Decoder Ring Theatre

Yes, kids, there's a man in red on the rooftops, but it ain't St Nick! In this very special slice of two-fisted pulp justice with all the trimmings, we tip our fedoras to the great Will Eisner and the classic Christmas stories he wrote for his much-loved Mystery Man "The Spirit", and in so doing, turn 1930's Toronto on its ear! Please enjoy, with our best wishes... Tis The Season!

When a string of petty extortionists hits our heroes too close to home, it's a sure bet that fists are gonna fly. But these "little fish" think themselves safe from both the police and the city's masked heroes, and they just might be right! Is an alliance with the underworld the answer? Who will win the day, the Red Panda's army of agents or... The Calaghan Mob?

If you play the game long enough, it is only a matter of time before others know your moves as well as you know theirs. But when just such an old foe joins forces with a new organization, the game is rigged against The Red Panda before it begins. When they begin taking pieces off the board, will our heroes risk everything to get them back? Will will either of them survive... The Opening Gambit?

And now, from headlines around the world and here at home, join us as the Radiogram News Picture Corporation presents: News On Parade!

Sometimes there's more to the story than a headline, as we find out as we follow our heroes on three short adventures that take us behind the scenes and show us that there's more to current events than meets the eye! With special guest star Jack Ward of The Sonic Society!

A blinding snowstorm, a manor house cut off from the outside world, a desperate, violent act... A perfect recipe for danger? Perhaps. But those strangers who just came in the door, are they really newlyweds John and Jane Morris, or has a certain masked duo come calling? And will even The Red Panda and The Flying Squirrel be enough to prevent... A Midwinter's Murder?

A pyromaniac is preying on the slums and tenement buildings of the city, bringing danger and misery to the lives of the some of its most vunerable citizens. The police are searching in vain for the firebug who holds the city in a grip of terror. But if a certain masked duo is right, there may be more to this arson spree than meets the eye. Can even the Red Panda and The Flying Squirrel withstand the flames of... Brimstone Alley?

Metropolisville is more than just a wheelbarrow full of consonants and vowels rubbing up against each other in ways that are dark and dangerous, and hard to pronounce. There are a million stories in this naked city, and at the heart of most of the stranger ones lies Slick Bracer, P.I.! Decoder Ring Theatre is now proud to present Eric Deckers' hard-hitting hero in Slick Bracer and the Giant Nap!

"I don't know how long I sat there... reading the name on the door over and over until my scrambled brain could make sense of it... Drake Finn Investigations..."

Detective Drake Finn is like a lot of hard-boiled, down at the mouth kind of private eyes. Except he lives in a dark and dangerous future where who the Ominframe says you are is exactly who you are and always will be. Until an access protocol that can change all of that is put on the table. Then all bets are off... and a tough guy who's just been poured a sparkling glass of brain damage doesn't have half a chance... does he?

And now, our Showcase presents another adventure with Matt Wallace's Deck Gibson: Far Reach Commander! Years ago Deck left Earth's isolationist Quasar Corps behind him. He traded in his old life, keeping Earth "safe" from a Galaxy of wonder, for the command chair of the Far Reach One. It was not a decision he ever paused to regret. He assumed the Quasar Corps had long forgotten him. He was wrong.

When Far Reach Control intercepts a distress call from members of a mysterious race, there is little time to spare. Only the pilot of the Far Reach 1, the only member of Earth's feared Quasar Corps ever to fly under an alien flag, is close enough to assist. Can Commander Deck Gibson leave the past behind and protect the galaxy of wonder into which he has been thrust?