Tag Archives: Steel Mask

February 21, 2015 · 4:26 pm

PULP HERO G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES: THE FINAL TWO STORIES

THIS IS IT! G-8's FINAL BATTLE WITH STEEL MASK!

THIS IS IT! G-8’s FINAL BATTLE WITH STEEL MASK!

Balladeer’s Blog concludes its look at the neglected Pulp Hero G-8. This has been 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 super-natural 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, his two Battle Aces. Here are my reviews of the 109th and 110th issues of this massively underappreciated Pulp magazine.

wings of the death monster109. WINGS OF THE DEATH MONSTER (April 1944) – G-8’s FINAL BATTLE WITH STEEL MASK, the German supervillain who hid his disfigured face behind a metal mask decades before Dr Doom and Darth Vader came along.

Just like our hero’s final encounter with his arch-enemy Doktor Krueger a few issues back this already exciting story gets an extra boost from pure nostalgia, marking as it does the last meeting between G-8 and his second-most memorable foe.

Steel Mask still boasts a talent for weapons design that would shame even the 1960’s-era Tony Stark in Iron Man comic books. The German madman’s Death Monster is a new and improved version of the 100 feet high super-tank that he used a while back. For this new model wings and the element of flight threaten to make it the ultimate super-weapon for the Central Powers. Continue reading →

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October 4, 2014 · 2:57 pm

PULP HERO G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES: STORIES FORTY-NINE TO FIFTY-ONE

MORE PARANORMAL ADVENTURES WITH G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES

MORE PARANORMAL ADVENTURES WITH G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its exam-ination 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.

Hand of Steel49. THE HAND OF STEEL (October 1937) – This story introduces another of G-8’s Rogue’s Gallery of recurring foes – the madman called Goulon. Once a skilled flying ace for Germany in the Red Baron’s Flying Circus Goulon was eventually shot down, his crash landing resulting in his left leg and left foot being permanently bent and twisted.

Now called “the cripple of Hartsburg” – and by his OWN side (now that’s cold) Goulon’s face was also badly burned in the crash (shades of G-8’s foe Steel Mask) and the burned skin was removed, leaving his face resembling a skull with a perpetually opened mouth. To top it all off the crash also caused his left hand to be replaced by a steel claw. Talk about a bad day! Goulon blames the Allies for his condition and spends the rest of the war coming up with super-scientific inventions to help the Central Powers win.

Continue reading →

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September 27, 2014 · 12:14 am

PULP HERO G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES: STORIES FORTY-SIX TO FORTY-EIGHT

Vengeance of the VikingsBalladeer’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.

Patrol of the Purple Clan46. PATROL OF THE PURPLE CLAN (July 1937) – Not to be confused with the Purple Empire/ Purple Invasion storyline from the Operator 5 Pulp stories of the time. This tale is entirely unrelated. A squadron of purple-clad flying aces are terrorizing the skies over the United States itself, sabotaging American industry and preying on the population! The Purple Clan, as they’re called, are American traitors happily wreaking destruction throughout their homeland for a price – a fortune in gold being paid to them by the Central Powers.

As the American homefront mobilizes to deal with these attacks on its own soil G-8 and his Battle Aces are hurriedly dispatched to the U.S. on the naval cruiser Madison to help protect Washington D.C. from the airborne marauders. It turns out the leader of the Purple Clan is none other than G-8’s old foe Steel Mask, the deadly German who hid his disfigured face behind a mask of cold steel decades before Doctor Doom and Darth Vader did it. Continue reading →

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September 13, 2014 · 2:54 pm

PULP HERO G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES: STORIES FORTY TO FORTY-TWO

THE DEBUT OF ONE OF G-8'S DEADLIEST FOES!

THE DEBUT OF ONE OF G-8’S DEADLIEST FOES!

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.

Scourge of the Steel Mask 340. SCOURGE OF THE STEEL MASK (January 1937) – AT LAST! THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF STEEL MASK, DOKTOR KRUEGER’S ONE TRUE RIVAL AS THE FANS’ FAVORITE ADVERSARY OF G-8! Decades before Dr Doom and Darth Vader Steel Mask was a supervillain who hid his horribly scarred face behind a metallic mask.

Steel Mask suffered his facial disfigurement in the explosive inferno that was unleashed when G-8 shot down a German Zeppelin he was traveling in as one of the passengers. The now-amnesiac German has lost his entire past and his only reality is his intense hatred of the American pilot who wiped out his memories and destroyed his face. Steel Mask will return again and again, designing military hardware intended to win the war and kill G-8, not necessarily in that order. Continue reading →

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