So who is The Green Ghost? The character was created for the Thrilling line of pulps in the early 40s by G. T. Fleming-Roberts, when they were coming out with more pulp heroes. He is the only one that Norman Daniels didn’t have a hand in. And, confusingly, we have another Green Ghost (created earlier by Johnston McCulley that I’ve covered before), and this character has gone through several name changes, as evident by the changes in magazine titles. Overall, the character had 14 original stories from 1940-44. He first starred in his own pulp magazine in 1940, titled The Ghost-Super Detective for three issues. It was renamed to The Ghost Detective for one issue, then The Green Ghost Detective for three issues. He then moved to Thrilling Mystery where he was known as just “The Ghost” for six stories. A final story appeared in Thrilling Detective, where he was renamed “George Hazzard” and all mention of being The Green Ghost was dropped, which was a common fate for many of Thrilling’s later pulp heroes. The Green Ghost, which is what most pulp fans call him, was really magician George Chance… Similar to some other Thrilling heroes, Chance gets involved helping the police with tough cases, putting to use his skills as a magician, and finds he enjoys it. Chance disguises himself as the mysterious “Green Ghost,” using makeup to give him a ghoulish green appearance.
Alias The Green Ghost, The Ghost, The Ghost Detective
First Appearance The Ghost-Super Detective (January 1940)
First Publisher Better Publications
Appearance List 3 issues of The Ghost-Super Detective (January, Spring, and Summer 1940), 1 issue of Ghost Detective (Fall 1940), 3 issues of The Green Ghost Detective (Winter, Spring, and Summer 1941), 6 issues of Thrilling Mystery (September and November 1942, March, June, and Fall and Winter 1943), 1 issue of Thrilling Detective
Sample Read The Ghost Super Detective vol. 1 #1 (January 1940) [Internet Archive]
Description So who is The Green Ghost? The character was created for the Thrilling line of pulps in the early 40s by G. T. Fleming-Roberts, when they were coming out with more pulp heroes. He is the only one that Norman Daniels didn’t have a hand in. And, confusingly, we have another Green Ghost (created earlier by Johnston McCulley that I’ve covered before), and this character has gone through several name changes, as evident by the changes in magazine titles. Overall, the character had 14 original stories from 1940-44. He first starred in his own pulp magazine in 1940, titled The Ghost-Super Detective for three issues. It was renamed to The Ghost Detective for one issue, then The Green Ghost Detective for three issues. He then moved to Thrilling Mystery where he was known as just “The Ghost” for six stories. A final story appeared in Thrilling Detective, where he was renamed “George Hazzard” and all mention of being The Green Ghost was dropped, which was a common fate for many of Thrilling’s later pulp heroes. The Green Ghost, which is what most pulp fans call him, was really magician George Chance… Similar to some other Thrilling heroes, Chance gets involved helping the police with tough cases, putting to use his skills as a magician, and finds he enjoys it. Chance disguises himself as the mysterious “Green Ghost,” using makeup to give him a ghoulish green appearance.
