Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the neglected Pulp Hero G-8. This marks the beginning of 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 supernatural 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. Our hero – whose real name was never revealed – served as an aerial commando and spy as well as a sort of Indiana Jones/ Brisco County Junior figure against his archenemy Doktor Krueger and a host of other mad scientists, aliens and monsters that the Central Powers had up their sleeve.
The regular cast was rounded out by Battle, G-8’s British manservant and by our hero’s girlfriend R-1: an American nurse/ spy whose real name, like G-8’s was never revealed.
1. THE BAT STAFFEL (Oct 1933) – This debut adventure of G-8 and his Battle Aces (Bull Martin and Nippy Weston) featured their very first clash with Germany’s brilliant mad scientist Doktor Krueger (Freddy’s ancestor no doubt). During one of their aerial commando raids on a Top Secret German installation our heroes discover that Doktor Krueger has harnessed the power of an entire flock of gigantic plane-sized bats who breathe a deadly gas that kills human beings upon exposure, shriveling them up until they are nothing but powder.
G-8 and the Battle Aces escape to warn the Allies what they will soon be up against and are sent back on a daring, desperate mission to nip this bizarre menace in the bud before the giant bats and their “halitosis of death” can turn the tide of the war. Ultimately G-8 and his wingmen wind up inside an enormous cavern which houses the flock of gigantic bats. In a showdown with Doktor Krueger they learn that the bats are really just gigantic android creations of the good doctor, who also developed the deadly gas that the constructs “breathe”. Continue reading
THANK YOU TO THE BERNIE BROS WHO POINTED OUT THIS VIDEO TO ME. In reality, people who hated Trump 6 months ago still hate him and people who liked him 6 months ago still like him. The Democrats and their media outlets love to subject us to the same Trump-haters over and over again, pretending it means something. Their “polling” from Harvard/ Harris claimed a 12 point lead for Hidin’ Biden over de facto Third Party President Donald Trump. 
Meanwhile, Senile Joe Biden emerged from his bunker once again for a tightly-controlled event AND STILL BLEW IT, YET AGAIN! Watch as the demented fool claims that 120 MILLION Americans have died from the Coronavirus, then, wonderfully, the screen glitches on the “D’OH!” look Joe got on his face when he realized his stupidity. Biden and his people cannot run small campaign events, let alone the country. Watch the whole video. 
Regarding the actual 2020 campaign, it is still anybody’s race, but the Democrats are trying to intimidate the nation with their rioting and their disastrous “autonomous zones.” And their push for mail-in voting everywhere is obviously so that they can insist that “all the votes haven’t been counted yet.” This lets them see how many votes they need to win certain states and, as we’ve seen in the past, Democrat-run areas will MIRACULOUSLY find enough “uncounted” votes to reach those levels. 
CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS Vol 1 #1 (March 1941) 
Story 2: Case Number 2 
For Balladeer’s Blog’s review of the first episode of this 1971-1973 series about London by Gaslight detectives from both the Victorian and Edwardian Ages you can simply click 
Episode: FIVE HUNDRED CARATS (February 5th, 1973) 
For the first time in this series we have a story set outside Great Britain, which I found to be a welcome change of pace. Leo Lipinzki (Barry Keegan) works as a Detective Inspector for the Cape Police, but technically the already wealthy and powerful De Beers Diamond Corporation is who he really answers to. 
Martin Luther King Person of Courage Leo Terrell, noted Civil Rights attorney, joined the chorus of voices coming from African-Americans disgusted with the Democrats and their hypocrisy on racial issues. (Link below)
Terrell, like so many others, has pointed out how de facto Third Party President Donald Trump has been better for African-Americans than any Democrat in decades, especially Joe Biden, noted for his draconian legal positions against African-Americans. 
Balladeer’s Blog concludes its examination of another neglected pulp hero – in this case Northwest Smith. Created by the female author C.L. Moore in the 1930s Northwest Smith was a ruthless outer-space smuggler and mercenary decades before Han Solo. With his Venusian partner Yarol at his side and armed with a trusty blaster Smith roamed our solar system in his deceptively fast spaceship The Maid. For more on Northwest Smith and other neglected pulp heroes click here: 
He reveals that Northwest Smith is not his real name (Well, duh! I always figured his real name was Northwest Rabinowitz.) and is uncharacteristically serious- minded as he soaks in the atmosphere of the woodland area where his fate was determined so long ago. 
Balladeer’s Blog is happy to announce that at least one of the many divisions of college football covered here has made an announcement about their 2020 season. The NJCAA will begin practices on August 1st and the opening night of the season will be Thursday, August 20th. 
Balladeer’s Blog presents another examination of an ancient Greek political satire. This comedy by Aristophanes was one that I was planning on covering very soon when I started posting my reviews of Attic Old Comedy years ago. For various reasons it kept falling by the wayside. 
More than 2,300 years before George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984, Aristophanes was dealing with some of the same political themes. 
THANK YOU once again to all of you readers for making Balladeer’s Blog so enjoyable to write. As I always say the unusual and controversial items I sometimes churn out here mean that readers have to be open-minded and very secure in their own beliefs not to just take offense and leave.
FIRST AND SECOND BATTLES OF MACHIAS – Revolutionary War history about the two separate battles in Machias, Maine. CLICK 
THE MONKS OF MONK HALL – This neglected American horror classic was the country’s best-selling novel prior to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. CLICK 
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG! Over the years my review of the 2011 horror film Father’s Day has been the most controversial. Reader reaction has been split between requests that I run the review every single Father’s Day and requests that I never run it again. 
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