REMO WILLIAMS, THE DESTROYER
The Adventures Continue!
Edited by Rich Harvey
Bold Venture Press
290 Pages
The three ages of American pulp fiction.
The Golden Age – From dime novels of late 20s, through the Great Depression till World War II. This was the rise of those cheap paper magazines that gave birth to the Shadow, Doc Savage, Ranch Romance and hundreds of other titles to keep Americans entertained during dour times.
The Silver Age – 1945 through to early 70s. GI’s came home to cheap, small paperbacks and dozens of lurid Men’s Adventure Magazines – the MAMS. Never mind the countless sci-fi and mystery digest of the period. It would last to the early 70s.
In 1969, Pinnacle launched the Bronze Age with the publication of Don Pendleton’s action thriller, “The Executioner.” Here was an outlandish, lone wolf hero much like the iconic avengers of the Golden Age. Not one to sit on their laurels, Pinnacle then debut Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir’s unique hero, Remo Williams in their novel, “The Destroyer.”
And just like that the pulps were back. Soon every paperback outfit was bringing forth now series with such characters as the Black Samurai, Judomaster, and the Baroness. On and on they came for nearly a decade. Some were good, others soon forgotten. Few ever matched the popularity and success of The Executioner and The Destroyer. One was a Vietnam Vet whose family’s death was brought about by organized crime, while the other was a former street cop turned into a super assassin for a top-secret agency known only as CURE. One was serious stuff, the other….well, let’s just say they enjoyed stretching the borders of credibility.
Remo, the name given to the ex-cop, is taught nearly magical abilities by a wizened North Korean named Chiun, the Master of the Sinanju, a martial art like no other. This pair has entertained readers for decades, and now comes this collection of brand-new short stories from Editor Rich Harvey at Bold Venture Press. The volume contains twelve terrific stories by old Destroyer veterans and a few new pulp scribes. There isn’t a lame duck in the bunch. We also want to mention the terrific cover by artist Martin Baines. If, like this reviewer, you’re an old Destroyer devotee, run, don’t walk, to pick this one up. The boys are back in town!
