>From: JIM DOHERTY <
jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com>
>While the Executioner books are, without
question,
>both tough and colloquial, and consequently fair
game
>on this list, Mack Bolan's literary forebears are
not
>really the Spades, Marlowes, Gars, etc., and
other
>denizens of the hardboiled pulp magazines, but
a
>different type of pulp detective
altogether.
>
>Specifically, the avenging "Super-Detective"
best
>exemplified by The Shadow, in whose wake
followed
>characters like The Spider, The Phantom Detective,
The
>Moon Man, and The Patent Leather Kid.
>
>Like The Executioner, these characters
operated
>outside the law, inhabiting a dark urban world
in
>which violence was rampant. They made it
their
>business to personal visit justice of a
decidedly
>lethal and illegal type on the criminals
they
>encountered. Pendleton's main contribution was to
add
>a lot of well-researched military
technology.
Excellent point. The men's action series were/are very much
in the tradition of the hero pulps. My pet theory is that a
major factor in the collapse of the pulps were comic books
siphoning off the juvenile audience and paperbacks snagging
the adults.
>Second, while the Executioner is the father of
the
>"Men's Action" genre, a transitional figure who
could
>be called the "grandfather" is Nick Carter
I've always thought that the various publishers of Nick
Carter's Killmaster incarnation erred in not, for the most
part, numbering the series. But I think they were the first
to successfully market hero-pulp production methods to the
paperback format. But I fear I am drifting off topic...
--Scott
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