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The Proto-Superhero.

A physically powerful but diminutive master sleuth, Nick Carter made his debut in 1886 (Predating Doc Savage by about 40 years). He is kind of a Victorian-era version of Doc Savage (trained by his father to be a superman, dedicated opponent of evil, etc). Phenomenally long-lived, the character has shifted with the times, going from Dime Novel detective and adventurer, to Pulp Magazine detective, to paperback secret agent (Nick Carter, Killmaster, agent for AXE!). This article is about the Dime Novel version of the character.

The Dime Novel Nick Carter was short (5'4) but exceptionally powerful. He is handsome (bronze-skinned, grey-eyed, square-jawed, dark haired). He operates out of Victorian-Edwardian New York (cf. The Gilded Age), but his war against evil takes him to many distant locales. Although he frequently operates alone, Nick does have an assortment of helpers, a kind of precursor to Doc Savage's aides. Some of the most notable are:

  • Ida Jones: A schoolgirl who frequently aids Nick.
  • "Chick" Carter (formerly Chickering Valentine): Nick's adopted son, who frequently assists his adopted father.
  • Nellie and Warwick Carter: Two of Nick's cousins.
  • Patsy Murphy: A bootblack/newsboy who helps Nick.
  • Adelina de Mendoza: A skilled actress and mistress of disguise. She marries Patsy.
  • Ten-Ichi: A native of Japan, Ten-Ichi (an alias; we never learn his real name) is the son of the Mikado. He is highly skilled at Jiu-Jitsu, speaks perfect English, is skilled at disguise and mimicry, etc.
  • Ethel Dalton Carter: Nick's wife. She was a semi-recurring character in the series until she was killed by Dazaar.

And no, he's not one of the Backstreet Boys.


Tropes found in the Nick Carter series include:

  • Action Girl: Well, Action Girl in a late Victorian sense. Quite a few. Ida Jones, a schoolgirl who assists Nick is particularly notable.
  • Big Applesauce: Nick operates out of Victorian New York.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Nick was trained practically since birth by his father to be a mental and physical marvel. One early novel neatly summarizes Nick's training and abilities:"Giants were like children in his grasp. He could fell an ox with one blow of his small, compact fist. Old Sim Carter had made the physical development of his son one of the studies of his life. Only one of the studies, however. Young Nick's mind was stored with knowledge—knowledge of a peculiar sort. His gray eyes had, like an Indian's, been trained to take in the minutest details fresh for use. His rich, full voice could run the gamut of sounds, from an old woman's broken, querulous squawk to the deep, hoarse notes of a burly ruffian. And his handsome face could, in an instant, be distorted into any one of a hundred types of unrecognizable ugliness. He was a master of disguise, and could so transform himself that even old Sim could not recognize him. And his intellect, naturally keen as a razor blade, had been incredibly sharpened by the judicious cultivation of the old man."
  • Cultured Badass: Nick was always depicted as the epitome of the Victorian gentleman and sportsman.
  • Daddy's Little Villain: Zanoni was Dr Quartz's ward.
  • Dark Action Girl:
    • Nick had quite a few of these. Perhaps the most dangerous was Dazaar the Arch Fiend. Her specialty was knife throwing; she could throw a knife hundreds of yards with extreme accuracy.
    • Another of Nick's female enemies was Zanoni the Woman Wizard, a skilled hypnotist and chemist (poisons were her specialty). She was a truly nasty piece of work. Once, after being captured by Nick, he warns her not to try to "make love" to him as a way to get out. Her reply conveys her fiendishness: "Have no fear, my pretty man, my cornucopia of driveling goodness. When I make love to you, it will be to your articulated skeleton—to your empty, fleshless skull—to your heart preserved in alcohol and your liver thrown to the dogs."
  • Genius Bruiser: Adept at all the arts and sciences, Nick is also a highly trained fighter; when that isn't enough, he also carries two spring-loaded revolvers concealed up his sleeves.
  • The Gilded Age: This was the era of most of the Nick Carter dime novels.
  • Love Redeems: This happened to Zanoni the Woman Wizard. Dr Quartz once kidnapped Nick and made him believe that he was another person, a wealthy invalid whose wife was Zanoni. Nick's kindness to Zanoni made her fall in love with him and reform.
  • Master of Disguise: Nick can disguise himself to an incredible degree.
  • Omniglot: Nick is conversant with a wide variety of languages, including Old Norse (Which comes in handy when he runs into a Lost World filled with people who speak Old Norse).
  • Pint Sized Power House: Although only 5'4, Nick is incredibly powerful, strong enough to "lift a horse with ease...while a heavy man is seated in the saddle....he can place four packs of playing cards together, and tear them in halves between his thumbs and fingers."
  • Rogues Gallery: Nick had quite an assortment of enemies: Dr Jack Quartz, his Arch-Enemy; Dazaar the Arch Fiend, mistress of disguise and master knife thrower; Scylla the Sea Robber, a female pirate with an all female crew; Baroness Latour; Zanoni the Woman Wizard; Praxatel of the Iron Arm, one of the first cyborgs; the gambler Dan Derrington; Burton Quintard, Nick's first recurring foe; Gaston Dupont, gentleman thief and a student of Dr Quartz's; the six Dalney Brothers, each one stronger than even Nick himself, etc.
  • Yellow Peril:
    • Nick had a few of these: Sang Tu and The Yellow Tong, The Hip Ling Secret Society, the Yellow Spider (A Chinese crime boss in San Francisco), etc.
    • Of course, the Japanese detective Ten-Ichi works against the Yellow Peril trope, as he was one of Nick's closest allies. In a further subversion of the trope, Ten-Ichi marries June Lamartaine, a Frenchwoman, in Nick Carter Weekly #460 (21 October 1905); that kind of intermarriage was quite rare in 1905, both in fiction and in real life.

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