Jim Anthony, Super-Detective

Created by John Grange (Robert Lesie Bellem, W.T. Ballard. Victor Rouseeau & possibly others)

"As a manhunter Jim Anthony had no equals; his fame as an amateur scientific criminologist was world-wide. Detection was his hobby, his avocation; countless were the mysteries he had solved, the murderers he had brought to justice after the police themselves had failed. In consequence, the mere mention of his name was enough to strike terror into the heart of any transgressor."

-- from "Murder's Migrants"

"He's Indian; He's Irish; He's All-American!" He's JIM ANTHONY, part super-hero and part super-detective. He began his career as a Doc Savage ripoff -- albeit with one important difference. Or maybe two.

The first was that, unlike Savage, Anthony was not just a millionaire philanthropist adventurer. He was also for hire, although of course he could never say "No" to a pretty girl.

Which brings us to the second big difference.

The good doctor never had much to do with the fairer sex. Jim had no such compunctions. He made his debut in the very first issue of Super-Detective back in October 1940 and his gadget-filled exploits full of derring-do and buxom damsels in distress appeared off and on until his last story in October 1943.

But like Savage, Anthony (at least at first) was one whiz bang of a guy, possessing both great wealth and more than his fair share of physical attributes, including the ability to see in the dark. He excelled in physics, psychiatry, and electro-chemistry, and even possessed psychic powers. He operated out of his penthouse apartment (and secret laboratory) atop the Waldorf-Anthony Hotel in New York, but he had other secret headquarters all over the world.

Of course.

Eventually the more fantastic sci-fi elements were toned down and then dropped altogether, though, and Anthony became more of a standard hard-boiled pulp gumshoe. He appeared in twenty-five stories in all, and -- judging by the covers of Super-Detective -- whether he was battling evil criminal masterminds hellbent on world domination or more earthbound blackmailers, thugs and gangsters -- went through more shirts than the Hulk.

Evidently being shirtless makes you bulletproof. But of course anyone who's ever seen the Die Hard movies knows that...

SHORT STORIES

All stories by "John Grange"

• "Dealer in Death" (October 1940, Super-Detective; by Victor Rousseau)
• "Legion of Robots" (November 1940, Super-Detective; by Victor Rousseau)
• "Madame Murder" (December 1940, Super-Detective; by Victor Rousseau)
• "Bloated Death" (January 1941, Super-Detective)
• "Killer in Yellow" (February 1941, Super-Detective)
• "Murder in Paradise" (March 1941, Super-Detective)
• "Murder Syndicate" (April 1941, Super-Detective)
• "The Horrible Marionettes" (June 1941, Super-Detective)
• "Border Napoleon" (August 1941, Super-Detective)
• "Spies of Destiny" (October 1941, Super-Detective)
• "I.O.U. Murder" (December 1941, Super-Detective)
• "Cold Turkey" (February 1942, Super-Detective)
• "Mrs. Big" (April 1942, Super-Detective)
• "Needle's Eye" (June 1942, Super-Detective)
• "Mark of the Spider" (August 1942, Super-Detective)
• "Hell's Ice-Box" (October 1942, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)
• "The Days of Death" (November 1942, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)
• "The Caribbean Cask" (December 1942, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)
• "Murder Between Shifts" (January 1943, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)
• "Cauldron of Death" (February 1943, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)
• "Murder's Migrants" (March 1943, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)
• "Death for a Flying Dutchman" (April 1943, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)
• "Homicide Heiress" (June 1943, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)
• "Curse of the Masters" (August 1943, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)
• "Pipeline to Murder" (October 1943, Super-Detective; by W. T. Ballard & Robert Leslie Bellem)

COLLECTIONS

• Super-Detective Flip Book (2008). .Buy this book

Contains "Legion of Robots" (November 1940) and "Murder's Migrants" (March 1943).

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.