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

Man with the Molten Face. The Man with the Molten Face was created by “H.W. Guernsey,” the pseudonym of Donald Wandrei (Webster Conning, I.V. Frost, Cyrus North, Duane Sharon), and appeared in “The Man with the Molten Face” (Detective Action Stories, Aug/Sept. 1937) and “The League of Bald Men” (Private Detective Stories, Feb. 1938).

The Man with the Molten Face is a Superhuman vigilante modeled on the Avenger (II). Francis Gerard is a big city mayor and a crusader against crime. He attracts the animus of organized crime, and one day they run him off the road and down a cliff. He is left with broken ribs, shoulder and clavicle, and with the entire lower part of his face torn away, leaving "a gaping wet red yawn fringed with tatters of flesh and splintered bone." He’s to wear a mask, as he is now without nose or jaw. His fiancee, Connie March, leaves him, and he quits the mayor’s office and ponders suicide.

Then he hears about a Viennese plastic surgeon who specializes in tissue and bone surgery. The surgeon puts an artificial jaw and nose on his face. Both are made of an "artificial resin" which is as "shock proof as steel." Gerard then consults with a Japanese "ceramic genius" who puts porcelain teeth into the artificial jaw. The end result is a face that looks normal, except for a "deathly white pallor" and the immobility of the new parts. By accident Gerard discovers that “blistering hot water” leaves the resin on his face soft enough that it can be molded into different shapes, allowing him to change his face to look like anyone. Gerard uses his new abilities to first go after the mob men who almost killed him and then after criminals in general.,

Table of Contents / Annotations / Blog / Books / Patreon / Twitter / Contact me