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JOHN SILENCE

silence_john_nv_scs
 
Full Name: John Silence
Nationality: British
Organization: British Intelligence
Occupation Agent
Creator: Herbert Macrae
Time Span: 1934 - 1935

ABOUT THE SERIES

First Look:

     John Silence is an agent with British Intelligence.

     He is not only one of their operatives, he is, going by the nickname the narrator uses several times in his adventures, the King of Spies. This rather heady praise is joined by a couple references to his being a "master-spy" which certainly sounds accurate considering the facts of one adventure.

     In that instance he shows that he is extremely daring, or perhaps reckless or both, as he brazenly infiltrates a German base impersonating one of their officers. To pull this off, he would have to have not only a native speaker's command of the language, he would need to be totally conversant in body language and demeanor as well.

     Then we find out he is able, when a British pilot he has broken out of imprisonment and then stolen a plane for the pilot to use to get both of them to freedom, is shot and cannot continue to operate the craft, Silence without hesitation takes over the task.

NOVELLAS AND SHORT STORIES

Number of Stories:2
First Appearance:1934
Last Appearance:1935

     "Printed in Great Britain and published every Tuesday by the Proprietors, The Amalgamated Pres, Ltd. The Fleetway House"

     That is what the indicia says about The Triumph, a weekly magazine of stories designed for youngsters, as seen in its sub-title: The Boys' Best Story Paper.

     As it said, it came out every Tuesday though on the top line of the cover giving the volume and issue numbers it also states "Week Ending xxx" where the xxx would be the Saturday ending the week.

     The publication, or story paper, first hit the newsstands on the week ending October 18, 1924 and would stick around for a very impressive 16 years, coming to a close on the week ending May 25, 1940 with issue #814.

     Each issue contained 3-6 different storylines. Some of them were single issue adventures of 4-5 pages each while many others were serials stretching numerous issues. Many of these serial presentations were in series format with the character having multiple adventures over time, each one itself being stretched over multiple issues.

     Captain John Silence was not around very much, having but two adventures we have been able to find.

1 Spy-Catcher Silence Spy-Catcher Silence
Written by Herbert Macrae
Copyright: 1934
Published in The Triumph #517-#525, 9 issues from September 15 to November 10 1934 with 3 pages believed in each issue.
Vital documents were stolen from the British Tank Corps Headquarters and transported behind enemy lines. It fell to Captain John Silence, the King of Spies, to head into danger there and get the documents back. Along the way he encounters a British pilot who had been shot down and needs help getting back
Note: I have found only one of the 9 issues so far. The three pages shown here are from the penultimate issue of the group, issue #524.
Click here to read the story.
2 King of Spies King of Spies
Written by Herbert Macrae
Copyright: 1935
Published in The Triumph #584, December 28, 1935 with a believed 5 pages .
[plot unknown]

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