Balladeer's Blog

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of 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 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. The regular cast was rounded out by our hero’s archenemy Doktor Krueger, by Battle, G-8’s British manservant and by our hero’s girlfriend R-1: an American spy/ nurse whose real name, like G-8’s was never revealed.

64. RAIDERS OF THE SILENT DEATH (January 1939) – Doktor Krueger is back! Once again G-8’s deadliest adversary returns with yet another super-scientific invention intended to help the Central Powers win the war.

This time around it’s a collection of guns of various sizes that fire deadly artillery and which not only can be transported noiselessly through the skies but can be fired in complete silence. Our heroes are hard-pressed to put the kibosh on Doktor Krueger’s ultimate stealth weapons before they can change the course of the war. Nippy at one point disguises himself as Krueger to bluff some Germans!  Continue reading →