Last month Balladeer’s Blog gave an overview of the German sci-fi hero Captain Mors the Air Pirate HERE. The character is criminally overlooked and deserves a much higher profile. It’s puzzling that the Germans themselves haven’t taken advantage of the way his weekly text stories were set in a historical period BEFORE so much pop culture centers around German figures.
MASTER OF THE SKIES – The first short story featuring Kapitan Mors der Luftpirat is set in 1905. This origin tale saw him visit the mountain graves of his wife and children before leading his European and Indian crew against the villains responsible for their deaths and for his fugitive status.
They fly their futuristic Luftschiff (airship) to the port of Odessa where, amid the historical events of the failed 1905 uprising against the Tsars the captain and his men isolate and kill his targets. The advanced weapons and construction of the Luftschiff keep them safe from the artillery used against them. Mors hangs three of the evildoers from his airship. Continue reading
KAPITAN MORS DER LUFTPIRAT – From 1908 to 1911 the masked Captain Mors, a combination of Robin Hood, Captain Nemo and Robur, appeared in weekly adventures running 32-33 pages. The character’s creator is not known but over his 3-year run various writers were linked to this German series, which was basically a late Dime Novel but early Pulp Magazine. 
After the initial run of 3 years and a few months, the Captain Mors stories were reprinted around Europe in various languages until 1916. The good captain at first adventured in the skies above, then later took his crew to other planets aboard his “world ship” (which we today would call a spaceship) the Meteor. 
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