This is a very personal blast from my past. When I was a youngster, in addition to comics, I loved the Whitman Big Little Books, most of which I still have. I also adored the larger Whitman novels, on pulp paper with pressboard covers. They usually featured single-color line illustrations and vivid painted covers. The book that made the most impression on me was The Hound of the Baskervilles, but the one that came in very close was The Space Eagle--Operation Doomsday.
This is a story of Paul Girard a guy who is part Bruce Wayne and part Doc Savage. He's a playboy philanthropist who charms everyone, even those he beats, and he's the arguably the smartest most agile and dangerous fighter on the planet. He's also the head of Girard Industries, a mega-corporation that is in space research and cosmetics. His twin sister is brighter than he is and between the two of them form the team that is dubbed "Space Eagle".
The story is simple enough. The Earth is still in the Cold War but it has moved into space which is still ungoverned by law. Space needs a marshall to tame it and to do that the President engages Paul Girard and his skills to be that agent. Using beyond state-of-the-art technology called SWIFT which is a near FTL omni-craft and other tech toys Paul becomes a "superhero" able to change his identity with advance chemicals and by use of very tricky tech.
It's a cool concept and I ate it up. I have had my bedraggled copy for decades. But the other day on ebay I found the complete set of two books, the first one from 1967 and the sequel from 1971. I popped for both immediately and they arrived safely and soundly in superb condition. I'm reading the debut right now, and I've the sequel which I've never read before waiting. Good stuff if you can find it.
I'll have more as I finish them up.
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