Operator No. 5 (magazine)

Operator No. 5 was a pulp hero that appeared in his own pulp magazine, published by Popular Publications. He was an American spy who fought saboteurs and foreign menaces, even though there was as yet no agency for such secret agents. His real name was Jimmy Christopher. He had two trademarks, a skull ring and a rapier which was kept curled inside his belt.

The magazine ran for 48 issues, from April 1934 to November 1939. One final story was written but never published. Stories were credited to "Curtis Steele", which was a house name for writers Frederick Davis (#1-20), Emile C. Tepperman (#21-39), and Wayne Rogers (#40-48)

Tepperman was responsible for the 13 interconnected novels that make up The Purple Invasion, a series in which the Purple Empire (an unnamed European power which is a thinly veiled Germany) conquers the United States.Jimmy Christopher led the insurgency against them. The saga is often looked upon as the War and Peace of pulps. The entire Purple Invasion sequence was reprinted in the 1990s by Pulp Review/High Adventure.

In a rare bit of continuity for the pulp magazines, America did not find itself fully recovered in the firstnovel following the end of the Purple Invasion. Instead, America was still reeling from the bloody war, and found itself vulnerable to yet other would-be conquerors. A new serial dealt with the invasion of the US by an oriental power, obviously Japan, led by the "Yellow Vulture." This sequence started with issue #45, but was left unfinished with the magazine's cancellation.

A Checklist of Operator 5 Magazine

    Date  Title                          Author

     1934
     April  The Masked Invasion            Frederick C. Davis
     May    The Invisible Empire            
     June   The Yellow Scourge             
     July   The Melting Death 
     Aug.   The Cavern of the Damned  
     Sept.  Master of Broken Men            
     Oct.   Invasion of the Dark Legions 
     Nov.   The Green Death Mists 
     Dec.   Legions of Starvation           

    1935 
    Jan.    The Red Invaders
    Feb.    League of War Monsters 
    March   The Army of the Dead            
    April   March of the Flame Marauders    
    May     Blood Reign of the Dictator     
    June    Invasion of the Yellow Warlords 
    July    Legions of the Death Master     
    Aug.    Hosts of the Flaming Death      
    Sept.   Invasion of the Crimson Death-Cult 
    Oct.    Attack of the Blizzard-Men
    Nov.    Scourge of the Invisible Death      
    Dec.    Raiders of the Red Death            Emile C. Tepperman

    1936 
    Jan.    War Dogs of the Green Destroyer 
    Feb.    Rockets from Hell 
    March   War-Master From the Orient 
    April   Crime's Reign of Terror 
    June    Death's Ragged Army*                *Purple Invasion series
    Aug.    Patriot's Death Battalion*      
    Oct.    The Bloody Forty Days*          
    Dec.    America's Plague Battalions*    

    1937 
    Jan.    Liberty's Suicide Legions*      
    Feb.    The Siege of 1,000 Patriots*    
    March   Patriot's Death March*          
    May     Revolt of the Lost Legions*     
    July    Drums of Destruction*
    Sept.   The Army Without a Country*
    Nov.    The Bloody Frontiers*

    1938 
    Jan.    The Coming of the Mongol Hordes*
    March   The Siege That Brought the Black Death*
    May     Revolt of the Devil- Men             
    July    The Suicide Battalion                Wayne Rogers
    Sept.   The Day of the Damned
    Nov.    The Dawn That Shook the World
   
    1939 
    Jan.    When Hell Came to America 
    March   Invasion from the Sky  
    May     Winged Hordes of the Yellow Vulture 
    July    War Tanks of the Yellow Vulture 
    Sept.   Corpse Cavalry of the Yellow Vulture
    Nov.    The Army From Underground (final issue) 

    1940 
    Jan.    Hell 's Lost Battalion (unpublished)