Justice, Inc.
- For the DC Comics series adapted from The Avenger, see Justice Inc. For the role-playing game covering adventure in the era and genre of the pulps, see Justice, Inc. (role-playing game).
"Justice, Inc." is the first pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the September 1, 1939 issue of "The Avenger” magazine.
Publishing history
This novel was re-published under its original title by Paperback Library on June 1, 1972.
A DC Comics title called Justice, Inc. began in (May–June 1975) and ran to issue #4 (November–December 1975). This series adapted the eponymous novel and continued with original stories which featured the Avenger and which took place during the time the original Avenger novels were released. Jack Kirby provided the artwork for issues #2–4. A two-issue limited series published by DC Comics in 1989 under the same title featured the Avenger and his agents in an updated, contemporary setting several years after their retirement.
Summary
Richard Henry Benson, aggressive, dominating, cold-eyed, self-made millionaire adventurer, forces himself and family onto a Buffalo/Montreal flight (mother-in-law is dying). He goes to the washroom and his wife and daughter vanish. The other passengers deny having seen them. A frantic Benson is subdued and hospitalized with "brain fever" and head trauma. Recovering, his face and hair are white, his flesh paralyzed and malleable. Investigating, he meets MacMurdie, who DID see Benson's family, and Smitty, who agree to assist him. Benson fights and overcomes Smitty using nerve pressure. Benson has a custom gun and knife (Mike & Ike), shoots to crease the top of the skull, is a master of disguise, and prefers maneuvering enemies into their own traps over killing. THE PLOT: a gang kidnaps wealthy Buffalo residents, drops them from a plane over Lake Ontario, and holds them prisoner on an island, all to get control of a Buffalo company. The three of them end the scheme, but Benson's wife and child are not found alive. The three form Justice, Inc. to bring criminals to justice.
Notes
- Two years before this novel begins, Benson made his last ½ million in an Australian amethyst venture. He has mined gold in the Arctic, found emeralds in Brazil, transported animals from Malay to the Cleveland Zoo, held a mutinous crew at bay for 23 days across the Pacific.
- Benson is an expert hatchet and knife thrower.
- This novel explains how Richard Henry Benson, 5'8" tall and 165 pounds, but far stronger and faster than a normal person, became the Avenger. Described as being in his 30s, his new facial paralysis and malleability makes him a master of disguise, within limits.
- Introduces stereotypical Scot Fergus MacMurdie ("Mac"), a dour pharmacist whose family was killed by racketeers.
- Introduces giant, apparently slow-witted Algernon Heathcote Smith ("Smitty"), an electrical engineer who was framed for a crime.
- Formation of Justice, Inc. Benson indicates that his headquarters will be in New York City.