John Sinclair (German fiction)
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John Sinclair is the name as well as the protagonist of a popular German penny dreadful. Sinclair, a Scotland Yard chief inspector, battles all kinds of undead and demonic creatures. The series appears weekly and has been running since 1973. The full title is Geisterjäger John sinclair, ghosthunter John Sinclair.
John Sinclair is written exclusively by Helmut Rellergerd under the nom-de-plume of Jason Dark. Only a few of the earliest stories have been written by other authors.
Rellergerd narrates the stories in first person from Sinclairs point of view whenever he is involved. At all other times a neutral narrator style is used. In some stories Sinclair does not appear and one of his friends takes the leading part.
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[edit] Characters
[edit] Good Guy
- John Sinclair is of Scottish descent and the reborn soul of both King Solomon and knight templar Hector de Valois. He is a direct descendant of Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney. John Sinclair is described as 1.90m tall and blond in his middle thirties. Like most characters he does not age during the course of the series. He is called the Son of the Light and wields an extremely blessed cross as well as a beretta handgun with silver bullets. He has acquired and lost other weapons during the series.
Sinclair is a bachelor, never really having a girlfriend during the series. The one time he did fall in love, his fiance turned out to be a trap set by his enemies.
- Suko is Sinclair's colleague as a Scotland Yard inspector. He is a Chinese proficient in martial arts. As an additional weapon, he carries a whip made from the skin of demon which instantly kills all undead or demonic beings except the strongest. He has no first name, being called just Suko or Inspector Suko. Suko was brought up in a Shaolin Temple somewhere in China where he learned his martial arts and discipline.
- Sir James Powell is the direct superior of Sinclair and Suko. He rarely gets involved directly into the action, mostly giving information and valuable support and cover from his office. Sir James can arrange a lot of things due to his status in society and his connections. He has complete confidence in his team.
- Glenda Perkins is the office secretary, especially famous for her coffee. She has served as one of several love-interests of Sinclair. During 2006 she has been injected with a nano-tech serum enabling her to teleport. At first she could not control their teleport ability but recently she has begun to master it quite well and is even capable of taking one or two persons with her.
- Shao is Suko's permanent girlfriend. She is Japanese and the reincarnation of the Japanese Goddess Amaterasu, also know as the phantom with the crossbow.
- Bill Conolly is a close personal friend of Sinclair's. They have studied together and been friends ever since. Bill is a freelance investigative reporter and sometimes gets involved in Sinclair's cases. He married early in the series.[1]
- Sheila Conolly, neè Sheila Hopkins is the wife of Bill Conolly. Her father was a rich industrialist killed by the demon Sakurro.[2]
- Johnny Conolly is the only child of Sheila and Bill conolly and John Sinclairs godson. He is the only character to age during the series, growing up into a good looking young man currently attending the University of London. Johnny Conolly occasionally gets involved in Sinclair's cases much to the dismay of his mother.
- Jane Collins is a former witch who switched sides during the course of the series. When an agent of Asmodis cut out her heart, she had to have an artificial heart. Collins works as a successful private detective, only occasionally appearing in the series. After the death of Lady Sarah Goodwin she inherited her Mayfair home and other possessions.
- Lady Sarah Goldwyn, also called the Horror-Grandma was a collector of horror books and films as well as antiquarian volumes on magic and the supernatural, making her an expert in the field. She took Jane Collins into her Mayfair home, bequeathing it to her when she was killed by the monster vampires of the Black Death.
[edit] Recurring bads guys
Most bad guys are destroyed by the end of a novel but some arch-villains come up quite often against Sinclair until he finds a way to get rid of them permanently. Due to the horror nature of most of the creatures some return even after being destroyed, most notable Vincent van Akkeren who started mortal and had to be killed 3 times by powers of the light before he stayed dead.
- Doctor Tod was the first recurring villain. He committed suicide after a lost battle with John Sinclair. Asmodina and the Spook transferred his soul into the body of Mafia godfather Solo Morasso. Sinclair kills him in a later battle.
- Asmodina was the daughter of the devil Asmodis. Her original shape was Apep, the hell snake. However, her preferred appearance was that of a young, beautiful red headed woman with horns growing out of her forehead. During the series, she commanded Doctor Tod and his killer league. Later, Doctor Tod wanted to be independent and made a deal with the Spook to kill Asmodina. He managed to do so by taking ownership of Sinclair's silver Boomerang and beheaded her in Spook's realm.
[edit] Weapons and special items
- Sinclair's weapon of choice is his blessed silver cross, inscribed with the initials of the for archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel. This cross is able to take out any but the most powerful fo demons. Being fashioned in biblical times by the prophet Hesekiel, it was bequeathed to John Sinclair by Divine powers, making him the Son of Light.
The cross violently attacks any evil force it comes into contact with while protecting any good creature. It is a very powerful artifact which powers are not yet completely understood by Sinclair. He can further activate the cross with the spell 'Terra pestem teneto, salus hic maneto' turning it into an even more powerful area effect weapon.
- Several characters carry a 'beretta armed with silver bullets'. Namely Sinclair, Suko, Bill Conolly and Jane Collins. These bullets are blessed by a Catholic abbot and can vanquish most weaker undead or demonic creatures on contact.
- Suko's demon-hide whip is made from the skin of a defeated demon. It is more powerful than the silver bullets but less than the silver cross. Suko is an expert at wielding the whip and can take out most creatures with one hit.
[edit] Religion
Rellergerd never states exactly which Christian denomination John Sinclair or any of his team is a member of. The silver bullets are made by a Catholic abbot, even though most of the team probably belong to a Protestant variant of Christianity. Suko and Shao are Bhuddists.
