Comic book artist Alex Breydon discovers that he has only 6 months left to live. With nothing left to lose he decides to live out his boyhood fantasy of becoming a real life masked crusader. The press sensationalizes him, the public loves him, the police want to arrest him and the underworld want him dead.
The Adventures of Knight-Hood is the author's attempt at the return of the pulp fiction character. Based on the Green Hornet, the Spider and the Shadow, Knight-Hood is their modern day counterpart. Unlike comic book heroes Knight-Hood is based on the real world, where there are no such things as super-powers, magic, aliens and all technology he uses exists in the real world.
Excerpt
He gets in his car parked in a parking garage not far away and drives around the neighborhood for three hours and then decides to give up and go back to his apartment building, but when he arrives he is shocked to see it is surrounded by police cars, firetrucks, paramedics and a large crowd of on lookers. They all seem to be looking upwards! Alex looks up too and sees Jaime standing on the roof ledge with cops trying to talk him down!
“Oh my God! It's Jaime!” He tries to get in but the police have the whole area cordoned off! Alex rushes into the apartment building across the street and begins to run up the staircase toward the roof, putting on his mask and gloves as he goes. Reaching the top he finds the door to the roof is chained shut. He begins to pound on the rusty old chain and finally breaks it by kicking it repeatedly. He rushes out onto the roof and sees Jaime still standing on the roof edge across the street. The cops are on the roof still trying to talk him down, but afraid to get too close. Beneath Jaime and to the right of him is the fire escape with more cops on it, but they can't reach him. If he falls he will plummet four stories to the pavement. Then Alex notices a telephone line running from his roof to just below where Jaime is standing. Alex looks around and spots the broken chain still laying by the open roof door. He rushes over and grabs it and then runs as fast as he can toward the edge. Holding onto each end of the chain he leaps off the roof into space and the chain straddles the wire! He slides across the street and now is seen by the police and the news camera crew who just arrived.
Knight-Hood lands against the side of the building just below Jaime, who hearing the sound turns around and loses his footing. He falls right into Knight-Hood's arms one story below him. Knight-Hood is holding onto the chain with one hand and Jaime with the other. He hangs on to him until the firetruck gets into position. The firemen on the ladder take Jaime. Knight-Hood then knocks on the window of the old couple who live on the third floor, who have been watching the whole event. He motions for them to open the window and having witnessed the dramatic rescue they gladly oblige. He climbs in the window of their apartment, thanking them on his way out. Before the cops can reach the third floor, Alex has removed his mask, gloves and coat and tossed them down the laundry shoot. He then calmly walks back to his room on the second floor. Reaching his apartment Alex feels euphoric as he turns on his small, black and white portable television that he bought at a near by pawn shop the day he moved in. As suspected the live news feed is still talking about his dramatic rescue.
“Here now is a repeat of the news footage showing the mystery man known only as Knight-Hood as he slides along the telephone wire and grabs the suicide victim just in the nick of time, in true super-hero fashion.”, the reporter comments, “Let's see if we can get an interview with the couple who allowed Knight-Hood into their home. Brian are you there?”
“Yes Roberta.” Brian answers as the scene changes to inside the apartment of the old couple who helped Alex. “I'm here now with Mr. and Mrs. James Powell. Mr. Powell what were you thinking opening your window to that masked man the way you did?”
“Well...I'll tell ya.” Mr. Powell replies, “I served as a paratrooper in WWII and I know a hero from a bad guy when I see um.”
“Mrs Powell interrupts, “We couldn't just let him fall to his death now could we? Not after what we just witnessed! I've never seen anything like it. From our window we saw the whole thing.”
Mr. Powell interrupts her, “Let me tell it Emma! We lived here most of our lives you know. This used to be a good neighborhood, not like it is now with drug dealers and prostitutes running all over the place...”
Brian interrupts him, “Mr. Powell could you just tell our viewers what you saw?”
“Yeah ok.” Mr. Powell continues, “It was the damnedest thing! He just leapt off that roof over there like he didn't have a care in the world and slid right over to ours. I thought for a minute he might come crashing though but he didn't...”
Alex speaks aloud to the TV, “When you're already dying what is there to be afraid of?”
Brian asks Mr. Powell, 'What happened after you let him in?”
Mrs. Powell speaks up, “Oh he just thanked us and then ran out the door. I was speechless! I still can't believe the whole thing really happened!”
Brian says, “Ok back to you Roberta.”
The scene shifts back outside, “Thank you Brian.”, Roberta says to the camera, “I am here now with Officer Menendez, what do you make of this Knight-Hood character, and where did her go?”
Menendez comments, “Well most likely once he got his disguise off he simply walked out the front door. With so many people coming and going it would be impossible to know for sure. I would like to say that the police department is not happy with the media for portraying this character as a hero. I know it's great showbiz, but what he is doing is very serious. You simply cannot put on a mask and play super-hero in real life. Just take tonight for instance. The police were on the verge of talking the jumper down. The police and firemen are trained professionals and had the situation well in hand. The dangerous actions of this amateur not only caused the victim to fall off the edge, but think what would have happened if he had not caught him? Or if the telephone wire had snapped?”
Roberta asks him, “Can you tell us what became of the jumper, and what is his status?”
“His name is being withheld as usual for his protection. We suspect he was the victim of a drug overdose.”
“Will he be charged with anything” Roberta asks.
Officer Menendez replies, “No, but Knight-Hood will be as soon as we catch him! He will be charged with reckless endangerment among other things.”
Alex listening to the television comments aloud, “Reckless endangerment? Thanks a lot!” He switches off the TV and gets out his sketchpad.
Professional Reviews
Jacoby Freeman
This review is from: The Adventures of Knight-Hood: Volume I (Kindle Edition)
Impressed! I was very impressed. The Adventures of Knight-Hood was a return to an era and culture that has been forgotten about in the main stream. John Reid allowed a reintroduction to Pulp culture. This was not only valuable to the traditionalists (in which I am) but also to the new generation. This was written in an old-styled form that hung on to cliff hangers, disguises, investigations, and wit. This is a book that should be taken for what it went out to achieve...
It is a slice of Pulp-pie with a warm buttery topping of mystery, and a cool glass of adventure, chilled by a few cubes of drama.
I read one of the earlier reviews on here in which the reader was unhappy with the book and listed his complaints accordingly. My question is, do you judge all of your books on one standard? A romance should be a romance and a children's book a children's book.
Have you ever read Pulp stories, characters, or magazines? What you complained about is NOT what this genre IS about. Pulp is written in a Comic-Book style in which the core of the story is the focus and the action is intense. Personal reflection is at a minimal and matters most when building the world that the tale inhabits.
I do want to offer a compliment in your complaints, because it allows the doors to open for comparison. What you found fault with is an EXCELLENT example of what would be needed in a standard drama-based novel, but because this is different, I invite you to re-enter this culture and world and try rereading it as the true Pulp that it is.
In fact, I would love to read your review on his next book now that all of this has been established.
Overall, I REALLY enjoyed the Adventures of Knight-Hood and I pray that his adventures continue. I've been looking for a great modern day Pulp story to immerse myself into and follow... and at this point, Knight-Hood is leading the pack!!
Please keep up the GREAT work!!
Samuel Spulman
The Adventures of Knight-Hood: Volume I (Kindle Edition)
This story is an attempt to bring back the 30's masked mystery men like the Green Hornet, the Shadow, the Spider, or the Masked Marvel only place it in a modern setting. Masked mystery men pre-dated the age of superheroes which dawned with the creation of Superman. The pulp fiction heroes had no superpowers but were just ordinary men who wore masks and fought for justice. They all carried guns and knew how to use them as well, another factor which vanished with the dawn of superheroes. I enjoyed the original origin tale. Making him dying gave him the excuse to try and live out his fantasy of becoming a masked crusader. I also enjoyed seeing a hero that uses his brains to outfox his opponents as opposed to his fists, like a modern day Zorro or Robin Hood as opposed to the current trend to make the heroes ultra violent. Most of all I enjoyed seeing the return of a hero who was obviously the good guy. This guy is the proverbial white knight he seeks to be. He is someone people can look up to. Unfortunately the hero today seems to be seen as corny or unrealistic. Today a hero must be a scary anti-hero like Batman or Wolverine or a deadly vigilante like V in V for Vendetta or Rorschach from the Watchmen. It was refreshing to see the author attempt to give us a new hero for kids of all ages to look up to.
Samuel Spulman
Ken Caroli
The Adventures of Knight-Hood: Volume I (Paperback)
l just finished The Adventures of Knighthood. As it's own forward states it is an attempt to revive and update the mystery man type heroes prevalent in the old pulps, such as the Shadow.l have to admit my knowledge of them comes more from comics and movies than direct experience with the original stories.So, l can't really judge properly if the author successfully emulated that style of writing.But he did manage to sweep the reader along into a series of cliff hangers that left you wondering how the hero would deal with the given crisis. That much , at least, l know fits the pulps and the filmed serials derived from them. l think the writer does an admirable job at his set mission of depicting a well intended vigilante without magical or science fiction based powers who uses only tools that are really available today.That might not sound hard but it is. Extricating the hero from increasingly difficult and dangerous situations without resorting to superpowers is a real challenge. The author is engenius in doing so.
The present tense narration , to me, recalls a screenplay.At it's best it conveys a sence of immediacy and urgency. As noted by another reviewer it might have been an improvement to include the hero seeking a second opinion on his diagnosis or explaining more clearly why he did not. From the details cited my guess would be a mixture of shock at the diagnosis,swiftly followed by the extremely negative reaction by his girlfriend and the loss of his job and home..Still, it did not really bother me as l was not expecting a slice of life psychological novel when l ordered the book.lt's title,cover art and description make clear what it is intended to be.ln the pulp tradition plot dominates above all else.l was only aware of the complaint because l read the other reviews when l ordered the book.
The book strives to be as plausible plotwise as such a tale can be, ln reality the hero would've probably been caught by the police or killed by the criminals a lot faster.But then the story would be over too quickly and there would be no adventures let alone this being a ' part 1'. l thought that he did a pretty good job at depicting the reactions of the police, the media and the criminals to the hero's activities.The one exception might be the finale where l feel the author was a bit generous about the speed of the judicial system.But l don't think it hurt the story any.l would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery and adventure fiction.There's not much else out there today like it if anything. l eagerly await volume 2.
This review is from: The Adventures of Knight-Hood: Volume I (Kindle Edition)
I chose to rate this book a 5, because it has captivated and intrigued me to no end! I couldn't stop looking and wondering what was coming next. Well staged events founded on real 'life' realities. I really enjoyed that the descripive phrases and wordings used were wonderfully selected. I give "The Adventures of Knight-Hood" an A+++++++!!! Hands down, by Far, my Favorite book Ever! It has left me looking for the second volume in antipation!!!
