When we released the first issue of The Octopus as an audiobook, of course you asked for more. This ultra-rare 1939 pulp magazine was a Weird Menace extravaganza named after its villain, with the nominal hero operating in not two, but three identities battling him every step of the way.

For reasons that remain recondite, the second issue of The Octopus was retitled The Scorpion. And the sinister supervillain was renamed. Otherwise, the magazine was a direct continuation of the previous incarnation, with the new leader of the Purple Eyes Cult attempting to force New York to knuckle under his iron rule through terror and intimidation. Only the Skull Killer could stand up to him.

For yes, sadly, this is the end of the brief but bloody career of Jeffrey Fairchild, who also did good as ghetto medico Dr. Skull and by night operated as the scourge of the underworld, the Skull Killer, stamping a grisly death's head on the foreheads of his dead, defeated enemies.

Now, steel yourself for this hair-raising sequel by the nervous but otherwise very capable Michael C. Gwynne. For as vicious and diabolically over-the-top as the Octopus was, the Scorpion is far, far more sinister. Here, he transforms entire families into soulless, bloodthirsty maniacs....

Randolph Craig

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