"Justice, Inc." is the first

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...

story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the September 1, 1939 issue of ''The Avenger'' magazine.

Publishing history

This novel was re-published under its original title by the

Paperback Library Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

on June 1, 1972.

Summary

Richard Henry Benson, aggressive, dominating, cold-eyed, self-made millionaire adventurer, forces himself and his family onto a Buffalo/Montreal private charter flight (his mother-in-law is dying). He goes to the washroom and his wife and daughter vanish. The other passengers deny having seen them, the crew claim he boarded the plane alone, and even their empty seats are cold, as if no one ever occupied them. A frantic Benson is subdued and hospitalized with "brain fever" and head trauma. Recovering, his face and hair are white, and his facial flesh is paralyzed and malleable. Investigating, Benson meets pharmacist/chemist Fergus MacMurdie, who DID see Benson's family, and gigantic engineer Algernon Heathcote Smith (Smitty), who agree to assist him. Benson fights and overcomes Smitty using nerve pressure. Benson has a custom compact .22 caliber gun and light throwing knife (Mike & Ike), shoots to crease the top of the skull and render unconscious rather than kill, is a master of disguise, and prefers maneuvering enemies into their own traps over killing. THE PLOT: A criminal gang abducts wealthy Buffalo residents, drops them from a plane over Lake Ontario, and holds them prisoner on an island, all to get control of a Buffalo company. The three of them end the scheme, but Benson's wife and child aren’t found, alive or dead, among the kidnapping victims. The trio form Justice, Inc. to bring criminals to justice.

Comic adaptations

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

title called '' Justice Inc.'' began in issue #1 (May–June 1975) and ran to issue #4 (November–December 1975). This series adapted the eponymous novel and continued with original stories which featured the Avenger and took place during the time the original Avenger novels were released.

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

provided the artwork for issues #2–4. A two-issue limited series published by DC Comics in 1989 under the same title featured the Avenger and his agents in an updated, contemporary setting several years after their retirement.

References

{{The Avenger Pulp stories DC Comics titles Works originally published in The Avenger (magazine) 1939 American novels Comics by Dennis O'Neil Comics by Jack Kirby