Ghostbusters John Sinclair

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Ghost hunter John Sinclair is the title of a German series of horror - Issue novels and also the name of the fictional protagonist of the series.

Development of the novel series

John Sinclair was invented in 1973 by the author Helmut Rellergerd alias Jason Dark . His first adventure, Die Nacht des Hexers (published on July 13, 1973) appeared in Volume 1 of the magical novel series Gespenster-Krimi published by Bastei . After 50 episodes as part of the ghost crime thriller , John Sinclair was decoupled as an independent booklet series. It developed into the most successful German horror series with a weekly release rhythm. From April 1981 to April 2007, a total of 312 paperback books were published in addition to the series . In addition, a total of seven longer novels were published in classic book form, including the hardcover The Return of the Black Death . Numerous stories have been translated into other languages. The basic principle is always a kind of crime thriller in the style of Jerry Cotton , enriched with supernatural horror elements.

  • Volume 1 of the series Im Nachtclub der Vampire was published on January 17, 1978.
  • Volume 500 The Dark Grail was published on February 1, 1988.
  • Volume 1000 The Sword of Solomon was published on September 1, 1997.
  • Volume 1500 The Albino was published on April 10, 2007.
  • Volume 2000 Das Höllenkreuz appeared for the first time on November 8, 2016 with a redesigned cover (no black frame around the cover picture ).

After the novels that appeared in the context of the ghost thrillers and the first volumes of the stand-alone series were written in the third person, Jason Dark switched to the first-person perspective for the first time in volume 6, which he retained a little later.

Author Jason Dark

The majority of the novels were written by Helmut Rellergerd under the pseudonym Jason Dark. Other authors up to volume 183 of the series were Walter Appel , Martin Eisele , Friedrich Tenkrat and Richard Wunderer ; they wrote a total of 55 novels. In the fourth edition as well as in the series of reprints in paperback format mentioned in the collector's edition , the novels by third-party authors were to be replaced by new stories penned by Jason Darks. This project was stopped due to reader protests and only seven substitute novels were published.

Since volume 1851, novels by other authors have been appearing increasingly, including Michael Breuer, Uwe Voehl, Alfred Bekker, Eric Wolfe, Ian Rolf Hill (Florian Hilleberg), Rafael Marques and Logan Dee. The two Oculus books (2017) are by Wolfgang Hohlbein and Brandmal (2017) and penned by Mark Benecke , who investigates the novel together with his team. Unlike in the past, the authors are named. With the volumes from 2000 to 2002, a three-part series appeared for the first time, written by different authors.

For a long time, a letter to the editor compiled by Jason Dark appeared in every issue of the first edition. This was temporarily omitted in the issues before issue 2000.

New editions

John Sinclair appeared in a total of five editions. From the second edition, all 50 novels from the ghost thriller were placed in front of the independent series, so that Volume 1 itself always appeared as Volume 51. All new editions have now been discontinued. In the new editions, a horror short story appeared instead of the reader's page, which readers of the series could submit.

Second edition

The second edition was published on August 25, 1980 (volume 001) with a green cover. On June 26, 1990 (Volume 448) it was discontinued because the 3rd edition had reached its number range. It was continued on June 11, 1996 (volume 449) with only a slightly different layout. As a one-volume novel it was discontinued on March 19, 2002 (Volume 749) and continued as a double volume - so-called collector's edition - from March 26, 2002 to August 26, 2003 (Volume 824/825, Volume 750/751).

From October 7, 2003, it was continued as John Sinclair Spezial again, but this time as a double volume with novels from other series such as Tony Ballard , Damona King and ghost crime . The John Sinclair Special ended on May 3, 2005 with Volume 44.

Third and fourth editions

The third edition appeared from March 1985 with a dark blue and the fourth edition from September 1991 with a dark red border. The third edition (Volume 448) and the fourth edition (Volume 218) were both discontinued on July 2, 1996. For the fourth edition, Jason Dark wrote seven new novels, which replaced the works of other authors.

Collector's edition

The fifth edition appeared on July 9, 1996. This was published as a pocket booklet with the subtitle Collector's Edition. It initially had newly painted covers and was discontinued on November 13, 2001 with Volume 140. The subsequent editions in paperback form followed directly on from the last volume in the paperback series.

Anniversary and themed volumes

The anniversary volumes (eight novels in paperback) formed an unofficial sixth edition, which was discontinued in March 2006 after 65 editions and replaced by so-called themed volumes. The themed volumes each summarize four novels on a specific topic (e.g. The Connollys ).

Special edition

Since June 16, 2015, the John Sinclair paperbacks have been reissued every fortnight as 80-page novel booklets with old and new cover pictures.

E-books

The complete booklet series has now been published digitally (EPUB and Kindle); Current novels and the special edition are also published in parallel as e-books .

John Sinclair Classics

Since October 12, 2017, a new edition has been published every two weeks under the name John Sinclair Classics , starting with the volume Die Nacht des Hexers , which was published as volume 1 of the ghost thrillers.

reboot

Since March 27, 2015, comparable to Cotton Reloaded , there has been an English-language new start of the series in the form of e-books under the title John Sinclair - Demon Hunter , written by the American author Gabriel Conroy, in which DCI John Sinclair describes a battle-hardened Afghanistan- Is a veteran haunted by his past.

A total of twelve volumes had been published by Lübbe-Verlag by September 2016:

episode title Publication date author
1 Curse of the Undead March 27, 2015 Gabriel Conroy
2 The Lord of Death March 27, 2015 Gabriel Conroy
3 Dr. Satanos March 27, 2015 Gabriel Conroy
4th A Feast of Blood March 27, 2015 Gabriel Conroy
5 Dark Pharaoh March 27, 2015 Gabriel Conroy
6th The Vampire Graveyard March 27, 2015 Gabriel Conroy
7th A Long Day in Hell September 27, 2016 Gabriel Conroy
8th The Taste of Human Flesh September 27, 2016 Gabriel Conroy
9 To Kill A Beast September 27, 2016 Gabriel Conroy
10 Black Dragon Rising September 27, 2016 Gabriel Conroy
11 Rage of the Black Dragon September 27, 2016 Gabriel Conroy
12 Some Darker Magic September 27, 2016 Gabriel Conroy

Volumes 1 to 3, 4 to 6, 7 to 9 and 10 to 12 were also published as a collection. The novels were also published as radio plays in English.

Plot of the novel series

John Sinclair is Chief Inspector at Scotland Yard and works in a special department dealing with psychic phenomena. The series is not divided into cycles, but there are numerous storylines with self-contained adventures next to each other, although there is an ongoing development. In the novels of the Ghost Crime series , John mostly fights against smaller opponents who can only withstand one novel. The only exceptions are Dr. Death , Belphegor and the Mandarin . With the start of the independent John Sinclair series, John has to deal with his first super opponents, the Black Death , Asmodina , the resurrected Dr. Death and its murder league. Multi-part adventures are now also published regularly. After that, the Great Old Ones appear as further great enemies . After their destruction, John meets the Templars and their evil opponents around Baphomet. With the transformation of Will Mallmann into Dracula II , John gets another strong opponent. Other strong enemies are, for example, Lupina , the Spook or Vincent van Akkeren . In addition to classic horror characters such as vampires , zombies , ghouls or werewolves , elements from a wide variety of mythologies are often taken up and sometimes freely interpreted for the stories: characters from Germanic, respectively Nordic or Celtic legends or religion are represented as well as Christian elements, figures from the Greek (e.g. Medusa ) or Hindu world of gods (e.g. Kali ) or the mythical island kingdom of Atlantis. Real characters such as Jack the Ripper or the ideas of other authors such as Frankenstein's monster are also occasionally exploited.

Crossovers with other Bastei series heroes

There were also some crossovers with other series heroes from Bastei-Verlag within the series of novels . This was especially true at the beginning of the series. The French para-psychologist Professor Zamorra , also a creation by Jason Darks, was the first hero with whom there was a crossover, back then in the ghost crime thriller No. 122 The Curse of the Jungle . In volume 65 Caught in the Micro World , Sinclair received support from Zamorra again. There were also some crossovers with private investigator Tony Ballard . The three novels with Tony Ballard were all written by Friedrich Tenkrat . There was also a guest appearance by the white witch Damona King in No. 103 Asmodina's Angel of Death . In the 1980s there were a total of seven crossovers with CIA agent Mark Baxter . In 2017 the two books Oculus - In the Eye of the Storm and Oculus - The End of Time by Wolfgang Hohlbein were published . This is a crossover between John Sinclair and Hohlbein's novel series The Witcher of Salem . The two books were also set to music and published as special radio plays.

In 2018 there was a crossover between John Sinclair and Professor Zamorra for the first time in many years. Since then, overlaps between the two magazine series have taken place more regularly, including a crossover for Halloween in 2019 . The series of novels Demon Killer is also set in the same series universe ; the title character Dorian Hunter is occasionally mentioned in the novels and already met the ghost hunter in the radio play series by Lübbe-Audio , which, however, takes place in a parallel universe .

Figures of the novel series

The Sinclair team and other comrades in arms

  • John Sinclair is the main character in the series. He is blond, 6 feet tall, and Chief Inspector (correct name: Detective Chief Inspector, DCI for short) at Scotland Yard. After studying psychology, during which he also attended courses in parapsychology, he began his career with the homicide squad and then switched to the newly established special department for exceptional cases.
  • Sinclair's oldest friend is reporter Bill Connolly , whom he met while on the homicide squad. His wife is called Sheila Conolly and is a multimillionaire. Sheila is killed by a demon with a broken neck in volume 2001 Spectrum of Ghosts , for which John Sinclair blames himself.
  • Johnny Conolly is the son of Bill and Sheila and the godchild of John Sinclair, whose first name he bears. He is the only character in the series who is aging noticeably. During the course of the series, he was involved in adventures several times as a child and later solves his first own case as a student (volume 1375). In Volume 2001, Johnny moves into another dimension, where he wants to avenge the murder of his mother. The adventures he experiences are told in the spin-off Dark Land - Caught in the Otherworld , the first episode of which was released on November 22, 2016; the series was discontinued in 2018 with volume 42.
  • Suko is Sinclair's Chinese work colleague and friend. Originally the driver for a secret society patron in Chinatown, he joined Sinclair's team after his employer was murdered by a dragon cult. His girlfriend is the Chinese Shao , who is the reincarnation of the Japanese goddess Amaterasu . After initially working as a freelancer, he has officially held the rank of inspector at Scotland Yard since volume 189 demons in the rocket camp .
  • The Golden Samurai was created by Emma Ho but turned against Hell. He vowed to destroy Tokata , a member of the Murder League who was created at the same time as him. He beheaded him in a duel for the goddess Amaterasu's golden fan. He is a natural ally of the Sinclair team. Later he loses the fan and his life to Shimada.
  • Jane Collins , a detective by profession, is a friend of John Sinclair. After she was made a witch by the spirit of the Ripper and freed, she moved in with Lady Sarah Goldwyn. Although their previous relationship with John never became the same, they still occasionally spend a night together or solve cases together. In addition, latent witchcraft powers still lie dormant in it. She has an artificial heart because her real one was cut out of her body by a servant of the devil on behalf of Asmodis.
  • Sir James Powell is John's strict supervisor at the yard and holds the rank of superintendent. He is married but has been separated from his wife Agatha Kassandra for years. He is a member of a renowned gentlemen's club , which he frequently visits in his spare time. He also enjoys hunting with his club members, one of his favorite hobbies. He is only occasionally directly involved in cases.
  • Glenda Perkins is John's secretary. She also has special powers, so she can teleport herself to another place in certain situations (great danger etc.) through strong concentration. It had its first appearance in the ghost crime thriller volume 157.
  • The BKA commissioner Will Mallmann appeared for the first time in the ghost crime thriller Volume 148 and was John's German comrade in arms until his transformation into Dracula II in Volume 569. Harry Stahl and Dagmar Hansen have been John's German colleagues since then .
  • The Indian Mandra Korab has seven daggers with which he and John fight against evil.
  • The defected Atlantic magician Myxin lives with the Iron Angel , Sedonia and Kara , who has a golden sword, in a magical refuge, the "Flaming Stones".
  • Abbe Bloch was the leader of the good Templars. Godwin de Salier succeeds him after his murder by Vincent Van Akkerren . As a Templar leader, you are in possession of the cube of salvation and the bone chair.
  • The veterinarian Maxine Wells and the girl Carlotta , who was adopted by her and who was given wings by the criminal genetic manipulation of a mad scientist, live in Dundee ( Scotland ).
  • The Red Ryan lives in Aibon and has his magic flute as a weapon.
  • Chief Inspector Tanner is a long-time colleague with the London Police. He's something of a novel version of Columbo .
  • Lady Sarah Goldwyn , also known as the horror grandma , lived in her house in Mayfair until her death. There she owned an immense collection of horror films, history books and fantasy literature . As a widow of three, she had amassed a large fortune. After John Sinclair met her in the context of a case in which the old lady became involved, she was repeatedly drawn into investigations until she was murdered by two vampire monsters created by Vincent van Akkeren. Jane Collins had previously moved in with her and inherited the entire house. [Volume 130-1324]
  • Yakup Yalcincaya was originally from Turkey, but later lived in a Shaolin monastery near San Francisco . Yakup was a grand master of Asian martial arts. He owned a magical sword which he had taken from the demon Shimada , two healing Shaolin gloves and the ninja crown. However, after Shimada's demise, Yakup was killed by the demon's servants. His magical weapons are still kept in Scotland Yard's vaults today.
  • Frantisek Marek , called Marek the Impaler , was a Transylvanian friend and vampire hunter. His most important weapon in the fight against the bloodsuckers was an oak stake inherited from his father. With him, John Sinclair had to redeem his companion when Dracula II had made Marek a vampire, after Frantisek's wife Marie had previously been killed by John, as Lady X had turned her into a vampire. The Marek family also owned John's silver cross for a long time. [Volume 33-1416]
  • When the Beautiful from the dead is Kara called. She comes from the lost island of Atlantis and is the daughter of the high priest Delios, who raised her to be a fighter and gave her the golden sword and the potion of oblivion as weapons.
  • One of John's oldest acquaintances is Nadine Berger , who had her first appearance in the ghost crime thriller Volume 113 and was an actress at the beginning. After she was involved in several cases and even lost her fiancé as a result, she was killed because she played the decoy for John. However, her spirit was transfixed in a wolf body by Fenris and survived. In wolf form, Nadine had telepathic contact with Johnny Connolly and protected him for a long time. After much confusion, John finally regains her human form and she moves to Avalon.

The opponents

John Sinclair fights against creatures from the scary / horror and fantasy genre such as demons , ghouls , zombies , werewolves and vampires . Many characters come from various mythologies. Furthermore, he has faced some super opponents over time:

  • Lucifer is absolute evil; the four archangels cast him and his allies into the darkness of damnation at the beginning of time. It consists of the three figures (aka. The devilish trinity):
    • Asmodis is the devil and ruler of hell. Thousands of other demons and people serve Him. Although he sees himself as the leader of the witches, this place is contested by Lilith.
      • Asmodina is the daughter of the devil and takes care of the resurrection of Dr. Tods. But she is beheaded by this one with the silver boomerang and her body is destroyed by John with the cross. [Volume 67-202]
      • Wikka was made Queen of Witches by Asmodis. Together with Jane Collins, who was obsessed with the spirit of the ripper, she has long posed major problems for the Sinclair team. However, when she was captured by Arkona, she was burned by the demon.
    • Baphomet , the demon with the carbuncle eyes, is an idol and the leader of the evil Templars.
    • Beelzebub is another part of Lucifer. He usually only appears as a silhouette and has a preference for zombies .
From volume 2000, Lucifer appears as the main opponent, who has personally created a weapon with the Hell's Cross as an antipole to John Sinclair's silver crucifix.
  • The creatures of darkness are the direct servants of Lucifer. They already stood by his side during the first war against the angels and fell with their master into eternal damnation. But in the meantime they are walking again on earth camouflaged as humans, whereby their second form is usually that of a lizard or a gorilla.
  • Lilith , also called Astarte, is Lucifer's lover, the first whore of heaven, and sees herself as ruler over witches. As a result, she often comes into conflict with Asmodis. It often appears in the form of a giant octopus.
  • Dr. Death is John's first major opponent and kills himself with a silver nail after losing the fight against John. However, Asmodina and the ghost set his spirit in the body of the late mafia boss Solo Morasso. He founds the Murder League to fight John and destroy humanity. Later he allies himself with the ghost against Asmodina and beheads her with the silver boomerang. Eventually he falls into a piranha pool and is eaten away. [GK94-GK113; Volume 108-230]
  • The Black Death is a huge black skeleton attached to the Grim Reaper , with red-hot eyes and a large scythe as a weapon. He kills Will Mallmann's wife after they got married. John kills him with the silver boomerang. Nevertheless, he appears repeatedly in the series in past adventures. From the hardcover novel The Return of the Black Death he becomes John's main opponent again, but is only human-size, no longer as powerful and is therefore destroyed again after a short time by John with the Golden Pistol. [Volume 7-1387]
  • The Ancient Ones were a group of super demons that had existed for many millennia. They were the rulers of the mortuary city. After the death of an old man, their part of the mortuary city was also destroyed. Except for the ghost, they all came to an end in a huge argument with the Iron Angel, Myxin, Kara, Lilith, John, Suko and Asmodis. These were its members:
    • Kalifato was a formidable spider demon. John Sinclair met him as the first of the old men. When it came to the fight against the forces of hell, he was destroyed by Asmodis in the land without borders.
    • Gorgos, also called the glass one, commanded a large number of servants who were also made of glass. But when the Iron Angel attacks him with the magic pendulum in his own world, he too is killed.
    • Krol was shaped like a huge octopus. He is destroyed by Myxin with Kara's golden sword.
    • The twin brother of the Iron Angel was also a great old man, but was created by the other members as a counterpart for the Iron Angel. He was the last Great Old Man to be introduced to the series and was quickly beheaded by his brother.
    • Hemator was originally the leader and at the same time the most powerful demon of the Ancient Ones. He had two huge stone hands with which he could crush his opponents. But when the Iron Angel fights him with the magic pendulum, he goes by with the pendulum.
    • The ghost is the last of the old ones. He is the master of the souls of the dead demons, which give him his power. His form is that of a huge shadow that he stole from the star vampire Acron. He's now signed a truce with John.
    • There were also several demons who directly served the Ancient Ones:
      • Arkonada was the ruler of the magical planet where the Golden Pistols were made. When he is attacked by Myxin with the death mask from Atlantis, its power tears him into many shadows. A few months later, however, he is sent to hell for good with the silver boomerang.
      • Izzi was an Atlantean idol and once formed a unit with the devil's daughter Asmodina. After they were awakened, it appeared as a giant worm, but was also destroyed with the boomerang.
  • Belphegor , the wizard with the flame whip, is one of the arch demons. After falling behind in the micro-world after a duel with John and Suko, he allies himself with the idol Izzi, turning his body into worms. Eventually it is destroyed by the Iron Angel with the magic pendulum.
  • The Murder League was a union of demons and criminals. Their leader was Solo Morasso alias Dr. Death until he was torn apart by piranhas in a fish tank. A temporary return also failed. The murder league consisted of the following members:
    • Tokata is Satan's samurai who loses an arm to John's boomerang. He is finally beheaded by the golden samurai in a fight for the golden fan on a Japanese island.
    • Lupina / Luparo is the queen of the werewolves. John fell in love with her while turned into a werewolf. With Fenris she had fathered a son, Luparo, in whose wolf body her spirit entered, since Lady X had shot her. Since John Sinclair succeeded in killing Luparo, Lupina's spirit was temporarily lost, but Fenris saved it. Many years later she is poisoned by the environmental demon Mandragoro and dies permanently. [Volume 131-461]
    • Vampiro-del-mar is the emperor of the vampires. He is beheaded by John in paperback No. 030.
    • Xorron is the ruler of ghouls and zombies. After a big fight he is destroyed in the crystal world by the ghost hunter with the sword of the demon Shimada.
    • Mr. Mondo is a mad scientist. He manages to turn John into a werewolf. In the 200 trilogy, he dies when he falls into a lava lake.
    • Lady X aka Pamela Scott is a top terrorist who later becomes a vampire. After the end of Dr. Death she takes over the leadership of the Murder League. However, when she tries to set up a vampire secret society, she is impaled by Frantisek Marek. But the vampire count Boris Bogdanovich brings them back to life with a snake spell. With a silver bullet, John Sinclair finally destroys them.
    • Viola Mandini was a criminal who happened to be a member of the Murder League for a time. But she was made by Lady X on behalf of Dr. Shot dead because he thought she was too weak.
  • Fenris is the lord of the werewolves and a Germanic god.
  • Mandragoro is the "environmental demon". He fights for the preservation of nature. He kills Lupina after she tried to invade his realm, a forest destroyed by an environmental disaster. He actually has a neutral stance, but also kills innocent people if he considers it necessary.
  • Dracula II (Will Mallmann) was one of John's best friends until he was transformed into a vampire. The blood stone that was in his possession made him immune to silver balls, stakes and the silver cross. He was also the master of the vampire world. Until it was destroyed, it was his goal to make the earth a realm of bloodsuckers. [Vol. 569-1645]
  • Assunga is the leader of the witches and lives in her own witch world . She also has a magic cloak with which she can jump to other places and dimensions at lightning speed. For some time she also lived as a partner of Dracula II.
  • Saladin was a criminal hypnotist who initially served the Black Death, but later lived with Dracula II in the vampire world. With the help of Glenda Perkins, Sinclair finally succeeds in destroying Saladin for good. [Volume 1332-1555]
  • Vincent van Akkeren , also known as the 'horror star', was originally a director of snuff films , but turned to the idol Baphomet as a servant and absorbed his spirit. His goal was to become Grand Master of all Templars. But after he had been considered dead several times, including allies with Dracula II, Saladin and the Black Death, he was mutated into a vampire and destroyed by the Black Death's scythe. [Volume 419-1359]
  • Belial was the angel of lies and a bodyguard of Lucifer. After allying himself with the Black Death, he wasdestroyedby the four archangels . [Volume 850-1366]
  • The AEBA demons Astaroth, Eurynome, Bael and Amducias were, as a counterpart to the archangels, bodyguards of the haunted and historically the four horsemen of the apocalypse .
  • Justine Cavallo (called the blonde beast) is a seductive vampire who at times allies with the Black Death and Will Mallmann (Dracula II). She later formed a partnership with the Sinclair team and moved in with Jane Collins as a subtenant.
  • James Maddox was a cruel judge in his lifetime who also sentenced innocent people to death whom he believed to be criminals. When they found out about him, he was executed himself. However, since he was in league with the devil, he could return to take revenge on those who had killed him then. From then on he judged demons who had failed, whether their souls should pass into the realm of the haunted or whether they should get a second chance. He was killed by John Sinclair with the help of his cross and thereupon went himself into the realm of the spook. [Volume 97-202]
  • Logan Costello was the leading London Mafia leader and deeply involved in the real estate business. After Costello had made a pact with Asmodina, he was supposed to shadow Solo Morasso (Dr. Tod) and reveal his plans to her. Since then, the Sinclair team has had multiple arguments with him. He was later made a vampire by Dracula II and eventually killed by Karina. [Volume 135-1058]
  • Shimada was the 'living legend', a Japanese demon who rose from a mysterious blue lake. Until his annihilation he was the master of the hell castle, which enabled him to travel through space and time. His trademarks were the ice-cold, blue eyes and his legendary sword, which was forged in the depths of hell. [Volume 281-978]
  • Strigus was an ancient demon in the form of a huge owl. He was the master of the Strigen , blood owls with skeletonized heads and sharp teeth. The owl demon was also the mortal enemy of Vampiro-del-mar and his red vampires. After many years, Strigus is finally destroyed by Suko with the demon whip.

Locations

In addition to the real locations around the world (such as Scotland, England, USA, Germany, etc.), there are also numerous parallel worlds in the series. Examples here for are Aibon, Atlantis , the planet of mages, Avalon and the vampire world. Aibon is the paradise of the druids and at the same time the purgatory. It is divided into a good and a bad part. The druid Guywano is the ruler of the evil part. A good part of John's comrade in arms, Red Ryan, lives. In addition, Aibon has the wheel of time, which is guarded by the men in gray. Atlantis is the lost continent. It was the workplace of the Black Death. The planet of the mages orbited the continent of Atlantis and was a refuge for the Ancient Ones after the fall of the continent. The birthplace of the Black Death is also located on it with the Hell Marsh. In addition, the Golden Pistol comes from here. Arkonada, a servant of the great ancients, destroyed the chief witch Wikka there and was torn into many shadows by Myxin with the help of the mask from Atlantis [three-parter, volume 310-312]. Avalon is the legendary island from the Arthurian legend - and the Dark Grail is on it. The vampire world was given to the ruler of the vampires, Dracula II, by Lucifer. The Black Death conquered this world and tried to resurrect Atlantis in it. But after its destruction, it came back into the possession of Dracula II, but was destroyed by the ghost, who recognized Mallmann as a possible threat.

Magical objects and weapons in the series

Sinclair team weapons

John's strongest weapon is his silver cross. He is the heir of the cross and thus the son of light, whose destiny it is to fight against the forces of darkness. He got this job from a gypsy named Vera Mönössy when he tried unsuccessfully to protect her from two thugs. The prophet Ezekiel forged it in Babylonian captivity. Magical symbols and ancient seals from countless cultures and mythologies are engraved on the surface, including the Egyptian eye of Horus , the Om syllable, the all-seeing eye and the Greek letters alpha and omega . Under the ankh cross shown there are secret magical formulas from the distant past that hold the structure of the world together. John activates the cross by calling out the names of the four archangels who consecrated the cross, the first letters of which are on the cross: Michael , Gabriel , Raphael and Uriel . The cross is also activated by the Latin saying: Terra pestem teneto - Salus hic maneto! (According to Jason Dark, this is translated as follows: "The earth should keep disaster, salvation should rule on earth").

Another powerful weapon of John is the silver boomerang. This was formed from the last pages of the "Book of Cruel Dreams". With this weapon the Black Death, John's first super opponent, was destroyed for the first time. Numerous other of John's enemies also fell victim to him. It came temporarily into the possession of John's archenemy Dr. Death, who beheaded the devil's daughter Asmodina with him. John also has the silver nail. Dr. Death destroyed once before. It came briefly into Asmodina's hands. When she died, John took the nail back.

As additional weapons, John has a Beretta loaded with consecrated silver bullets, type Beretta 92 FS, and a silver dagger. In the early episodes, the weapons are carried in the "emergency case". Among other things, it also contains holy water and magical chalk.

Suko owns the Buddha's demon whip and staff. The demon whip, which was originally in the possession of Myxin the magician, is made from the skin of the demon Nyrana and has three leather straps that wrap around the enemy and kill him. The Buddha's staff allows the wearer to stop time for five seconds by saying the word "Topar". During this time, the wearer's surroundings are virtually "frozen" and thus unable to move, but the wearer is not. However, he must not use the moment to kill someone - whether human, animal or demon - otherwise the staff will lose its effectiveness.

John's friend Bill Connolly has one of the gold pistols. These come from Atlantis and shoot up mucus, which envelops and dissolves the person affected. With this golden pistol, John succeeds in destroying the returned Black Death.

Other important magical items

Magic weapons and objects appear again and again in the series. The “Book of Cruel Dreams” contains the secrets of Hell, and the silver boomerang emerges from its final pages. The cube of salvation and the cube of calamity are powerful weapons that can cancel each other out. They are in the possession of the spook and the Templar leader Godwin de Salier. The Dark Grail is another important item and is located on Avalon. With the “bone chair”, which was created from the bones of the last Templar Grand Master, it is possible to travel to other times and dimensions. John Sinclair also uses the pentagram to protect against ghosts. Another weapon was the " Gnostic Gem ", an amulet that could destroy demons of lower rank. Since the magic of the gem was not compatible with that of the silver cross, the gem was destroyed if it accidentally came into contact with the cross.

The "blood stone" was a red gemstone that was created from the blood of Vlad Dracula and eventually passed into the possession of Dracula II. The mighty stone allows him to leave his coffin even in daylight and protects it from silver balls. In addition, the powers of the Bloodstone and John's Cross cancel each other out. After many years, the blood stone is finally torn apart by a hand grenade along with Dracula II.

Illustrations

At the beginning of the series, almost all cover pictures for the novels were made by the Spaniard Vicente B. Ballestar . Later in the series, artists such as Candy Kay, Erneste J. Spoerr and Koveck were responsible for designing the cover. In the meantime (2020) many of the cover pictures are made by Timo Würz , Dennis Simcott, Manfred Smietana and Rainer Kalwitz.

Novels

Volume 1 of the series Im Nachtclub der Vampire was published on January 17, 1978. Since then, including the novels published as part of the ghost crime series and paperbacks, over 2500 episodes have been published. Most of the volumes are all by Helmut Rellergerd.

International publications

John Sinclair novels have also appeared in translation in other European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Finland, and the Czech Republic.

Radio plays

The first radio play series was produced by the Braun recording studio from 1981 to 1991 . A total of 107 radio plays were published. Since December 2015, this series has been digitally revised by the publisher Bastei Lübbe (Lübbe Audio) on CD. Four episodes of the recording studio Braun classics appeared every month. A new episode is offered every week on iTunes. Since episode 60, the remastered radio plays have only appeared individually and not four times a month as before. The reason for this is the storage capacity of the dealers. The first episode of the Tonstudio Braun series was also released as a limited edition on record as part of the new edition on CD. Only about 500 pieces were produced.

Another radio play series is produced by Lübbe Audio. This consists of Edition 2000, which has existed since 2000, and Sinclair Classics, which has existed since 2010 .

Since the end of March 2015, John Sinclair has been appearing parallel to the Reboots as a radio play in English, as a downloadable file. But there are various changes here, so he's an Afghanistan veteran here. All radio plays of the English adaptation are also published as novels for reading, also for downloading. The English episodes are not available on CD, but only as an MP3 version from various providers. There was no cover as an extra.

Audio books

The novels 1700 to 1749 were published in addition to the booklets, also audio books of around three hours each. The novel readings could be purchased as a download. The novels were read by Carsten Wilhelm. Furthermore, the books The Return of the Black Death and Brandmal (with Mark Benecke ) were recorded as a staged reading on four CDs.

  1. 1700 - Guardians of the Apocalypse (I) (February 8, 2011)
  2. 1701 - Templar Miracle (II) (February 15, 2011)
  3. 1702 - Return of the Damned (February 22, 2011)
  4. 1703 - So Cruel, Beautiful, and Deadly (March 1, 2011)
  5. 1704 - Diabolical Reckoning (March 8, 2011)
  6. 1705 - My Job in Horror Hell (March 15, 2011)
  7. 1706 - Decoy of the Night (March 22, 2011)
  8. 1707 - The Riddle of the Dead Books (March 29, 2011)
  9. 1708 - Fear for Johnny C. (I) (April 5, 2011)
  10. 1709 - The Blood Princess (II) (April 12, 2011)
  11. 1710 - Under the spell of the beautiful Celtic woman (April 19, 2011)
  12. 1711 - The Moon Monk (I) (April 26, 2011)
  13. 1712 - Cursed to the Dead (II) (May 3, 2011)
  14. 1713 - Carlotta and the Bird Men (May 10, 2011)
  15. 1714 - The Cockpit Demon (May 17, 2011)
  16. 1715 - Plant of Horror (May 24, 2011)
  17. 1716 - Assunga's Witch Storm (May 31, 2011)
  18. 1717 - The grimace of fear (June 7, 2011)
  19. 1718 - The knife cat (June 14, 2011)
  20. 1719 - Death March (I) (June 21, 2011)
  21. 1720 - The Night of the Voodoo Queen (II) (June 28, 2011)
  22. 1721 - Disappeared in the Hell's Crypt (July 5, 2011)
  23. 1722 - Escape into Darkness (July 12, 2011)
  24. 1723 - The Templar Trauma (I) (July 19, 2011)
  25. 1724 - The Saints of Hell (II) (July 26, 2011)
  26. 1725 - Hang the witch higher (August 2nd, 2011)
  27. 1726 - The Policewoman (I) (August 9, 2011)
  28. 1727 - The Dartmoor Terror (II) (August 16, 2011)
  29. 1728 - Lucifer's messenger (23 August 2011)
  30. 1729 - Love for the Dead (August 30, 2011)
  31. 1730 - The Snake Tomb (September 6, 2011)
  32. 1731 - The Hermaphrodite (September 13, 2011)
  33. 1732 - Zombie Theater (September 20, 2011)
  34. 1733 - Temple of the Invisible (September 27, 2011)
  35. 1734 - Witch's Hand (October 4, 2011)
  36. 1735 - House of the Cursed (October 11, 2011)
  37. 1736 - The Zombie Bar (October 18, 2011)
  38. 1737 - The Sorceress's Blood (I) (October 25, 2011)
  39. 1738 - The Demon Cathedral (II) (October 31, 2011)
  40. 1739 - Justine's Cruel Ancestor (III) (November 8, 2011)
  41. 1740 - and yet he lives! (November 15, 2011)
  42. 1741 - The Shanghai Trap (November 22, 2011)
  43. 1742 - Satanic Neighbors (November 29, 2011)
  44. 1743 - The Templar Crypt (December 6, 2011)
  45. 1744 - The Living Nightmare (December 13, 2011)
  46. 1745 - The Heretic Bible (December 20, 2011)
  47. 1746 - The Devilish Hunter (December 27, 2011)
  48. 1747 - This is how death tastes (January 3, 2012)
  49. 1748 - Pact with the Hereafter (January 10, 2012)
  50. 1749 - Devil on Two Wheels (January 17, 2012)

The novel readings were discontinued after 50 volumes and not continued.

Television productions

At the end of the 1990s, RTL tried to implement it on film. On April 13, 1997, the film The Demon Wedding with Florian Fitz in the leading role, directed by Klaus Knoesel , was released for the first time on RTL. In 1999 a television series was produced in which Kai Maertens appeared as John Sinclair. Lübbe Audio recorded an audio book with the main actor for each of the two productions . The novel I kill every Sinclair was set to music for the series.

The series was only partially based on the novels. The audience ratings remained below expectations. A further continuation of the series is not planned. Today author Jason Dark distances himself from it. One reason he often cites for this is that both of the main characters were slim and dark-haired men, while the fictional character John Sinclair is blonde and well-trained. In addition, figures have been changed and other figures (Suko, Jane Collins) have been omitted. In 2009 the entire productions were published as a DVD collection box ( FSK 16). The production consists of:

  • The film "The Demon Wedding" (90 min)
Main article: Ghostbusters John Sinclair: The Demon Wedding
  • The series "Ghostbusters John Sinclair"
Main article: Ghostbusters John Sinclair (TV series)

comics

In the comic series Ghost Tales , John Sinclair appeared as a sub-series. In total, several five-part films were published. In 1998 the first five-part series appeared as No. 1262 to 1266. This five-part series was based on the In the Land of the Vampire three-part series from the early novel series and was drawn by Vicente B. Ballestar . The other two five-part series appear in 2002 as nos. 1470 to 1474 and in 2003 as nos. 1528 to 1532. Three further five-part series appeared by 2005, most recently in Satan's service from nos. 1600 to 1604.

Bastei published its own comic series in 2004, which was discontinued in 2005 after six volumes.

Video games

In 1998 the Sinclair computer game Evil Attacks for the PC was launched. The game was an adventure game but received generally bad reviews in computer game magazines. In 2004 a John Sinclair mobile game was released. The first person shooter was distributed by Elkware .

Spin-offs

Sinclair Academy

Between June 10, 2016 and June 30, 2017, Lübbe-Verlag published the series Sinclair Academy - Die neue Geisterjäger, an offshoot which, according to the publisher, "will continue the adventures of 'Ghostbusters John Sinclair' into the next generation". It is about the adventures of four budding fighters against the forces of evil, Jack and his comrades-in-arms Staysy, Hassan and Sachiko, who were selected by John Sinclair and are in training. They have to prove themselves as a team in the fight against ghosts and demons. The prerequisite for admission to the Sinclair Academy is that one has already had painful experiences with the supernatural.

The series, written by a team of authors, was published monthly in the form of e-books and as a staged audio book on CD and as a download, with each episode being self-contained.

The following volumes have been published in total:

episode title Publication date author
1 Belphegor - The Demon's Curse June 10, 2016 Carson hammer
2 Onna - The woman with the grimace July 14, 2016 David Black
3 The city from the abyss August 12, 2016 Philip M. Crane
4th Storm over Arbordale September 9, 2016 Carson hammer
5 The horror of Oxford October 14, 2016 David Black
6th Cyber ​​demons November 11, 2016 Philip M. Crane
7th House of Lost Souls 2nd December 2016 Carson hammer
8th Demon of guilt January 13, 2017 David Black
9 The trail of the berserk February 24, 2017 Philip M. Crane
10 The cold child March 24, 2017 Carson hammer
11 The revenge of the voodoo prince April 28, 2017 David Black
12 Incendiary May 26, 2017 Philip M. Crane
13 Belphegor's return June 30, 2017 Carson hammer

The series was not continued or produced thereafter.

Dark Land

Since November 22, 2016, parallel to the publication of volume 2002 of the main series, another fortnightly spin-off, Dark Land - Gefangen in der Anderswelt, has been published as a magazine series and e-book by Bastei-Verlag . According to the publisher's announcement, “a well-known character [note: Johnny Conolly] from ghost hunter John Sinclair embarks on a journey into a dimension full of horror. He's chasing a demon - the cruel murderer who destroyed his life. He has to find it, at all costs. Because he wants revenge! And so he walks through a magical gate that leads him to Dark Land, a demonic world beyond our imagination. ”After volume 42 the series was discontinued.

The following volumes have been published so far:

episode title author part Publication date
1 rude awakening Graham Grimm 22nd November 2016
2 No turning back! Graham Grimm December 6, 2016
3 Horror in the spotlight Logan Dee 20th December 2016
4th Sinatown - City of Sin Logan Dee January 3, 2017
5 Apostate Marc friend 17th January 2017
6th Lost souls Rafael Marques January 31, 2017
7th The black widow Logan Dee February 14, 2017
8th Sometimes they come back Graham Grimm February 28, 2017
9 the beast Logan Dee March 14, 2017
10 they are coming Marc friend March 28, 2017
11 The executioners Rafael Marques April 11, 2017
12 Priest of decay Michael Breuer April 25, 2017
13 Dead End Asylum Logan Dee May 9, 2017
14th The deep mower Alfred Bekker 23 May 2017
15th Arena of the Monsters (The Dark Legend) Logan Dee 1 of 2 June 6, 2017
16 Hexenmoor (The Dark Legend) Logan Dee 2 of 2 20th June 2017
17th Götterdämmerung Rafael Marques 4th July 2017
18th Candyland Logan Dee 18th July 2017
19th The black book Rafael Marques August 1, 2017
20th Night performance Logan Dee 1 of 2 15th August 2017
21st The witch's heiress Logan Dee 2 of 2 29th August 2017
22nd Pirates of the Dawn Rafael Marques 12th September 2017
23 Dark omens Marc friend 26th September 2017
24 Vampire attack Rafael Marques 1 of 2 October 10, 2017
25th Hell-o-ween Logan Dee 2 of 2 October 24, 2017
26th One of you Marc friend 7th November 2017
27 The blackest night Rafael Marques November 21, 2017
28 The catcher Rafael Marques 5th December 2017
29 Ice night Logan Dee 1 of 2 19th December 2017
30th New Years Death Rafael Marques 2 of 2 December 30, 2017
31 Sinatown disaster Logan Dee January 16, 2018
32 Departure into the unknown Rafael Marques January 30, 2018
33 Day of revelation Marc friend February 13, 2018
34 Game of fate Rafael Marques February 27, 2018
35 The Long River clan Logan Dee March 13, 2018
36 End of the line nowhere Marc friend March 27, 2018
37 Deadly return Rafael Marques April 10, 2018
38 Twilight City on fire Michael Breuer April 24, 2018

Others

In 2008, 2009 and 2013 the full playback theater went on a nationwide club tour with a comedy theater show based on the radio play series Das Horror-Schloss im Spessart .

Since 2009, Ulisses has published a role play loosely based on the series of novels and radio plays .

For the publication of Volume 2000 of the booklet romance series ( Das Höllenkreuz ) on November 8, 2016, Bastei-Verlag organized the 1st John Sinclair Convention in Cologne on November 5, 2016 . The program included talks and autograph sessions, roundtables, a radio play casting, a costume competition, a funeral feast, a dealer zone and, as the finale, the world premiere of the brand new live radio play The Horror Taxi from New York . Guests were Jason Dark , Dietmar Wunder , Wolfgang Hohlbein , Franziska Pigulla , Martin May , Mark Benecke and others. In September 2018 the convention took place for the second time, this time in the Cologne-Mülheim town hall.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vicente Ballestar, illustration by John Sinclair - YouTube
  2. ↑ International John Sinclair Novels. In: Gruselromane.com . November 28, 2011, accessed September 20, 2015 (slave).