Part of Series
Only once in several lifetimes does the world get such a man a Richard Henry Benson, known as The Avenger. A man who had amassed a fortune in his early years, he was ready to enjoy life to the fullest with his wife and daughter when diaster struck, which vacuumed his soul right out of his body. His family was taken from him by crime, and to make matters worse, no one believed him. He was forced into an insane asylum. He escaped. His facial muscles were paralyzed by the tragedy, so he could press his face into any position to adopt any guise. From that day on, The Avenger's only drive in life was to bring destruction to crooks who operated beyond the law, and usually he made sure it was by their own hand.
Author
Kenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular character Doc Savage and later The Avenger. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including: William G. Bogart Evelyn Coulson Harold A. Davis Lawrence Donovan Alan Hathway W. Ryerson Johnson Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson. All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.
