Johnston McCulley

"The violent and funny adventures of The Demon written by PREACHER co-creator Garth Ennis are collected for the first time. In these fast-paced, dark tales, the rhyming entity known as Etrigan the Demon, battles the Gothodaemon, the demon of Gotham City, with the help of Hitman. Then, a company of German soldiers from World War II are resurrected to capture an army base - and it's up to the Demon and the crew of the Haunted Tank to send them back to their graves. Collects THE DEMON #40-48 and THE DEMON ANNUAL #2"--

Snowed Under by the Skill of Rivals, Coach Hal Menner of Southland U Sends a Squad of Makeshifts Out for Some of the Most Amazing Razzle-Dazzle Ever Pulled in a Crucial Football Game! (Raley Brien is a pseudonym of Johnston McCulley, the creator of Zorro.) Originally published in the Winter (January) 1944 issue of the classic pulp magazine, "Exciting Sports."

The rousing adventure that gave birth to one of popular culture's most enduring iconsOriginally titled The Curse of Capistrano in its 1919 debut, this exciting tale achieved immortal fame thanks to Douglas Fairbanks's 1920 blockbuster film, The Mark of Zorro-a cinematic triumph that inspired Johnston McCulley to retitle his novel and dedicate it to Fairbanks. Set in Mexican California during the 1820s, the story follows the career of Don Diego Vega, by all appearances an effete and foppish aristocrat. But Vega's timorous reputation is nothing more than a mask to conceal his alter ego: a California Robin Hood known as Zorro, whose swift blade strikes down those who exploit the poor and oppressed. The inspiration for dozens of film and television adaptations, The Mark of Zorro remains a paradigm of swashbuckling adventure.First time in Penguin ClassicsIncludes an introduction and filmography

The masked woman called herself Madame Madcap, and she gathered a gang of cutthroats determined to loot high society of all its riches . . . starting with the notorious womanizer Hamilton Brone. She worked her criminal magic . . . and grew rich as millionaires swooned at her feet. Members of her gang worshipped her. She could do no wrong. And yet a curious pattern began to emerge, and a strange vengeance took shape -- not just against the men of high society, but against the men of her own brave band of criminals! A thrilling crime novel from the classic pulp writer who created Zorro!

Thubway Tham is a small, short-tempered gnome of a man, a professional pickpocket with an annoying lisp. But he is no mere thief . . . he is the king of his chosen profession, a master "dip" who works only in the subways of New York City. Like all such villains, he faces a cunning adversary in Police Detective Craddock, who is always half a pace behind. Craddock has sworn to put Tham behind bars, where he belongs. But Tham is clever enough to always remain one step ahead of Craddock and everyone else.Despite being a criminal, Tham always comes off well: the people whom he relieves of their wallets are often deserving of it, and he has a tendency to take on other, much worse crooks to give them their just desserts. And, of course, there are scoundrels aplenty in his world: a rival pickpocket who moves in on his turf in "Thubway Tham's Baggage Check;" Shifty Shane, the holdup man, who calls Tham a coward because he doesn't use a gun; and Mr. Clackworthy, a slick grifter from Chicago, who looks down on dips as the lowest of thieves.Call him an early antihero. Tham endears himself to readers because he has a moral compass. He knows his place is in the gutter of the world, but that doesn't mean he can't strive to better himself -- or others.

Included in this volume: THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, by Stephen Crane CAPTAINS VENOMOUS, by Arthur J. Burks A SAHIBS' WAR, by Rudyard Kipling WHIRLWIND SQUADRON, by Robert W. Nealey THEY DIED IN VAIN, by George Bruce THE BLOCKADE RUNNERS, by Jules Verne IN THE CLUTCH OF THE TURK, by Benge Atlee THE CRIME OF THE BRIGADIER, by Arthur Conan Doyle [An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge]( by Ambrose Bierce WHISPERING DEATH, by Laurence Donovan A ONE-MAN NAVY, by Eugene Cunningham WHEN A YANK GETS FIGHTING MAD, by Lieut. Jay D. Blaufox A MYSTERY OF HEROISM, by Stephen Crane THE PRIVATE HISTORY OF A CAMPAIGN THAT FAILED, by Mark Twain WITHOUT THE BLUE, by Johnston McCulley PRIVATE WAR, by Norman A. Daniels THE CLOUD WIZARD, by David Goodis KILLER ACE, by David Goodis THE FLY, by Katherine Mansfield THE COLONEL'S IDEAS, by Guy de Maupassant THREE MIRACULOUS SOLDIERS, by Stephen Crane NAVY DAY, by Harry Harrison VICTORY, by Lester del Rey THE DEFENDERS, by Philip K. Dick THE DESTROYERS, by Randall Garrett.