Serial Vigilantes of Paperback FictionAn Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm
Brad Mengel
ISBN 978-0-7864-4165-5
bibliographies, index
softcover (7 x 10) 2009
"Rough justice has often been served in the pages of serial novels, notably beginning with Don Pendleton’s The Executioner in 1969. This is the first overview of the serial vigilante genre, which featured such hard-boiled protagonists as Nick Carter, Mark Stone, Jake Brand and Able Team among the 130 series that followed Pendleton’s novel. Serial vigilantes repeatedly take the law into their own hands, establishing and imposing their own moral standards, usually by force. The book examines the connections between the serial vigilante and the pulp hero that preceded him and how the serial vigilante has influenced a variety of tough guys, private eyes, spies and cops in different media. A complete bibliography for each series is featured."
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About the Author
Brad Mengel works in Australia’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He’s contributed critical analysis to Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe and short fiction to Tales of the Shadowmen Vol. 3.
2 comments:
I grabbed a copy of this hot off the publisher's press. It's an impressive volume, despite a few series ommisions (this is inevitable as there were so many). While I understand why the author didn't cover them, many of the western series from the same time period fit the serial vigilante definition as described. They, however, would fill (and deserve) a book of their own.
Thanks James,
There were a few series that I know I missed as I discovered them after the manuscript was finished (The most upsetting one was SOS a French porno/parody of the SAS/Malko series)
I do reference the western series and I agree that they and the post-apocalytic series of that time both offer enough material to give them their own volumes.
Thanks
Brad
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