6. Force Red, 178 pages, 1993
Eagle Force
Nine books by Dan Schmidt
Commander Vic Gabriel was the son of Colonel Charles Gabriel, one of the founders of the Special Forces. After following his father into the Special Forces, Vic left when his brother died from a drug overdose and began a vigilante campaign against the drug lords. The Angel of Death, as Gabriel became known, wound down his war on drugs and established the commando team — Eagle Force.
Eagle Force consists of:
• Vic Gabriel: Team leader.
• Bad Zac Dillinger: former Miami Private Eye.
• Henry Van Boolwarke: Former member of the South African Reconnaissance Commando.
• Johnny Simms: tough commando from the streets of Washington.
This mercenary force is based out the Pyrenees, France, until Ring of Fire when their base is attacked by their greatest enemy, Michael Saunders, the man who murdered Gabriel's father. The team doesn't get their revenge until Hell's March and begins rebuilding in Armageddon USA. The team tackles rouge law enforcement agents, drug dealers, satanic cults and other mercenary groups.
Eagle Force's motto is "Hit First, Hit Hard, Hit Last."
Behind the Scenes
Dan Schmidt is the author of a number of horror novels as well as writing several Executioners as Don Pendleton and, as Frank Garrett, he wrote the Killsquad series.
The Books
All books were published by Bantam books:
1. Contract for Slaughter, 156 pages, 1989
2. Death Camp Columbia, 148 pages, 1989
3. Flight 666, 149 pages, 1989
4. Red Firestorm, 148 pages, 1989
5. Ring of Fire, 166 pages, 1990
6. Berserker, 132 pages, 1990
7. Edge of the Blade, 156 pages, 1990
8. Hell's March, 263 pages, 1990
9. Armageddon, USA, 192 pages, 1991
The Enforcer (Alex Jason)
Seven books by Andrew Sugar
Alexander Graham Bell Jason's father worked for the phone company. Alex Jason became an investigative reporter and was a master martial artist. Then he found out that he was dying of stomach cancer.
Approached by the John Anryn Institute, he was offered the chance to survive. His brain would be transferred to a new body a cloned body. The clones, however, only last for ninety days, a feature that ensures loyalty in all the Institute's agents. Jason became one of the Enforcers for the Institute, which not only develops scientific marvels such as cloning and laser weapons but actively fights against crime and collectivists.
For several books Jason and the Institute are pitted against the criminal mastermind Lochner, who operates under many aliases and is trying to take over the Institute. Lochner is responsible for the death of many Institute operatives, including Dr. Janet Evans, who was pregnant with Jason's child. The hunt for Lochner ended in Bio Blitz where Lochner used mutated insects to attack the Institute. The arch criminal was not killed by Jason but rather by his boss Mortimer Flack, whose fiancee Ellen was also murdered by Lochner. The Institute tackles all forms of crime from cop killings to mutated insects.
Behind the Scenes
Andrew Sugar is also the author of the Israeli Commando series as well as several nonfiction books on camping. Sugar also served as editor for the two issues of the Argosy Annual.
The Books
All books were published by Manor Books:
1. The Enforcer, 222 pages, 1973
2. Calling Dr. Kill, 221 pages, 1973
3. Kill City, 221 pages, 1973
4. Kill Deadline, 221 pages, 1974
5. Steel Trap, 188 pages, 1974
6. Bio Blitz, 188 pages, 1975
7. Caribbean Kill, 222 pages, 1975
The Executioner (Mack Bolan) (also Super Bolan)
Ongoing series created by Don Pendleton
This is arguably the first and most successful of all the serial vigilantes. In 1969, Beeline Books, perhaps to capitalize on the success of Bantam's Doc Savage reprints and the Nick Carter, Killmaster series, created the Pinnacle line to publish similar types of books. Their first effort was by a relatively unknown author, Don Pendleton, and the novel War Against the Mafia.
It was the story of Sgt. Mack Bolan, who was called home from Vietnam to look after his brother, Johnny, after the death of the rest of his family. It turns out that his father, Sam Bolan, had gotten into debt with some Mafia loan sharks and got behind in the payments. Sam's daughter, Cindy, unknown to her father tried to help and ended up as a prostitute for the Mafia. When Sam found this out he shot and killed his wife and daughter and seriously wounded Johnny before killing himself.
Bolan came home and found this out from his brother and decided to kill those he felt responsible for his family's tragedy or, rather, he discovered that instead of fighting communism in Vietnam, he should have been at home fighting the Mafia who corrupted society. So Bolan launched his war against the Mafia, in a cross-country blitz.
The first thirty-eight books (with the exception of #16: Sicilian Slaughter) were written by Don Pendleton. Number 16 was written under the house name of "Jim Peterson," during a dispute between Pendleton and Pinnacle.
After book #38 Pendleton made a number of changes to the Executioner; firstly, he changed the publisher to Gold Eagle, an imprint created by Harlequin Books for their action /adventure line. He then changed Mack's focus to terrorism and gave him the new identity of Col. John Macklin Phoenix (Ret.) and handed the writing over to a number of ghosts, including Chet Cunningham, Ron Renauld, Rich Rainey, Will Murray, Mike Newton and Mel Odom.
The terrorist wars lasted until the Day of Morning Trilogy: #62: Day of Mourning, Terminal Velocity (a Super Bolan), and #64: Dead Man Running, where Bolan loses his unofficial status and returns to fighting any evil anywhere, a situation that continues to today.
Gold Eagle created four spinoffs of the Executioner series: Able Team, Phoenix Force, Stony Man and Super Bolan. (The first three series are all discussed in their own articles.) The Super Bolan series was created to tell longer stories featuring the Executioner and are not counted as part of the regular Executioner series (they have different numbering) though the two series do intersect, as several trilogies start in the Executioner and are continued through Super Bolan, as can be seen from the Day of Mourning Trilogy mentioned above.
Behind the Scenes
Don Pendleton (1927-1995) lied about his age and joined the Navy at age 14. After leaving the Navy, Pendleton worked for the FAA as an air traffic controller and then became an aeronautical engineer. In 1966, Pendleton left his engineering to become a full-time writer. Initially writing sexy paperbacks, Pendleton then developed the Executioner for Beeline Books, the new Pinnacle imprint. The series was a success, leading to the creation of many similar characters. After a number of disputed disagreements with Pinnacle, Pendleton licensed both the Executioner and his name to Gold Eagle. Pendleton is also the creator of the Ashton Ford psychic detective and the private eye series Joe Copp.
During a dispute between Pendleton and Pinnacle, Pinnacle commissioned one Executioner (#16: Sicilian Slaughter) published under the house name of Jim Peterson. The man behind the Peterson name was William Crawford. Crawford was born in 1929 and served in the US Border Patrol as well as the El Paso Police Department. Crawford wrote the Stryker series for Pinnacle, detailing the violent exploits of police officer Colin Stryker, as well as numerous articles and short stories for law enforcement, sports and rodeo journals.
Notable ghosts who have written the Gold Eagle Executioners include:
• Mike Newton trained with Don Pendleton, co-writing several Executioners with Pendleton for Pinnacle books and writing numerous books for that series for Gold Eagle, making him the most prolific writer of Executioner novels. Newton has also written several western series under the pen name Lyle Brandt as well as four entries in the Destroyer series. Newton is also the author or several nonfiction works, including How to
Write Action-Adventure Fiction, and several reference works on serial killers and cryptozoology.
• Chet Cunningham lives in San Diego, the setting for the first novel in his series, the Avenger. He is also the author of the Specialists under his own name and, as Lionel Derrick, he wrote the even numbered books in the Penetrator series. Cunningham has also written numerous western novels both under his own name and pseudonyms. A veteran of the Korean War, Cunningham has also written several volumes of military history.
• Steve Mertz, along with Mike Newton, got his start working with Don Pendleton on the Executioner for Pinnacle Books, later ghostwriting a number of Executioner and Able Team novels for Gold Eagle Books and plotted the MIA Hunter series for Jove Books.
• Ron Renauld wrote five A-Team novelizations as Charles Heath and wrote book 7 under his own name. He has also written for Able Team.
• Rich Rainey, under his full name Richard Rainey, has written several nonfiction works on the occult and the horror genre. Rainey has also produced several books in the Executioner franchise and contributed to the SOB (Soldiers of Barrabas) series as Jack Hild and the final book in the post-apocalyptic Warlord series as Jason Frost as well as writing the Protector series under his own name.
• Mel Odom is the author of a number of children's books, including the junior novelization of the first Tomb Raider movie, as well as writing a number of books for the Executioner and its spinoff series. Under the Alex Archer pen name, he contributes to the Rogue Angel series.
• Will Murray is a pulp historian and the author of numerous articles and books on the pulps. He has written a number of short stories that have appeared in Batman, Wonder Woman and Cthulhu anthologies. Under the name Kenneth Robeson, he has written seven new Doc Savage novels based on notes and outlines left by Doc's creator, Lester Dent. He has also written many books in the Destroyer series.
• Dan Schmidt is the author of a number of horror novels and the Eagle Force series under his own name and the Killsquad series under the pseudonym Frank Garrett.
• Steven Krauzer, graduate of both Yale and University of New Hampshire, wrote his graduate thesis on the hardboiled detective. He was co-editor of the anthology The Great American Detective, which contained a critical examination of the Executioner and a short story by Don Pendleton featuring the Executioner.
• William Fieldhouse has written a number of books in the Executioner franchise, including Phoenix Force and Stony Man. Under his own name, Fieldhouse has written several westerns including Klaw and Gun Lust. As Chuck Bainbridge, he wrote several books in the Hard Corps series.
The Novels
Books 1-38 were published by Pinnacle Books and written by Don Pendleton, with the exception of 16. Books 38 onwards and Super Bolan were published by Gold Eagle Books and written by ghostwriters under the byline Don Pendleton.
The Executioner
1. War Against the Mafia, 170 pages, 1969 (Pendleton)
2. Death Squad, 185 pages, 1969 (Pendleton)
3. Battle Mask, 155 pages, 1970 (Pendleton)
4. Miami Massacre, 158 pages, 1970 (Pendleton)
5. Continental Contract, 188 pages, 1971 (Pendleton)
6. Assault on Soho, 187 pages, 1971 (Pendleton)
7. Nightmare in New York, 185 pages, 1971 (Pendleton)
8. Chicago Wipeout, 160 pages, 1971 (Pendleton)
9. Vegas Vendetta, 159 pages, 1971 (Pendleton)
10. Caribbean Kill, 160 pages, 1972 (Pendleton)
11. California Hit, 187 pages, 1972 (Pendleton)
12. Boston Blitz, 187 pages, 1972 (Pendleton)
13. Washington I.O. U., 158 pages, 1972 (Pendleton)
14. San Diego Siege, 174 pages, 1972 (Pendleton)
15. Panic in Philly, 190 pages, 1973 (Pendleton)
16. Sicilian Slaughter, 187 pages, 1973 (Jim Peterson)
17. Jersey Guns, 169 pages, 1974 (Pendleton)
18. Texas Storm, 188 pages, 1974 (Pendleton)
19. Detroit Deathwatch, 182 pages, 1974 (Pendleton)
20. New Orleans Knockout, 178 pages, 1974 (Pendleton)
21. Firehose Seattle, 184 pages, 1975 (Pendleton)
22. Hawaiian Hellground, 177 pages, 1975 (Pendleton)
23. St. Louis Showdown, 181 pages, 1975 (Pendleton)
24. Canadian Crisis, 181 pages, 1975 (Pendleton)
25. Colorado Kill-Zone, 180 pages, 1976 (Pendleton)
26. Acapulco Rampage, 184 pages, 1976 (Pendleton)
27. Dixie Convoy, 177 pages, 1976 (Pendleton)
28. Savage Fire, 179 pages, 1977 (Pendleton)
29. Command Strike, 177 pages, 1977 (Pendleton with Mike Newton & Stephen Mertz)
30. Cleveland Pipeline, 176 pages, 1977 (Pendleton with Newton)
31. Arizona Ambush, 176 pages, 1977 (Pendleton with Newton)
32. Tennessee Smash, 179 pages, 1977 (Pendleton with Newton)
33. Monday's Mob, 178 pages, 1978 (Pendleton)
34. Terrible Tuesday, 178 pages, 1979 (Pendleton)
35. Wednesday's Wrath, 156 pages, 1979 (Pendleton)
36. Thermal Thursday, 176 pages, 1979 (Pendleton)
37. Friday's Feast, 181 pages, 1979 (Pendleton)
38. Satan's Sabbath, 175 pages, 1980 (Pendleton)
39. The New War, 183 pages, 1981 (Saul Wernick)
40. Double Crossfire, 189 pages, 1982 (Steven Krauser)
41. The Violent Streets, 187 pages, 1982 (Newton)
42. The Iranian Hit, 185 pages, 1982 (Mertz)
43. Return to Vietnam, 185 pages, 1982 (Mertz)
44. Terrorist Summit, 182 pages, 1982 (Krauser)
45. Paramilitary Plot, 188 pages, 1982 (Newton)
46. Bloodsport, 188 pages, 1982 (Ray Obstfeld)
47. Renegade Agent, 188 pages, 1982 (Krauser)
48. The Libya Connection, 185 pages, 1982 (Mertz)
49. Doomsday Disciples, 188 pages, 1983 (Newton)
50. Brothers in Blood, 188 pages, 1983 (Krauser)
51. Vulture's Vengeance, 186 pages, 1983 (Patrick Neary)
52. Tuscany Terror, 162 pages, 1983 (Mertz)
53. The Invisible Assassins, 185 pages, 1983 (Alan Bomack)
54. Mountain Rampage, 173 pages, 1983 (E. Richard Churchill)
55. Paradine's Gauntlet, 183 pages, 1983 (Newton)
56. Island Deathtrap, 189 pages, 1983 (Churchill)
57. Flesh Wounds, 184 pages, 1983 (Obstfeld)
58. Ambush on Blood River, 188 pages, 1983 (Bomack)
59. Crude Kill, 186 pages, 1983 (Chet Cunningham)
60. Sold for Slaughter, 189 pages, 1983 (Newton)
61. Tiger War, 186 pages, 1984 (Tom Jagninski)
62. Day of Mourning, 185 pages, 1984 (Mertz)
63. The New War Book, 187 pages, 1984 (Pendleton with Wiley Slade, Aaron Hill & Judy Newton)
64. Dead Man Running, 185 pages, 1984 (Mertz)
65. Cambodia Clash, 186 pages, 1984 (Jagninski)
66. Orbiting Omega, 187 pages, 1984 (Cunningham)
67. Beirut Payback, 186 pages, 1984 (Mertz)
68. Prairie Fire, 185 pages, 1984 (Newton)
69. Skysweeper, 184 pages, 1984 (Cunningham)
70. Ice Cold Kill, 186 pages, 1984 (Peter Leslie)
71. Blood Dues, 186 pages, 1984 (Newton)
72. Hellbinder, 185 pages, 1984 (Cunningham)
73. Appointment in Kabul, 185 pages, 1985 (Mertz)
74. Savannah Swingsaw, 186 pages, 1985 (Obstfeld)
75. The Bone Yard, 184 pages, 1985 (Newton)
76. Teheran Wipeout, 185 pages, 1985 (Mertz)
77. Hollywood Hell, 186 pages, 1985 (Newton)
78. Death Games, 187 pages, 1985 (Tom Arnett)
79. Council of Kings, 185 pages, 1985 (Cunningham & Les Danforth)
80. Running Hot, 184 pages, 1985
81. Shock Waves, 185 pages, 1985 (Newton)
82. Hammerhead Reef, 187 pages, 1985 (Bomack)
83. Missouri Deathwatch, 189 pages, 1985 (Newton)
84. Fastburn
, 186 pages, 1985 (James Lord)
85. Sunscream, 186 pages, 1986 (Leslie)
86. Hell's Gate, 187 pages, 1986 (Arnett)
87. Hellfire Crusade, 189 pages, 1986 (Bomack)
88. Baltimore Trackdown, 189 pages, 1986 (Cunningham)
89. Defenders and Believers, 186 pages, 1986 (Newton)
90. Blood Heat Zero, 185 pages, 1986 (Leslie)
91. The Trial, 249 pages, 1986 (Newton)
92. Moscow Massacre, 252 pages, 1986 (Mertz)
93. The Fire Eaters, 252 pages, 1986 (Obstfeld)
94. Save the Children, 253 pages, 1986 (Mertz)
95. Blood and Thunder, 252 pages, 1986 (Schmidt)
96. Death Has a Name, 253 pages, 1986 (Mike McQuay)
97. Meltdown, 252 pages, 1986 (Charlie McDade)
98. Black Dice, 252 pages, 1987 (Dan Schmidt)
99. Code of Dishonor, 250 pages, 1987 (McQuay)
100. Blood Testament, 250 pages, 1987 (Newton)
101. Eternal Triangle, 250 pages, (Newton)
102. Split Image, 252 pages, 1987 (McDade)
103. Assault on Rome, 252 pages, 1987 (Newton)
104. Devil's Horn, 251 pages, 1987 (Schmidt)
105. Countdown to Chaos, 252 pages, 1987 (Kent Delaney)
106. Run to Ground, 252 pages, 1987 (Newton)
107. American Nightmare, 252 pages, 1987 (McQuay)
108. Time to Kill, 251 pages, 1987 (Newton)
109. Hong Kong Hit List, 251 pages, 1988 (Leslie)
110. Trojan Horse, 251 pages, 1988 (Schmidt)
111. The Fiery Cross, 251 pages, 1988 (Newton)
112. Blood of the Lion, 251 pages, 1988 (Schmidt)
113. Vietnam Fallout, 251 pages, 1988 (McDade)
114. Cold Judgment, 252 pages, 1988 (Newton)
115. Circle of Steel, 253 pages, 1988 (Schmidt)
116. The Killing Urge, 251 pages, 1988 (McQuay)
Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction. An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm Page 10