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Volume 1, Number 2 October 1986 |
What came before... "After seeing his fiance critically injured during a gun battle between warring crooks, Randolf College football star Reece Chambers becomes the Twilight Avenger.. and declares a war on crime!" "From reporter Joan Casey, he finds out the crooks responsible for his fiancee's injuries are headed by a mysterious hooded figure known as the Centipede" Yet oddly, this is Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1937, the Dust Bowl. Not exactly a city's mean streets. The Twilight Avenger works with his mentor, Dr. Milton Herth, his fiancee's father and an inventor. Chambers carries a trick gas gun with three types of gas hooked to his belt. He wears goggles and a gas mask, concealed by a veil, against the gas. And a powerful magnesium light on his chest, as we'll see. |
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Now the "Mystery Man" is plastered all over the newspapers.  |
In the Science Building of Randolf College, Reese Chambers and Dr. Herth read the newspaper. Reese is a former Tornados football star. (So how come he didn't become The Tornado? It's apt for Oklahoma.) Reese wonders if they can use the publicity somehow. Write a letter to the paper urging the Centipede to give himself up? Or shake down that dive again? They're interrupted by Joan Casey, intrepid girl reporter. She's no dummy. She told Reese that Lacey frequented the dive, and "a guy in a mask hit it last night." Coincidence? Joan has more information. She's got picture of Duane Gave, "big shot oilman", and his only child, Dorinda Gave. The big shot's been snatched. The "kidnappers are asking 500 grand to un-snatch him. Or he's as good as iced." |
Why come to Reese? "I thought maybe you could contact that guy with the gas gun. Dorinda's supposed to drop off the money at midnight." The police might get the victim killed, but "maybe that guy could do a better job." Besides, the kidnapper is "your old pal, the Centipede."  |
Near midnight, on an isolated oil lease, a roadster stops. Dorinda Gave is startled by a masked man in brown whipcord and moleskin. "Are you with the kidnappers?" "No. I'm a friend." He suggests she drop the money bag and leave. TA will follow the crooks. "I'll do my best not to put your father in any danger." Dorinda mutters, "I wouldn't mind if you did. He's -" TA and Dorinda are interrupted by eerie howls. A pack of fierce dogs have been let loose. The Avenger catches fangs in his arm as he barks at the girl, "Up the derrick! Quickly!" |
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The Avenger is mauled by a dozen savage dogs. "Squeezing his left hand into a fist, the Twilight Avenger feels for the button in his left glove." He yells, "Shield your eyes!!" The hero fires the magnesium light in his chest. |
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Dogs recoil, yipping in pain. But the light shatters in the cold. The Avenger hot-foots up the derrick and blasts the pack with sleeping gas. It grows quiet... ... as a large sedan pulls onto the scene. A thug runs, wheezing, and grabs the money. The hero bellows, "Hold it, kidnapper!" Another figure gets out. "He's got some sort of hood on!" The Centipede! |
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Clyde Lacey, the killer with the eyepatch, raises a gun. "Can I? If ever a guy needed pluggin' " The Centipede intones, "Leave the girl." Lacey aims up the derrick. "Just for the record, buddy, you wanna give me your name? I always like to know who I'm killin'. Heh heh." The Twilight Avenger only aims his gas gun. Headlights flash on. "Suddenly Dorinda's roadster roars to life heading straight for the Centipede and his men!" The car sideswipes Lacey. The Centipede orders a retreat. "As gas from the Twilight Avenger's gun once again fills the midnight air." Lacey fires wild. Bullets richochet of the derrick. "The Centipede and his henchmen flee the scene." |
The hero and Dorinda climb down. "The dogs won't be out much longer. We'd better hurry." The roadster hit a tree. It holds "Joan Casey, from the World-Sentinel. What's she doing here?" Obviously hiding and watching. Joan passed out from the gas, but her pulse is steady. "I hope we didn't put your father's life in jeopardy, Miss Gave." The girl quips, "If we did, those are the breaks." Dorinda climbs in her roadster. "It's been quite a night, Mr. Twilight Avenger." Driving off, the girl notes, "It's goodnight - but not goodbye." |
TA lugs the unconscious Miss Casey to his car. "Every time I open up with my gas gun, you're on the other end. Keep this up, and I'll have to get you your own gas mask." "Why do you go looking for danger? I've got a reason, but you?.. I guess everyone's got a reason, even the Centipede. But there's no good reason on Earth for Dolores to be lying in the hospital bed." Setting Joan gently in the back seat, he adds, "Whatever your reason, you probably saved my life. Thanks." |
TA radios Dr. Herth. "A little trouble, but everyone's all right." He'll give details after he drops Miss Casey off at the newspaper office. "I'm afraid I gassed her again. She'll be fine, but it'd be quite a shock for her to wake up out here in the middle of nowhere." A sultry voice lilts from the back seat. "Don't worry about it. I've awakened in worse places Chambers." |
The Twilight Avenger just stares through his goggles.  |
"Be here next time for more sizzling action 1930's style - the stuff dreams are made of!"  |
Comments The Twlight Avenger was an original pulp (or neo-pulp) hero retrofitted into the 1930s. He combines elements of the Shadow and Doc Savage with a Western flair. The combination works, and he's certainly striking. The title "The Centipede Crawls" doesn't appear in these issues. The plan was to collect the miniseries as a graphic novel with that title. As far as we know, it never happened. There were eight more issues, all black and white, from another publisher. The TA fought outrageous criminals as well as mad scientists with zombies and giant bats. Naturally, he fought someone masquerading as the Twilight Avenger. And although Reese never got an Avengermobile, he did get an avenging horse complete with custom gas mask! All in all, the Twilight Avenger is an exciting and fun addition to two-fisted pulps. And here's a bonus, the cover of the first issue. Doesn't that grab your attention from the newstand? (Not too sure about the red cape, though.) |
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