What compels a man to conceal his identity behind a mask? Why would he choose to live on the wrong side of the law, to wage his own war against crime?
Some do it for kicks, like the bored millionaire playboy Jimmy Grey, who uses his wealth and power to fight the criminal underworld as The Shadow. |
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Others, like the Seventh Earl of Ravenscourt, have no choice in the matter. Framed by his evil brother Sebastian for a crime he didn't commit, the English nobleman spends his life on the run from Scotland Yard as The Raven. Hugh Standish first donned the guise of the Grey Domino during World War II, fighting the Nazis behind enemy lines. But the end of the war brought an uneasy peace, and it wasn't long before the Grey Domino came out of retirement to battle spies and crime syndicates across the globe. |
Then there is Professor Gilford, the English professor whose greed for antiquities compels him to become The Scorpion, in order to carry out his daring heists. Although a criminal himself, The Scorpion has occasionally turned his criminal rivals in to the police.
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Not everyone plans on becoming a costumed vigilante. Just ask Jack Keegan, the bare-knuckle boxing champ of Dugga-Dugga, Queensland. When he signed on as the bouncer at King's Cross' notorious Australiana Cafe, he didn't expect to become the masked crime-fighter known as The Jackaroo - but that's exactly what happened! |
Illustrations
Top and Right Peter CHAPMAN (cover artist, born 1925), The Shadow No 120 (Second series), Sydney, Tricho Pty Ltd, 1961
Bottom Paul WHEELAHAN (cover artist, born 1930), The Raven No 4, Redfern NSW, Young’s Merchandising, 1962
