Brutal mass murder is a tocsin call to The Phantom in this grim manhunt! A sinister genius of crime hurls defiance at public and police as he carries on a campaign of banditry which shocks a nation!
His identity known to only one person, The Phantom Detective is not only the masked enemy of crime, but also a product of the cataclysmic World War. Born wealthy beyond all avarice, the war made playboy Richard Curtis Van Loan realize the futility of his pampered life. Daily facing death on the Eastern Front, peace-time activities seemed too tame for him after his high-flying career as a war pilot was over. Others, seeking readjustment vainly, took to other fields — many, to crime. Van Loan, noticing this uptick in criminal activity, instead dedicated himself to fighting the criminal forces that sought to hold America in their grip.
Intent on his new mission, Van Loan taught himself every skill it required. Equipped with a knowledge of criminology second to none on earth as well a master of make-up, the actor’s art, mimicry, ventriloquism and hypnotist, he embarked on his perilous career. It is this aspect that not only makes Van Loan stand out from other Pulp heroes who had some dramatic background and assistance in their training. It also ties him in many ways to another later self-made comic book hero, Batman. Sacrificing those things that the ordinary man may have for the asking — the simple pleasures of home and hearth — Van Loan prepared to gamble desperately against gangdom’s strangle-hold on humanity. Donning a mask, Van Loan took his fight to criminals in the streets face to face as The Phantom Detective!
Graduates of Murder was originally published in the October 1938 issue of The Phantom Detective Magazine and is read with pulse pounding intensity by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: A Bank is Robbed
Chapter 2: Mysterious Deaths
Chapter 3: Beneath the Surface
Chapter 4: The Inflexible Rule
Chapter 5: The Chief Gets Aid
Chapter 6: “Smart” Scheme
Chapter 7: The Massey Pool
Chapter 8: School for Crime
Chapter 9: A Call on Frenchie
Chapter 10: The Matching Suits
Chapter 11: The Scott Farm
Chapter 12: A Little Blue Flower
Chapter 13: The Man with the Withered Hand
Chapter 14: The Woman in the Coupé:
Chapter 15: Prepared for Trouble
Chapter 16: The Armored Truck
Chapter 17: The Street Battle
Chapter 18: In the Vault
