Introduction On Racism Epigraphs A History of the Pulps A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Glossary and Character Taxonomy Breakdown by Country of Origin Bibliography Table of Contents The Best of the Encyclopedia
Abdahalla-Fan. Abdahalla-Fan was created by the Spanish author Jesús de Aragón (Hugo de Marignac, Four Spaniards, Spanish Engineer) and appeared in Los Piratas del Aire (1929).
Abdahalla-Fan is a Yellow Peril. In 1927 all of India is threatened by the malign Abdahalla-Fan. He commands an airship in the form of a green dragon, and his co-pilot is a gorilla. He even kidnaps the beautiful Englishwoman Dorina from Bombay and subjects her to “cruel vexations.” Fortunately, the heroic English pilot Lord Ewerard Gleenmore is on the case, and pursues Abdahalla-Fan to the summit of Mt. Everest, where he meets his doom.
* I've included Abdahalla-Fan and Los Piratas del Aire in the Best of the Encyclopedia category because they are in the best pulp tradition of "too much is too much, but way too much is just enough" when it comes to ideas. It's got a Yellow Peril, which of course it does--racism is ever-present in the pulps--but the Yellow Peril pilots a dragon-shaped airship co-piloted by a gorilla. Even more, Abdahalla-Fan kidnaps an Englishwoman and treats her the way that Rudolph Rassendale (see Hairbreadth Harry) does Hairbreadth Harry's sweetheart, Belinda Binks--the "cruel vexations" I mentioned are death traps, though none so iconic as being tied to a railway or buzzsaw. Los Piratas del Aire just heaps fun ideas on top of fun ideas, and demonstrates that neither the United States nor Germany had a trademark on ideasplosion pulp.
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