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.
70. WINGS OF THE BLACK TERROR (July 1939) – The Chinese genius Chu Lung is back for another go-round with G-8! As always I consider Chu Lung to be just a pale imitation of Fu Manchu or Robert J Hogan’s own Wu Fang, the star of one of the short-lived Villain Pulps.
What I really like about the Chu Lung stories is that they serve as a reminder of the oft-forgotten fact that China entered World War One in August of 1917 on the side of the Allied Powers. In real life China’s inner turmoil prevented it from having much impact on the war but in the G-8 stories Chu Lung was a Chinese traitor who worked for the Central Powers and was one of the deadliest enemies the Allied Powers faced. Continue reading
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