Carly, Jim. Jim Carly was created by the pseudonymous “Purna Malavaji” and appeared in the Indonesian story serial “Purna Malavaji alias Jim Carly, Pentjoeri Ksatria” (1938?-1940?). Jim Carly is a Lupin (gentleman thief). The mysterious Anglo-Indian Jim Carly is active, usually in Calcutta and occasionally as far east as Shanghai, punishing the wicked (usually British), stealing from the wealthy (usually the British and those Indians who collaborate with them), and giving their money to the deserving poor. “Carly” is actually the Indian prince Purna Malavaji, deposed by the British and working toward revenge.
Jim Carly is typical of Southeast Asian pulp gentlemen thief characters; a surprising number of them were specifically anti-colonialist. Which shouldn’t come as any surprise, of course–popular culture often is used by the oppressed to fictionally target and punish the oppressor, and global pulp literature is no exception to that rule.