In 1918, silent film director Louis Feuillade and writer Arthur Bernede resurrected one of their greatest characters for a second adventure: a mysterious avenger, wearing a slouch hat and a dark cloak -- Judex His name means "Judge," and he has sworn to mercilessly punish criminals. On the eve of World War I, the Paris underworld is dominated by the Secret Raiders, a vicious gang of spies and extortionists. Their leader is a one-eyed mystic who meticulously records all the crimes that he intends to commit in the future. This mastermind has hypnotic powers that allow him to telepathically force honest citizens to commit crimes. Assisting this diabolical mesmerist is a seductive baroness. Besides being an expert cat burglar, she is also a superb pugilist capable of beating a man to a pulp. Only one man can stop these criminals: the shadowy vigilante known as Judex However, the Secret Raiders discover that Judex is really the wealthy Jacques de Tremeuse. They strike at him through his family Worse yet, Judex finds his efforts to protect his loved ones constantly sabotaged by the incompetence of one of his own agents Read an exciting adventure that foreshadowed Fritz Lang's classic film trilogy about Dr. Mabuse.

In the 1890s, Josephine Balsamo, a.k.a. Countess Cagliostro, is poised to take over the powerful crominal conspiracy known as the Black Coats. One person stands in her way: Irina Putine, a female detective, who happens to be the half-sister of Arsene Lupin, the notorious gentleman-thief Sisters of the Shadows recounts the brutal vendetta between these two women, a merciless decades-long war which involve the greatest gunslingers of the American West, the most dangerous assassins of Europe, the terrifying Fantomas, an immortal sorceress, and the ruler of all vampires, Count Dracula "Rick Lai's tales are bigger than the words it takes to tell them, larger than the pages upon which they are printed." -- Win Scott Eckert (author of Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World).

In 1917, silent film director Louis Feuillade and writer Arthur Bernede created the character of a mysterious avenger, wearing a slouch hat and a dark cloak -- Judex His name means "Judge," and he has sworn to mercilessly punish criminals Judex appears and disappears like a living shadow. Trained by the vindictive Woman in Black, he is a master of disguise and an excellent fighter. His loyal followers include a female athlete, a reformed ex-convict and a pack of vicious bloodhounds. Beneath the ruins of a castle is his secret lair, where he interrogates his prisoners through a "television" screen. His nemesis is Favraux, a corrupt banker who has left a trail of ruin and misery in his wake. In this epic saga, Judex not only challenges Favraux, but also the evil Diana Monti, Favraux's fiancee who is as ruthless and powerful as he is. But as our hero struggles against the villains, he falls in love with Favraux's daughter, the beautiful, innocent Jacqueline...

"The Revenant's bounty shall be paid by me personally. The Revenant's killer must present her head to me." Such was the decree of Colonel Bozzo-Corona, all-powerful master of the Black Coats. For years, the female vigilante had used the methods of her late mentor, the mysterious Phantom of the Opera, to foil the schemes of that sinister criminal conspiracy. Now they, in turn, marshal their forces in a vast venture to strike back at their enemy and gain mastery of Europe. They create their ultimate assassin, a true Lord of Terror. They forge an alliance with the diabolical, green-eyed mandarin who dominates the Asian underworld. And, finally, a new Countess Cagliostro emerges from their midst as a seductive siren who shall control the destinies of all the great men of France. As the Revenant and her Acolytes of the Shadows combat these threats, an even more dangerous force interferes in the form of an ageless witch from Martinique "Rick Lai's most obvious gift lies in his ability not only to envision obscure connections between diverse works of fiction, but to embellish those connections and weave a tapestry that proves enthralling as a literary work able to stand independent of the celebrated originals." -- William Patrick Maynard (author of The Terror of Fu Manchu).

Completely revised and expanded, Rick Lai's authoritative chronology has been heavily updated to include Lester Dent's radio scripts and new data unearthed from the recent restored Doc Savage reprint editions.

The first in a series of article collections by one of the Wold Newton authors. This volume contains the following: "A Chronology for the Avenger," "Yasmini of India," "The Life and Times of Steve Harrison," "The Legend of El Borak," "The Life and Times of Wild Bill Clanton," "The Saga of Singapore Sammy," "The Sgt. Jaeger Chronology," "The Mystery of Harry Quatermain and Other Conundrums," "The Saga of John Gorman," "Secrets of Sir Henry Merrivale," "The Lecoq Universe," "Peter the Brazen: The Inconsistencies," "Peter the Brazen Vs . Fu Manchu," "The Hand of Kong," "The Contradictions of Khlit the Cossack," "The A .J . Raffles Chronology," "The Insane Captain Wentworth," "The Anomaly of Professor Challenger's Daughter," "A Scandal in Ruritania," "The Holmes-Lupin Rivalry," "The Savage Family of India," "The Tragic Case of John Blakeney" and "The Jules de Grandin Chronology" (co-authored with Matthew Baugh). Look for the next volume soon

For the first time in print, Rick Lai's "Chronology of Shadows" (his timeline of the pulp character The Shadow) has been updated & assembled in an easy-to-navigate package.