Book Review: Enter the Jackal by Jonathan W. Sweet
As you may have noticed by now, I’m a fan of the pulps. But I’m certainly not the most enthusiastic one, or most knowledgeable. Some folks have made the pulp magazines their main focus. Jonathan W. Sweet runs a reprint press, Brick Pickle Pulp, and does audiocasts about the field. And now he’s trying his hand at “new pulp” with this book, which introduces the Red Jackal.
There are four stories of this two-fisted caped hero in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota in the early 1930s in this volume. He’s actually headquartered in Brickton, which in this alternate Earth takes the place of Chaska.
“Dead Ball” introduces us to Blake Randolph, the Red Jackal. His family owns the Brickton brickyard, which has made them wealthy enough to also publish the Brickton Gazette newspaper (his favorite of their holdings, and run the KBGZ radio station. In 1933, the Great Depression is still raging, and Mr. Randolph knows he’s one of the fortunate ones. A friend from his military service in World War One has asked him to invest in a minor league baseball team.
The prospective star pitcher for the team turns up dead, apparently the victim of drunkenly wandering into the wrong alleyway. The police are disinclined to pursue the matter any further. Mr. Randolph isn’t so sure. As the Red Jackal, he investigates and discovers a gangland plot involving kidnapping.
“Murder Transcribed” has the star of local radio thrill show “The Murder Hour” be murdered in the same way as one of the episodes of that show. Since the writer of that episode had recently quarreled with the actor, and his gun was used in the crime, the police immediately arrest him as the suspect. What they don’t realize is that this is just one of a series of radio-inspired murders, and not even the cops are safe!
From the reader’s perspective, it’s not much of a mystery, but the killer’s motivation is muddled enough to raise some suspense. The real life police corruption in 1920s-30s Saint Paul and Minneapolis is a factor here; although Brickton’s new police chief was brought in to reform the force, he still has to deal with many holdovers from the previous administration. Homophobia is briefly alluded to.
We also learn that the Red Jackal has access to a network of secret tunnels under the city to get around unseen.
“Shadow Street” begins with the Red Jackal interrupting a mugging in Minneapolis’ Gateway District (then notorious as a Skid Row). This turns out to be a setup for socially conscious debutante Elaine Sullivan (who appeared before in “Dead Ball”) to contact the vigilante. It seems there’s been a series of disappearances of homeless men, more so and more concentrated than usual. The Minneapolis police are uninterested in investigating as there’s no obvious proof of foul play.
Red Jackal’s contact on the Minneapolis force does find the case rings a bell, similar to one a few years back in Chicago, but the detective from that case died so that’s a dead end. Or so it seems.
Mad science is involved, and this turns out to be the vigilante’s most dangerous fight to date. And the Red Jackal may have his first recurring villain!
“Red Jackal Born” closes this volume with a recounting of the origin story of this dark avenger of the night. It’s told as a series of letters, journal entries, telegrams and transcriptions allegedly left to the author by his uncle.
In 1922, still recovering from his service in World War One, Blake Randolph is invited to join an archaeological expedition in Egypt. On the ship there, a mysterious woman tries to warn him off. Joined by an old friend and a shipboard acquaintance with a monomaniacal interest in Egypt, Mr. Randolph joins the seemingly cursed search of Dr. Prowse for the lost tomb of the prophet Kentenkamen.
Things…happen and Blake Randolph gains mysterious powers and a nebulous purpose. I’m most reminded of Moon Knight at this point.
The Red Jackal himself is…an okay character. He’s a blending of general “hero pulp” traits with a bit of more modern sensibilities. There’s nothing that makes him stand out in my mind. What gives the stories more snap is the Minnesota locations and history. It contrasts nicely with the more familiar pulp venues of New York City and Chicago.
Also, because everyone involved would be dead by now, the stories can be more open about how dirty the police forces of the time were, contrasted with the usual “the cops are stupid and need the hero to think for them” approach usual in pulp fiction of the time.
I liked the “Transcribed” story best, but “Dead Ball” appears to have been up for an award.
The art is clip art, okay of its type but not really lending itself to a pulp feel.
Content notes: Some violence, often fatal. Junior high readers on up should be able to handle this.
Overall: A decent set of stories, if the author can find a stronger distinguishing feel for the Red Jackal this could take off. Recommended to Minnesota pulp hero fans.
And for you history fans, here’s a look at Chaska’s history with bricks:
