Ace of the White Death by Robert J. Hogan

Unlike most pulp adventure writers, Robert J. Hogan wrote all of his stories under his own name. G-8 was a WW1 aviator and spy whose true identity was never revealed. The series lasted for 110 issues, from October 1933 to June 1944. His two comrades in flight were known as the Battle Aces: Bull Martin, a superstitious man who flew an airplane numbered 7 so as to get all the luck he could muster, and Nippy Weston, a short man who flew airplane number 13. While some of the G-8 stories were relatively straight forward (especially the early ones), many of them delved into supernatural and science fiction inspired gimmicks created and employed by the Germans.

This third book in the series, originally published in 1933, follows G-8 on a mission to assist an embedded French spy who has discovered a dastardly plot by the Germans to use a newly developed gas weapon against an upcoming American offensive. The gas, the “White Death” of the title, is said to be so lethal that not even the troops’ gas masks will stop it. Thousands of Allied deaths are inevitable unless G-8 and the French spy can thwart the plan. 

This is pulp adventure at its most fun. While the consequences are serious, there is never any doubt as to the final outcome. The plot is filled with adventure with one obstacle after another thrown at G-8. Edge-of-your-seat dog-fighting flying action bookends the novel, but most of the story takes place on the ground with G-8 using disguises to infiltrate the mining complex where the gas is produced. The primary antagonist is Herr Konig, a devious man that will be a thorn in G-8’s life for many stories to come. Sometimes readers must suspend their disbelief, as when G-8 is captured, searched and thrown in a jail cell, only to pull out a carrier pigeon from under his arm and send a note to his two Flying Ace buddies to come rescue him. I’m not sure how that poor pigeon survived all of the commando-style fighting action that came before, not to mention the search itself.

This was my first G-8 experience, and while I didn’t think it was quite up to the standard of some other pulp hero favorites, I did enjoy it and will be looking for more.