Awesome Tales #9: "Reign of Terror" (Part 2)

Awesome Tales #9 (2019) came out recently from Bold Venture Press and Black Cat Media. This issue’s theme is suspense. We get four stories this time.

The cover feature is the second part of R. Allen Leider‘s “Fantomas: Reign of Terror” that started in issue #3. Fantomas, France’s home-grown master criminal, has turned his attentions on the Nazis who have invaded France. Set in 1943, he is terrorizing the Nazis as a patriotic Frenchman. And helping himself to their gold as well. We also get Inspector Juve, journalist Fandor, and Helene, Fantomas’ daughter as well. This story isn’t done, as we are promised a third part. The cover is taken from a Fantomas work, I’m just not sure from where.

Rounding out the volume are three detective stories. From John L. French, we get two works. First we get “Scorpion,” which stars detective Simon Tombs. A kind of occult detective, he is different from others in having a demonic familiar. I would be interested in seeing more stories with this pair. I’m not sure if he’s done others.

And then we have another story by French, “Man on the Inside,” which is a Bianca Jones story. The main focus is on Officer DeWitt Jackson, who is dead. Can he somehow help catch his killers? French has written several Bianca Jones stories and has a couple of collections of stories with her.

From Quintin Peterson, we get “Damaged Goods,” starring P.I. Luther Kane. A former soldier who lost both legs at the knees, he makes the mistake of crossing a dangerous Russian mobster. We are promised future stories of this character in upcoming issues. I am reminded of the trend of “defective detectives” that existed in the pulps. I guess we now have that in New Pulp as well.

I look forward to when we’ll see the third part of the Fantomas story.