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
Musketeer of the Air. The Musketeer of the Air was created by “Reporter X,” the pseudonym of the Portuguese author Reynaldo Ferreira (Herculano Calafaia, Dr. Duque, Fresquinho, Gil Goes, Jim-Joyce, João of Portugal, Juca, Kiá, John Nobody, João Roxo, Ralph Williamson), and appeared in O Mosqueteiro do Ar #1-2 (1932) and Aventuras Extraordinarias do Mosqueteiro do Ar #1-3 (1933).
The Musketeer of the Air is Gastão Perestrello. He was a French Foreign Legionnaire and fought against Abd-El-Krim, but then defected and became an independent aviator. He is always accompanied by Kajita, his 16-year-old Japanese girlfriend & copilot. They fight crime and evil together, including a Rif sorcerer named Zala and the international crime syndicate Trust Z. Dr. Xavier Montanha is the leader of Trust Z, and he sends gorilla assassins after the Musketeer, and then Kajita reveals that she is an agent of Dr. Montanha and the Trust, and the Musketeer is forced to kill Kajita.
The Musketeer appears in stories with titles like “The Rif Cemetery,” “The Secret of the Mercedes Hotel,” and “The Secret of the Japanese.”
* I'm including the Musketeer of the Air's stories in the Best of the Encyclopedia category because they're fun. Reynaldo Ferreira didn't writer many Musketeer stories--the market wasn't interested in them, for some mystifying reason. What is there not to love about a pulp that begins with a flying Legionnaire and ends after several pulpy adventures with betrayal by his reader wish fulfillment co-pilot girlfriend and attacks by gorilla assassins? Only five issues, but in those five Ferreira manages to squeeze a lot of pure pulp goodness out of them. Fun stuff.
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