The Story

Childhood friends Gary K. Wolf (creator of Roger Rabbit) and John J. Myers (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey) combine forces to resurrect the pulp action-adventure tradition of the 1940s and 50s in this fun and fast-moving old-school space opera.

Boldly self-confident, fearless Galactic Marshal Victor Corsaire, the straightest of straight arrows, comes to a remote agricultural planet to capture and arrest two-bit crook, shady hustler, gambler, and con man Gil Terry. He was just about to blast off with a shipload of stolen produce. He desperately needs money to redeem the arm and eye his cold-hearted bookie seized as collateral when Gil couldn’t cover a wager. If and when Gil pays off, he gets them back. Otherwise, they’ll be sold. The bookie loaned him a Saurian cricket leg for an arm and a Venusian dung beetle’s telescoping eye. In a few weeks, the bookie will close out the debt and Gil will be stuck with the substitute parts forever. He needs one last big score, but there’s no way he’ll get it if Corsaire takes him to jail. Somehow, he has to stay free.

Unknown to Corsaire, he himself is being stalked by the notorious space pirate and sinister criminal mastermind, Space Vulture. Space Vulture doesn’t fear Corsaire. Space Vulture fears no one. But Space Vulture resents Corsaire because he’s the only man in the galaxy more famous than Space Vulture himself. With Corsaire dead, Space Vulture will stand alone as the most renowned, most dreaded man in the known universe. Space Vulture swoops in and captures Corsaire, Gil, the colony’s administrator Cali Russell, and all of the colonists.

Space Vulture intends to sell the colonists into slavery. He has a much worse fate in mind for Corsaire. Space Vulture will invite twelve of Corsaire’s meanest, vilest enemies, a Who’s Who of criminal infamy, to bid in an auction for the right to kill Corsaire in the most gruesome possible way. Space Vulture also has a loathsome plan for Cali. He intends to make her his compliant handmaiden. If she resists, he will turn her into one of his flock, the mindless zombies who make up his gang.

Space Vulture blasts off with his captives. As usual, he leaves one person behind to spread the word of his infallible power. This time Gil is it.

Gil can’t believe his luck. He’s escaped Space Vulture’s clutches. Then he discovers that Cali's two sons hid and evaded capture. The boys insist on going after Space Vulture to rescue their mother. Terry wants no part of that plan. He intends to get back to business, pull off one more heist and use the proceeds to reclaim his body parts. But the fates of the two boys and the amoral crook become intertwined. The three form a reluctant alliance and set off together. The boys dislike and distrust Gil. They suspect he’ll betray them the first chance he gets, and they’re right. Terry has no use for kids. He plans to dump them as soon as he can and go on his way alone.

As the action develops and builds, Corsaire faces the most difficult and dangerous challenge of his long and illustrious career. He attempts to outwit and defeat the one man in the galaxy who might be stronger, smarter, and quicker with a raygun. Has Corsaire finally met his match? Can he triumph over Space Vulture, the ultimate evildoer?

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