PULP HERO G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES: STORIES ONE HUNDRED-THREE TO ONE HUNDRED-FIVE

THIS IS IT! G-8’s FINAL BATTLE WITH DOKTOR KRUEGER!

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its look at the neglected Pulp Hero G-8. This is a story-by- story look at the adventures of this World War One American fighter pilot who – along with his two wingmen the Battle Aces – took on various super-natural and super- scientific menaces thrown at the Allied Powers by the Central Powers of Germany, Austria- Hungary and the Ottoman Muslim Turks.

G-8 was created by Robert J Hogan in 1933 when World War One was still being called simply the World War or the Great War. Over the next eleven years Hogan wrote 110 stories featuring the adventures of G-8, the street-smart pug Nippy Weston and the brawny giant Bull Martin, his two Battle Aces.

103. WINGS OF THE HAWKS OF DEATH (April 1943) – G-8 and Nippy Weston get court-martialed in this tale! The two are framed for stealing and gambling away a small fortune in Allied war funds.

Found guilty, the two make a dramatic escape from the courtroom and add assaulting a General Officer to the list of charges while doing so.

With the pair on the run a puzzled Bull Martin and G-8’s British manservant Battle do what they can to help G-8 and Nippy try to unravel the masterful deception. The threads eventually lead them to their newest foe – Baron Von Heidt: the German Empire’s greatest sportsman.

Von Heidt has taken on the ultimate challenge. Namely, disgracing and ultimately killing G-8 and his Battle Aces as revenge for the countless times they’ve thwarted the super-villains of the Central Powers.

104. SCOURGE OF THE SKY MONSTER (June 1943) – G-8’s FINAL BATTLE WITH DOKTOR KRUEGER! After clashing repeatedly ever since the very first issue of the G-8 stories our hero and his arch-enemy face each other one final time!

With the international paper shortage of the time and with real-life war action leading to slumping sales Robert J Hogan made sure to squeeze in this final battle between G-8 and Krueger before the series could get canceled.

As it is there are only six issues left after this one, but Scourge of the Sky Monster nicely recaptures the feel of the early G-8 stories. We get one last gripping chess match between two bitter foes as Doktor Krueger takes to the skies in an enormous Zepellin that is outfitted with all manner of super-weapons.

Allied planes are helpless against the good doctor’s vessel while ground troops and tanks are like sitting ducks for its aerial assaults. G-8, Bull and Nippy must bring it down or die trying. Part Crimson Tide, part Die Hard, this tale lets the greatest villain of the series depart on a high note!

(If there had ever been a G-8 television series this would have made a perfect final episode. They could have upped the ante by placing it on November 11th, 1918 and saying Doktor Krueger’s aerial campaign of destruction’s ultimate target was the site where the surrender was being signed. The fiend could be depicted wanting the war to go on, planning on ships like his super-Zepellin winning the conflict for the Central Powers.)

105. WINGED BEASTS OF DEATH (August 1943) – Featuring the debut of an all-new foe for G-8 and his Battle Aces – Konig, the Master of Evil! (No relation to Herr Konig from the 3rd G-8 story.)

Konig is another villain from the German Empire’s African Colonies. Through experimentation on his huge herds of rhinoceri – especially their horns – he has developed a master plan.

Konig’s creation is a method of turning Central Powers pilots into figurative Rhino Men, who are crazed with aggression at sunrise and then at sundown they turn into outright Rhino-Men! These super-pilots/ monster-men begin an aerial reign of terror with our heroes called in to nip it in the bud.

I WILL BE EXAMINING MORE G-8 STORIES NEXT TIME!

For more on G8 and other neglected pulp heroes click here: https://glitternight.com/pulp-heroes/

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