Wu's debut issue, published in September 1935, gave us the lowdown on "The Case of the Six Coffins." The character was created by Harry Steeger, the Popular Publications mogul who is also credited with creating The Spider. The writing chores were turned over to Robert J. Hogan, best known as the chief scribe for G-8 and his Battle Aces. In 1975, Robert Weinberg reprinted the story in Pulp Classics #8 with a cover by fan artist Frank Hamilton. The reprint is in facsimile format, with all the great original illustrations.
For the Wu Fang series, the Denis Nayland Smith role falls to American intelligence agent Val Kildaire, and the narrator duties are handled by newspaper reported Jerry Hazard. Wu himself is virtually indistinguishable from Fu, even practicing his trade in Limehouse before circumstances require him to move his operations to the U.S..
The Mysterious Wu Fang lasted seven issues, and I believe all seven have now been reprinted. One of those, The Case of the Suicide Tomb is available from Adventure House (for a measly three bucks!) in High Adventure #42. To see it, click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.
I found this pic of the original pulp cover on the amazing Galactic Central site.
Visit pattinase, the blog of The Mysterious Patti Abbott, for more of this week's Forgotten Books.
I've always enjoyed these tales.
ReplyDeleteAh, the old and new yellow peril!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel like I inhabit a different world. Where was I when all these books and magazines came out.
ReplyDeleteYellow peril, maybe, but where does this particular archetype of evil spring from in the western unconscious? I remember him as a boy and being both spooked and creeped out.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to dig out THE MYSTERIOUS WU FANG in THE CASE OF THE SIX COFFINS and actually read it. I was big fan of Dr. Fu Manchu.
ReplyDeleteWell, Patti, you weren't born yet when The Mysterious Wu Fang and his rival, Dr. Yen Sin, were riding the newsstands initially. And just how racist is this stuff? I must admit, I've barely looked at Fu Manchu, much less the imitators...the caricatures in the McGoohan SECRET AGENT series were dire enough, to say nothing of some of Robert Howard's "lemon-tinted" claptrap (which I hope he wrote with tongue in cheek).
ReplyDeleteFor that matter, I've had a copy of TROS OF SAMOTHRACE from a library discard in storage for years...that sure could be a full-fledged FFB on its own...
Aside from coming out of the Yellow Peril tradition, I really didn't notice any overt racism in this story. Seemed like Wu was just a thoroughly evil guy who happened to be Chinese.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I FFB'd the first volume of Tros sometime back. The story is extremely episodic, so it lends itself well to taking long breaks. I took one halfway through volume 3.
I'm still smiling at the "10 cents" price on the cover. It's amazing to think you used to be able to buy a magazine or a cup of coffee or even (in my own youth), 10 pieces of candy for 10 cents. And now, $3 is considered inexpensive for a copy! Although like you, I'm grateful Adventure House is making these available.
ReplyDeleteThere were, I think, eleven Tros stories published in Adventure. The first seven comprised Tros of Samothrace; the remaining four, The Purple Pirate. This makes it much easier to take a break from Tros and come back to it later. (Tros does make an additional appearance in Mundy's Queen Cleopatra, which was published between the first seven and last four stories.)
ReplyDeletePattinase, you think like me.
ReplyDeleteRon, No clue,to tell the truth.
Haven't heard of this one, but I recently downloaded all the Fu manchu books that I'll get around to loading to my Kindle in time.
ReplyDeleteI've got some WuFang reprints somewhere. i guess I need to read them.
ReplyDeleteYou make it sound intriguing but I don't know. I tried to read a couple of Fu Manchu books back in the seventies and couldn't even force myself to finish them.
ReplyDelete