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by Michael Howard (Editor), Frank L. Packard (Author)
In 1914 a character appeared who would permanently transform popular fiction. Frank Packard's Gray Seal melded elements from A. J. Raffles, Jimmy Valentine, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and Ars鈩e Lupin, but those traits were combined with an entirely new concept: the gifted young man who conceals his identity behind a mask to fight crime in the big city. It had never been done before and it's never stopped being done since. Jimmie Dale, the high society millionaire behind the Gray Seal persona, helped to launch the hero pulp boom of the 1930s and was a direct influence on the Green Hornet, the Spider, the Phantom, and especially The Shadow. The Gray Seal template was adopted by the comic book industry as well, and well into the Twenty-first Century continues to appear there, on television, and in the movies.And now, for the first time ever the complete Jimmie Dale saga is being reprinted in a set of authoritative editions. The personal papers of Gray Seal creator Frank Packard have been consulted for this project, along with various unpublished works of fiction by him that add further insight to the series. Also, a detailed chronology has been established for the novels so they can be considered in their proper historical setting. The definitive Gray Seal collection is finally here, beginning with the novel that forever changed adventure fiction - and the larger world of popular entertainment.
