Jim Anthony
Jim Anthony, Super Detective, was a fictional pulp magazine character published in Trojan Publications' Super Detective magazine. Jim Anthony was an attempt to create a Doc Savage like character. However, as the publisher was formerly Culture Publications, the publisher of the "spicy pulps", Anthony had spicy pulp elements.
Characters
Jim Anthony was described as "half Irish, half Indian, and all-American". He inherited great wealth and physical attributes. He could see in the dark, was super strong, and had a sixth sense. He excelled in several subjects, including physics, psychiatry, and electro-chemistry. He owned businesses around the country, including the Waldorf-Anthony Hotel in New York, where he maintained a penthouse apartment and secret laboratory. There was also the Tepee, his hidden mansion in the Catskills Mountains, and the Pueblo in the southwest, a hotel/resort built at an oasis by Anthony.
His father was Shean Boru Anthony, an Irishman who had traveled the world as an adventurer, becoming rich in the process. His mother was Fawn Johntom, daughter of a Comanche chief.
Anthony was aided by several others:
- Tom Gentry, large, Irish, served as chief pilot, chauffeur and man Friday.
- Dawkins, English butler
- Mephito, Anthony's grandfather, a Comanche shaman who guarded the Tepee.
- Delores Colquitte, daughter of Senator Colquitt and Anthony's love interest.
The first ten novels pitted Anthony against a variety of super-villains bent on the destruction of the United States. The first three had Anthony go up against Rado Ruric. After Spies of Destiny, the Anthony stories were changed to a more hard-boiled detective stories. This was probably done by direction of the publisher. The larger-than-life elements were dropped, along with most of his supporting characters, leaving only Tom Gentry.
Stories
- Dealer in Death, 10/01/40
- Legion of Robots, 11/01/40
- Madame Murder, 12/01/40
- Bloated Death, 01/01/41
- Killer in Yellow, 02/01/41
- Murder in Paradise, 03/01/41
- Murder Syndicate, 04/01/41
- The Horrible Marionettes, 06/01/41
- Border Napoleon, 08/01/41
- Spies of Destiny, 10/01/41
- I.O.U. Murder, 12/01/41
- Cold Turkey, 02/01/42
- Mrs. Big, 04/01/42
- Needle's Eye, 06/01/42
- Mark of the Spider, 08/01/42
- Hell's Ice-Box, 10/01/42
- The Days of Death, 11/01/42
- The Caribbean Cask, 12/01/42
- Murder Between Shifts, 01/01/43
- Cauldron of Death, 02/01/43
- Murder's Migrants, 03/01/43
- Death For a Flying Dutchman, 04/01/43
- Homicide Heiress, 06/01/43
- Curse of the Masters, 08/01/43
- Pipeline to Murder, 10/01/43
Authorship
All novels were published under the house name (pseudonym) of John Grange. The first three novels are known to have been written by Victor Rousseau Emanuel. From the sixteenth novel to the end, they were written by Robert Leslie Bellem and W.T. Ballard. The authorship of the others is unknown, but is suspected to be Victor Rousseau Emanuel.
Reprints and new stories
A few of the stories have been reprinted by pulp small presses and fanzines. Altus Press will begin a complete reprinting of the stories starting in the summer of 2009. The first volume has come out, reprinting the first 3 stories.
Ron Fortier's Airship 27 published the first collection of new Jim Anthony stories in 2009, with a second out in 2010, and a new novel in 2011.
References
- Nick Carr, The Pulp Hero, Deluxe Edition, Wildcat Books, 2007
- Norman Hamilton, "A Spicy Savage", in Jim Anthony, Super-Detective Vol 1, Cornerstone Publications/Airship 27, 2009.
- John McMahan, "Introducation to 'Legion of Robots'", Super-Detective Flip Book, Off-Trail Publications, 2008
- John Wooley, "Introduction to 'Murder's Migrants'", Super-Detective Flip Book, Off-Trail Publications, 2008
