Avenger (pulp-magazine character)

The Avenger
The Avenger – Justice Inc. (Sep. 1939)
Art by H. W. Scott.
Publication information
PublisherStreet & Smith (1939–1943)
First appearanceThe Avenger #1 (Sept., 1939)[1]
Created byPaul Ernst
as "Kenneth Robeson"
In-story information
Alter egoRichard Henry Benson
Supporting character of
  • Fergus "Mac" MacMurdie
  • Algernon Heathcote "Smitty" Smith
  • Nellie Gray
  • Josh and Rosabel Newton
  • Cole Wilson

The Avenger is a fictional character whose original adventures appeared between September 1939 and September 1942 in the pulp magazine The Avenger, published by Street & Smith, which ran 24 issues.[1] Five additional short stories were published in Clues Detective magazine (1942–1943), and a sixth novelette in The Shadow magazine in 1943. Decades later, newly written pastiches were commissioned and published by Warner Brothers' Paperback Library from 1973 to 1974.

The Avenger was a pulp hero who combined elements of Doc Savage and The Shadow. The authorship of the pulp series was credited by Street & Smith to Kenneth Robeson, the same byline that appeared on the Doc Savage stories. Most of the original Avenger stories were actually written by Paul Ernst. The "Kenneth Robeson" name was a house pseudonym used by a number of different Street & Smith writers.

  1. ^ a b Hutchison, Don The Great Pulp Heroes – 3: The Avenger in Peter Harris (ed.) The New Captain George's Whizzbang #12 (1971)