Just Looking: Wu Fang Strikes Again!

High Adventure 47 (1999) 

Forgotten Books: The Mysterious Wu Fang in The Case of the Six Coffins

Fu Manchu had many imitators. And why not? Who wouldn't want to be an all-powerful criminal mastermind with hordes of fearsome creatures and beautiful babes to do your bidding? One man with such a dream was the Mysterious Wu Fang, who accomplished something old Fu did not - he moved to the U.S. and got his own pulp magazine.

Wu's debut issue, published in September 1935, gave us the lowdown on "The Case of the Six Coffins."  The character was created by Harry Steeger, the Popular Publications mogul who is also credited with creating The Spider. The writing chores were turned over to Robert J. Hogan, best known as the chief scribe for G-8 and his Battle Aces. In 1975, Robert Weinberg reprinted the story in Pulp Classics #8 with a cover by fan artist Frank Hamilton. The reprint is in facsimile format, with all the great original illustrations.

For the Wu Fang series, the Denis Nayland Smith role falls to American intelligence agent Val Kildaire, and the narrator duties are handled by newspaper reported Jerry Hazard. Wu himself is virtually indistinguishable from Fu, even practicing his trade in Limehouse before circumstances require him to move his operations to the U.S..

Robert J. Hogan was a good choice for this mag. Wasting not a single word, he thrusts you right into the action and zips you through to end without giving you a chance to take a breath. I was reading the third book of Tros of Samothrace by Talbot Mundy when I picked this up, and the difference was dramatic. Mundy's prose has much more weight, requiring the use of several brain cells. By comparison, Hogan's stuff is so light I almost didn't have to read it. I just turned the pages and absorbed the story - almost like osmosis. While Mundy's work is ultimately more rewarding, and more satisfying, I found The Case of the Six Coffins to be a nice, mindless interlude. 

The Mysterious Wu Fang lasted seven issues, and I believe all seven have now been reprinted. One of those, The Case of the Suicide Tomb is available from Adventure House (for a measly three bucks!) in High Adventure #42. To see it, click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.

I found this pic of the original pulp cover on the amazing Galactic Central site.

Visit pattinase, the blog of The Mysterious Patti Abbott, for more of this week's Forgotten Books.