in a machine which "provided a nerve shock of a different sort," turning Benson's flesh back to normal and his hair black. Although the Avenger still disguised himself after this, he could no longer mold his now normal flesh. Three stories – "Nevlo" (#17), "House of Death" (#15) and "Death in Slow Motion" (#18) – had been written by Ernst prior to this radical shift in character, and underwent rewrites before seeing publication. Although the original texts would place these three stories chronologically earlier than #13, the rewrites serve to fit them into the timelines as published (although some slight original traces remain under the heavy-handed later insertions). Often dismissed as a late addition to the stories, Cole Wilson was to play a greater part in the last dozen pastiches written in the 1970s by Ron Goulart. Gadgets The Avenger far preferred tricking criminals into "destroy[ing] themselves in traps of their own devising" than killing them himself, allowing writer Ernst to create considerably elaborate plots. Like Doc Savage, Benson relies on a variety of special gadgets to help him overcome criminals. These include knockout gas bombs, miniature two-way radios, a woven, transparent bullet-proof garment and "glass pellets containing a gas... [which] instantly [spread] a black impenetrable pall like instant night," also accessible through a stud on Benson's collar. His car rivalled those of the later James Bond series, "being a rather dull 1935 model" capable of speeds up to 130 mph (unheard of at the time), "bullet-proofed throughout and equipped with devices and special little inventions for offence and defence," including automatic bullet-proofed windows and "miniature torpedoes of potent knock-out gas." The Avenger also carried a pair of weapons "strapped in slim sheaths on [his] right and left calf" – his specially streamlined and silenced .22 revolver ("Mike") and a needle-pointed throwing knife ("Ike"). Using these customized tools, Benson could shoot someone so that his bullet just touched their heads and knocked them out, or "hit a fly-speck from twenty feet." Assistants Like Doc Savage before him, Benson rarely underwent his adventures alone, gathering a number of assistants to help him. His small band, known as "Justice, Inc.", was made up of people who had all been "irreparably damaged by crime," and who have specialized skills: Fergus "Mac" MacMurdie ("Justice, Inc.") is a stereotypically dour Scotsman who is also a gifted pharmacist and chemist. His family was killed by racketeers,