Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

G 8 (character)

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Publisher
  
Popular Publications

Real name
  
Unknown

Creator
  
Robert J. Hogan

Created by
  
Robert J. Hogan

Publisher
  
Popular Publications

Number of issues
  
110

First appearance
  
G-8 and His Battle Aces #1 (October 1933)

Supporting characters
  
Battle Nippy Weston Bull Martin

Similar
  
Operator #5, The Phantom Detective, Avenger, Doc Savage, Spider

G-8 was a heroic aviator and spy during World War I in pulp fiction. He starred in his own title G-8 and His Battle Aces, published by Popular Publications. All stories were written by Robert J. Hogan, under his own name. The title lasted 110 issues, from October 1933 to June 1944. Many of the novels have been reprinted by a wide range of publishers including comic books.

While not as dramatic a pulp character as Doc Savage or the Shadow, his stories were often outlandish, with many supernatural or science fiction elements. G-8's true identity was never revealed. He had a girlfriend, a nurse who aided his group, and her name as well was never revealed. His English manservant was named Battle. His wing-men were the short Nippy Weston, who flew an aircraft numbered 13, and the tall and muscular but superstitious Bull Martin, whose aircraft was numbered 7. Both of them were Americans. His adventures entailed fighting against the lethal super technology that was constantly created by the Kaiser's mad scientists. Reoccurring villains included Herr Doktor Krueger, the Steel Mask, and Grun.

A character based on G-8 made two appearances in the comic book Planetary alongside many other pulp analogues as part of a society for the betterment of humankind.

Reprints

During the craze for hero pulp reprints in the 1970s started by the success of Doc Savage reprints, Berkley Books reprinted 8 G-8 novels. The first 3 had covers by Jim Steranko and a logo inspired by Doc Savage's. After that, the covers reprinted the original pulp covers.

In more recent years, some G-8 novels were reprinted by small presses like Adventure House. Adventure House recently started a reprint series of G-8 in similar size to the original pulps, including covers and interior artwork. So far, they have reprinted over 40 issues.

References

G-8 (character) Wikipedia