Ace of the White Death - G-8 and his Battle Aces 03

Ace of the White Death
by Robert J. Hogan
G-8 and his Battle Aces 03

 

 

 

This is my first time reading a G-8 story, and I was expecting more over the top craziness.  Maybe things get turned up in later issues, but this installment was a relatively mundane, though well written, war/aviation/espionage story.

G-8 is a pilot spy fighting for America in World War One.  He's assisted by "Bull" Martin and "Nippy" Weston.  In this installment, G-8 goes behind enemy lines to sabotage a German mining operation.  The story follows the typical capture/escape/rescue cycles of other pulps of the era.  A skeleton makes an appearance, but it's the only outre element.

The story stands in a weird place morally.  While undercover, he (and/or Hogan) shows sympathy for an enemy shell-shocked teenager and a dying elderly man.  He doesn't hesitate to kill a guard or soldier in the name of the mission, but he doesn't seem to revel in killing.  Just when you start thinking of G-8 as a man that respects life but has to compromise in the name of war, he goes and gasses tens of thousands of civilians without a qualm.