Ghost Super-Detective
The Ghost Super-Detective was created in the early ’40s by Fleming-Roberts, when Thrilling were coming out with more pulp heroes. He is the only one that Norman Daniels didn’t have a hand in. And, confusingly, we have another Green Ghost (created earlier by Johnston McCulley that I’ve covered before), and this character has gone through several name changes, as evident by the changes in magazine titles.
Overall, the character had 14 original stories from 1940-44. He first starred in his own pulp magazine in 1940, titled The Ghost-Super Detective for three issues. It was renamed to The Ghost Detective for one issue, then The Green Ghost Detective for three issues. He then moved to Thrilling Mystery where he was again known as just “The Ghost” for six stories. A final story appeared in Thrilling Detective, where he was renamed “George Hazzard” and all mention of being The Green Ghost was dropped, which was a common fate for many of Thrilling’s later pulp heroes.
The Green Ghost, which is what most pulp fans call him, was really magician George Chance. This was interesting, because Fleming-Roberts had recently done a series of stories about a magician-turned-detective named Diamondstone! Similar to some other Thrilling heroes, Chance gets involved helping the police with tough cases, putting to use his skills as a magician, and finds he enjoys it. So he’s more a semi-official vigilante, than one who operates totally outside the law.
“The Ghost Super-Detective” (Spring 1940)Chance disguises himself as the mysterious “Green Ghost,” using makeup to give him a ghoulish appearance. He is aided by several others. There is his assistant, Glenn Saunders, who looks just like him. This is useful to throw people off from thinking Chance is The Ghost. There is his love interest, Merry White, who often gets in trouble. Tiny Tim Terry is a midget and friend of George’s; and Joe Harper is another member of his staff who helps out. There is also the Police Commissioner Standish who also knows who The Ghost really is, along with the medical examiner, Robert Demarest.
–Taken from thepulp.net
