The Black Hood - From Comic Books To Pulps

The Black Hood

From Comic Book To Pulp

The Black Hood first appeared in MLJ Comics in October of 1940, quickly becoming one of their top comic books. MLJ would experiment with bringing the character to the pulps, as well as radio.

#1 Death’s Five Faces

The character was a police officer framed for a crime he didn’t commit by master criminal The Skull. “Death’s Five Face” was published in the September 1841 issue of BLACK HOOD DETECTIVE.

#2 The Corpse Came C.O.D.

Wounded, and left to die, he was found by The Hermit, who brought him back to health, and gave him a bit of extra power to battle crooks. Wearing his comic book costume in the pulp magazines might have been a mistake, as the pulp series only lasted three issues. He began in the comic books, and that was where he belonged. The second issue, containing “The Corpse Came C.O.D.” was published in HOODED DETECTIVE, November 1941.

#3 The Whispering Eye

Prolific pulp writer, G. T. Fleming-Roberts, brought the character of The Black Hood to the pulps. He was a short story writer, appearing in most of the pulp magazines of the time, as well as several single character pulps. Secret Agent X had only recently ceased, and The Ghost Detective, later called The Green Ghost Detective, was starting over at STANDARD. Roberts was an excellent writer, but sales must not have been very good, so The Black Hood was dropped from the pulps. It may have had something to do with the costume, I don’t know. But it’s interesting that a comic book character moved over to the pulps. Normally, it was the other way around. Many pulp characters made the transition to comic books.