Part of Series
In the 1970s, iconic pulp character the Avenger was resurrected once again, with Warner Paperback Library reprinting the original stories as well as commissioning a new series to be written by Ron Goulart (author of the invaluable Cheap Thrills, a beautifully illustrated history of the pulps) under the original house-name “Kenneth Robeson.” The third of these new novels (#27 in the Warner series) was The Purple Zombie (1974), a fun and fast-paced adventure admirably done in the original pulp style. As the story opens, it is the early 1940s, and Hollywood B-movie starlet Heather Blair is in the middle of shooting a zombie movie when her Uncle Denny knocks at her door—a dead Uncle Denny who is, without a doubt, a real zombie. Cole Wilson, one of the Avenger’s associates at Justice, Inc., happens to be visiting the film’s director at the time and begins to investigate the case. He discovers that Uncle Denny’s body was not the only one stolen from the crypt—also missing is Dr. David Franklin Sheehan, who was working on a radio-controlled bomb when he passed away. The Avenger and the rest of Justice, Inc. join Cole in a frantic pursuit to stop a fiendish German spy ring from reincarnating Dr. Sheehan and gaining access to the top-secret plans.
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.
