bain was viciously attacked and left for dead. After her recovery, Bain buys a black market gun and begins to kill criminals, eventually hunting the gang that attacked her. Also released in 2007 was the independent release Juncture, which offers a female vigilante diagnosed with terminal cancer seeking to make the world a better place.

  These vigilantes offer a throwback to the earlier street-level vigilantes such as those seen in Death Wish by Brian Garfield and The Vigilante series by V.J. Santiago, with the new twist of a female protagonist.