MY TOP STORIES OF THE PULP HERO G-8 & HIS BATTLE ACES

Recently, a Balladeer’s Blog reader asked if I would compile a list of my “Best of” stories of the 1930s and 1940s pulp hero G-8 and his Battle Aces. That idea makes perfect sense considering I reviewed all 110 book-length stories of this World War One flying ace who should be as big culturally as Doc Savage, Zorro, and so many other pulp icons. 

Writer Robert J Hogan created the heroic American World War One pilot G-8 in 1933 when that conflict was still being called simply The World War or The Great War. G-8 and his wingmen/ Battle Aces Nippy Weston and Bull Martin battled all the supernatural and super-scientific menaces thrown at the Allied Powers by the Central Powers of Germany, Austria- Hungary and the Ottoman Muslim Turks. 

Giant robots, invisible planes, Panther-Men and even aliens were all in a day’s work for G-8 and his Battle Aces. Here are my Top G-8 stories, in descending order. NOTE: Pulp Magazines were not comic books, they were text stories with just a few illustrations here and there, so they were at a much higher level of storytelling.

THE BAT STAFFEL (October 1933) – The very first G-8 pulp novel is at the top of my list. Not only does it nicely capture the tone and nature of the series, but it introduces the villainous mad scientist Doktor Krueger. That Teutonic terror would become the archenemy of G-8, Bull Martin and Nippy Weston as the series of novels rolled along. 

In Krueger’s initial clash with our heroic flying aces the great Herr Doktor’s dark genius has produced gigantic bats which are obedient enough for the Central Powers’ forces to pilot into battle. In addition to outfitting the bats with conventional weaponry, Doktor Krueger has designed the creatures to breathe incredibly poisonous gas. 

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.   

SCOURGE OF THE STEEL MASK (January 1937) – This tale marked the debut of G-8’s second-deadliest recurring villain – Steel Mask! Decades before Dr. Doom and Darth Vader, this villain hid his disfigured face behind a metal mask. Steel Mask had a knack for designing military hardware and would manufacture some of the best – and biggest – menaces designed to let the Central Powers win the war!   

Making this villain stand out was the fact that – unlike Dr. Krueger – Steel Mask was a match for G-8 physically as well, adding to his threat level. In his inaugural appearance, Steel Mask takes to the skies with his artillery piece that disables the engines of Allied planes, sending them and their pilots spiraling to destruction by the dozen. All that plus our villain’s underlings torture G-8’s British manservant Battle. 

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE. 

THE PANTHER SQUADRON (September 1934) – Austria-Hungary’s dangerous Dr. Mollfuss surgically attaches the heads of huge, genetically-engineered panthers to the decapitated bodies of Allied Powers POWs. The resulting man-beasts have human intelligence and piloting skills along with the ferocity and cunning of panthers.

This preposterous but fun story kicked off the “anything goes” period of the G-8 series, with things often getting weirder as the years rolled by. The Panther-Men aka Panzeren would even throw themselves onto an enemy pilot’s plane if they ran out of ammo. World War One action with a weird twist. 

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE. 

THE DEATH MONSTERS (March 1935) – Doktor Krueger unleashes his latest inventions designed to win the war for the Central Powers and his revered Kaiser Wilhelm. To cut down on the fatalities that Krueger’s side of the war is experiencing, the great Herr Doktor has devised enormous automated killing machines – or Death Monsters if you will.

These machines have robot brains so they don’t require any soldiers to pilot them and are immune to fire and heavy artillery. Their tentacled limbs slaughter allied troops and can tear apart the most powerful tanks. It’s up to G-8 and company to stop this potentially war-changing development.

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE. 

THE HURRICANE PATROL (August 1934) – This story introduced G-8’s lady love R-1. Like our hero, her real name was never revealed but she was both a nurse AND a spy who sometimes helped save G-8 and the Battle Aces’ butts during their missions. In this story two units are found dead to the last man but with no bullets fired. All deaths were caused by lack of oxygen.

General “Black Jack” Pershing himself calls in our main characters to get to the bottom of the Central Powers’ new secret weapon. Their attempt to develop pills that would cause hurricanes instead wound up draining all air from the vicinity. Renaming the pills “the breath of death” the Central Powers begin using the chemicals to slay entire units. This adventure is set in Paris, the Mediterranean Sea and Northern Africa. 

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.

THE DRAGON PATROL (July 1934) – In this tale that eerily foreshadowed the London Blitz in World War Two years later, the Central Powers have a pair of advanced Zepellins that drop special incendiary bombs on Paris. With the City of Lights in virtual ruins, the French plan to surrender unless G-8 and the Battle Aces can end the nightly death from the skies.

Our heroes clash with Kapitan Geist, a Zeppelin captain whose approach and paraphernalia make him a kind of old sea captain of the air. Geist’s Zeppelin is called Fafnir to drive home the Dragon Patrol gimmick. G-8 ultimately commandeers the Fafnir, reduces the German city of Cologne to a smoking ruin, then crashes the Fafnir into the other Zeppelin in the Dragon Patrol, ending this latest menace. 

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.

THE SKELETON PATROL (March 1934) – Doktor Krueger dabbles in Kaiju! The good doctor has overseen the construction of a gigantic skeleton in a Grim Reaper cowl and set it loose on the soldiers and pilots of the Allied Powers! 

Like King Kong atop the Empire State Building this latter-day colossus swats planes out of the sky and rampages through the ground troops with equal ease. It’s up to G-8 and company to trace the immense construct to its lair and somehow, against all odds, arrange for its destruction.

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.

SQUADRON OF THE SCORPION (February 1935) – Sengal the Astrologer does his bit to help the Fatherland and its allies win the war in this classic adventure. Sengal does that by managing an alliance between the Central Powers and … the planet Mars! A Martian representative (a Scorpio according to Sengal) comes to the Earth and oversees distribution of advanced Martian technology to the German fighter planes and tanks.

Astrology is the “religion” of the Martians and so in conjunction with Sengal the Astrologer the Martian’s “Zodiac Staffel” only goes forth when the stars say it is propitious. Whenever they do go forth they rout all who stand against them. Given the Martian’s helmet insert your own “I claim this planet in the name of Mars” joke in Marvin the Martian fashion.

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.

SKELETONS OF THE BLACK CROSS (February 1936) – Doktor Krueger’s latest weapon: black rays that slowly and painfully burn away the flesh and muscle from any human being’s body, leaving behind animated skeletons that obey Krueger’s every command. Krueger plans on sending forth these skeletons both on foot and in balloons marked with black crosses for land and aerial assaults using guns that shoot the infernal black rays. 

Each victim of the black rays will in turn become another obedient skeleton and go forth with a black ray-gun of its own to add even more living skeletons to Krueger’s army. This geometrically reproducing force will eventually overwhelm all of the Allied forces and win the war for the Central Powers, then pave the way for global conquest.

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.

THE GORILLA STAFFEL (May 1935) – Decades before Pierre Boulle wrote his Planet of the Apes novel he was beaten to the punch by Robert J Hogan. Up next on our Bingo card of bizarre Central Powers creations – super-intelligent gorillas who can not only talk but are bullet-proof as well! 

Once again, it’s up to G-8 and his Battle Aces to save the Allied Powers from a seemingly unstoppable military force. An added distinction for this story is the fact that it features the first appearance of A-1, Hogan’s fictional head of American espionage activities. And for all of us World War One geeks, Marshall Foch, General Haig and General Pershing show up.

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.

FLIGHT OF THE GREEN ASSASSIN (September 1937) – Chu Lung, the Chinese traitor (China was on the Allied side) was saved from imprisonment following his previous battle with G-8 and restored to health by the one and only Dr. Krueger. Supervillain team-ups like this became more common as the G-8 series went on.

Krueger and Chu Lung (Robert Hogan’s imitation of Fu Manchu and his own Wu Fang) combine their intellects to invent green Smart Missiles for the Central Powers forces to use. The missiles also explode with many times the usual explosive force of bombs of the era.

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.

PATROL OF THE PURPLE CLAN (July 1937) – Once again G-8 goes up against Steel Mask, who has recruited a squadron of purple-clad American traitors being paid to fly in the villain’s aerial forces preying on the American homeland itself!

With Steel Mask and his pilots armed with guns that shoot unbreakable, quickly solidifying glass and with city after city getting terrorized from the skies, G-8 and the Battle Aces are shipped back to the U.S. as quickly as possible. It all culminates in a duel of dogfights over Washington D.C.

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.

THE DAMNED WILL FLY AGAIN (July 1940) – The third encounter between G-8 and Grun (“groon”) the Primeval, another of his most popular villains. Grun was a mutant long before the X-Men, was green-skinned long before the Hulk and wanted non-mutants wiped out long before Magneto. Grun possessed the strength of a gorilla but the mind of a genius as well as potent telepathic powers.

Grun pretended to play along with the Central Powers, all the while plotting to double-cross them at the right moment and launch a genocide of “normal” human beings, leaving nothing but mutants alive and with him ruling the mutants. In this tale, the villain has armed his flight squadron of fellow mutants with lightning guns and cannons stolen from the Central Powers.

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE. 

VULTURES OF THE PURPLE DEATH (August 1936) – Doktor Krueger is back! This time the mad genius has devised a deployable purple fog that is so thick and opaque it blinds all of the Allied ground and air forces enveloped in it. This blindness leaves them at the mercy of Central Powers troopers who wear face masks designed by Doktor Krueger to let them see in the purple fog.

In addition to this purple fog making Allied aircraft get shot down left and right by the enemy, Krueger has some of his men use the fog as a cover to kidnap General Pershing. G-8 and company must rescue Pershing and learn how to beat Krueger’s purple fog before it’s too late.

FOR A FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE.