The Avenger Chronicles:

The Avenger #anthology

by Tom DeFalco, Ron Goulart, Max McCoy

Out of tragedy, a hero is born! In the roaring heart of the crucible, steel is made. In the raging flame of personal tragedy, men are sometimes forged into something more than human. Wealthy and successful at an early age, Richard Benson was preparing to enjoy a long and happy life with his family when crime took away his wife and young daughter. Once he was just a man, but now he is a machine of vengeance dedicated to the extermination of all crime. A figure of ice and steel, but more pitiless than both, Benson has become a symbol to crooks and killers--a terrible, almost impersonal force, masking cold genius and a nearly supernatural power behind a face as white and still as a dead man's mask. Only pale eyes, like ice in a polar dawn, hint at what awaits criminals when they invoke the rage of millionaire adventurer Richard Benson -- The Avenger! Now, for the first time in over 30 years, the fearless/expressionless crime fighter; the man with the moldable face, the man with the shock white hair and the pale grey eyes, is back in action in a stunning collection of stories featuring all the action, adventure, and revenge Avenger fans have come to expect! From noir adventure and two-fisted action, to emotional tales of inner demons, join The Avenger for the E-ticket thrill ride of your life!

Genres: Anthologies, Crime, Pulp, Mystery

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Tom DeFalco is an American comics writer and editor, well-known for his association with Marvel Comics and Spider-Man.

Reviews

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 1940s, Street and Smith made yet another attempt to replicate their two most popular characters: Doc Savage and The Shadow. Lester Dent and Walter Dent even had a hand in fashioning the new character. Paul Ernst was hired to do the actual writing. Despite the fact that it seemed o work, THE AVENGER lasted only 24 issues. Two problems worked against it. The hero pulps were starting to wane and there was a paper shortage during the war.

The shock of losing his wife and daugther to gangsters gave Richard Henry Benson such a shock that his hair turned white and his facial muscles paralyzed, leaving him with a moldable face that he used often to appear as enemies he was hunting. Along with Justice, Inc., his team of experts who's all been wronged by crime, he waged a war against the forces of evil.

In the early seventies, the original 24 novels were reprinted and author Ron Goulart added a dozen more(he has a story in this volume.

Now this volume, the first of three, all new stories are added to the canon.

Excellent.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok...so, I'm a pulp fiction geek...and proud of it!!!

[Mark Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

High-quality collection of pastiches manages to capture the essence of the characters and the genuine pulp style while adding some depth and emotional nuance. Several of the stories explore the lasting psychological damage of Benson's loss in moving ways. "The Devil's Mouthpiece" by Martin Powell, "The Cloud of Doom" by Paul Kupperberg, and "The Red Death" by Tom DeFalco are standouts. As an added treat, Ron Goulart continues where he left off after his run of new Avenger novels for Bantam back in 1975. He wraps up loose ends from Demon Island with "The Return of the Iron Skull."

One note: Several stories feature both Avenger aide Cole Wilson and Benson with his white hair and paralyzed face. This shouldn't occur, since Cole only joined Justice, Inc. after the events in Murder on Wheels which turned Benson's hair black and cured his paralysis. Everyone agrees that it was a major flaw in the original series to abandon Benson's signature look, but to just ignore it smacks of poor research. A couple of the later entries at least attempt to address this anomaly.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now you could find and read all the original Doc Savage, The Shadow and The Avenger adventures, or you could buy this wonderful collection of short stories and get a quick class in what made the pulps so great. The colorful titles of the stories, the stunning first sentences, the Evil-Evil villains, the differing size & weight of Smitty...
Bear in mind that these writers were professional enough not to be anachronistic so you'll find some language that, in the light of today's sun, is offensive, but that brings me to this point: one of the things that impressed me about the original The Avenger pulps was how respectfully the writer portrayed The Avenger's black agents, Josh and Rosabel Newton. I will let you discover what I mean by that.
The highlight of this collection was that one of my favorite writers, Ron Goulart, got to close a circle he had to leave open through no fault of his own.
I hope you make every effort to buy and read this fantastic book before The Emerald Empress of Eurasia sends her demonic, hissing minions to your abode.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent volume, a fond and nostalgic revisiting of one of the best heroes of the pulp era. It's an attractive book, with very nice interior illustrations that look as if they would have been right at home in the original magazine. All of the members of Justice, Inc. appear (as well as Mike and Ike, of course!), careful detail is given to the Bleek Street headquarters, and there were several sly uses of names like Dent and Ernst, all of which shows the fondness that the contributors had for their subject matter and the respect they paid it. Some of the stories are better than others, of course, and I believe that I caught a few anachronisms (such as I don't believe they delivered pizza in cardboard boxes until after World War II), but overall it was a great read. In one story Rosabel and Nellie had to rescue the men, in another Benson mentioned that he intended to drop a criminal off at an institute run by one of his colleagues (obviously Doc Savage), and Ron Goulart got to finish off a story line left hanging a long, long time ago.

[Axel M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Von den Charakteren der klassischen Heldenmagazine sind wenige so interessant oder vielleicht auch unheimlich wie Richard Benson alias The Avenger. Ein Mann mit eisigen, farblosen Augen und dem leblosen Gesicht einer Leiche, das er wenn nötig in jede Form ummodellieren kann. Traumatisiertes Opfer eines unmenschlichen Verbrechens, nutzt er seine vielfachen Talente, um mit seiner Organisation Justice Incorporated Unrecht zu rächen und der Gerechtigkeit zum Sieg zu verhelfen. Dies ist ein Mann, der nicht mehr lachen kann. Sein abgestorbenes Gesicht kann jede Form annehmen, aber nicht die eigenen Gefühle wiedergeben.
"The Avenger Chronicles" präsentiert 18 neue Kurzgeschichten aus den Händen einiger der besten neuen Pulpautoren, und dies so elegant, dass auch ein ebenso spannender Nachfolgeband veröffentlicht wurde.

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 1st book on Kindle. While I am not sold completely, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. These short stories did remind me of the joy I had as a teenager in the 70's when I discovered the Avenger paperbacks in a 2nd hand store those many years ago. I really liked the stories that dared to go into his past. No real challenging villain.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately this anthology was very uneven in regards to the quality of the stories. I would have liked to given it a higher rating, but some of the selections just didn't measure up.

[Jeff J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun collection of 18 short stories featuring pulp hero The Avenger. The writers do a great job of remaining true to the characters without getting too high-concept.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of new short stories about the great Pulp era hero. A must read for any Pulp fan. Very recommended.