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REPRINTS >> FOREIGN REPRINTS >> MEXICO >> DETECTIVES Y BANDIDOS
Background artist unknown, after Howitt
The Spider TM & © Argosy Communications, Inc.
Detectives Y Bandidos

I thought it would be a good idea to put together all the information about Detectives Y Bandidos that I've gleaned from the recent eBay listings and the two Spider issues I was lucky enough to get my hands on. For Spider fans, this gives a fuller picture of the Mexican magazine that reprinted it, and beyond that I hope this spare listing can aid other pulp researchers online.

Detectives Y Bandidos was launched by Publicaciones Herrerias, S.A. (General Manager Ignacio F. Herrerias) in the late 1930s as part of a mini-explosion of pulp fiction publishing in Mexico. At the time Herrerias also published Mujeres Y Deportes, Cuentos Y Novelas, Chamaco, and Novedades. Bandidos reprinted translated English works along side Mexican fiction, and the subtitle "semanario policiaco" suggests they did this weekly. The copying of American Shadow covers without including a Shadow story inside suggests that copyrights were a secondary concern.

Details of known issues
5 out of the six recorded issues below contain 194 saddle-stitched pages plus cover, the other only 130 pages. The paper used is thinner and smoother (better) than that used in American pulp magazines, but not "slick." The cover doesn't seem to be glossy, but it is on a stiffer stock. The magazine is trimmed, but poorly; The trim size is slightly under 5.5"x7.5".


This issue is dated (in roman numerals) May 24, 1937 (a Monday). I could not find an issue number, but it could be #4 or #5. The cover and lead story are adaptated from The Spider's "Death Reign of the Vampire King" (November 1935).

(Click for 125% of original)
El Rey de los Vampiros
    by Grant Stockbridge
El brillante desaparecido
    by Agatha Christie
Fuego y sangre by Luis Polanqui
Cómo semata by Eulesius
El hampa cree en el mal de ojo
    by R. G. A. Grun
La pupila verde by Sax Rohmer
Error macabro by Dorothy Sayers
Los diamantes de Boulardeau
    by Andrés Lichtenberger
La hostería de la muerte
    by Pedro Bouchardon
La máquina infernal
    by Pedro Boileau

This is issue #16, dated August 12, 1937. The cover and lead story are adapted from "Reign of the Snake Men" (December 1936). That story by Emile Tepperman is fourth in a series of Living Pharoah tales, but it is not yet known whether Detectives Y Bandidos reprinted the others before it; The fact that the title was changed to "The Return of the Pharoah.." is encouraging, though.

(Click for 125% of original)
El regreso del Faraón y los leprosos
    by Grant Srockbridge [sic]
La fabrica de moneda falsa
    by Nick Carter
El castigo del satiro by Noel Pricot
Esta noche, ¡La fortuna!
    by Bernardo Nabonne
¡Lo mato con una cerilla!
    by Fred Charles Buse
Josuah el profeta by Juan Dorsenne
El Cofrecillo de Ebano by G.A. Carey
Los hombres morenos
    by Pierre Boileau
El fin de un mesalina
    by Juan Castellano
El marido de la chiquilla
    by Geo Guasco
Central Park by Aubrey Smith
Drama Campesino by Noel Pricot
Muerte Sospechosa by Pol Prille

This issue is dated 1937. The cover appears to be copied from a Phantom Detective pulp, yet there is no Phantom story inside.

(Click for larger)
La venganza de la calavera
    by J. Neumann
El último aplauso a la artista
    by Anthony Field
La caída del último jefe de la "Ogpu"
    by Marvin Campbell
El hombre que estaba muerto
    a Saint story by Leslie Charteris
El castillo condenado
    by Mildred Show Gearson
Sangre en las colinas
    by Jean Bazal
El pasaporte diplomático
    by Frederick Bruner
La antropófaga blanca
    by Andrés G. Block

This issue is also from 1937. The cover is repainted from a well-known Shadow, yet Maxwell Grant is not listed among the authors. Besides the fiction listed below, the issue features a 35-page article on John Dillinger with photos, and another piece on the murder of Henrietta Schmerler.

(Click for larger)
El esqueleto de la capa escarlata
    by J. Neumann
Los espantosos crímenes de un
   loco en libertad
by Felipe Artois
Cuando la muerte se viste de amarillo
    by Arthur L. Zagat
"La Isabel" by Augusto Bailly
El hombre de los juguetes
    a Saint story by Leslie Charteris
¿Suicida? No, asesisnada
    by Nick Carter
El monje asesino by Abbas Kamel
Paseos de medianoche
    by Emmanuel Car
F. M. R. by Pierre Boileau
Los niños desesperados
    by Jorge Rathelot
Pesadilla by Will Scott

This issue was listed as #56 and dated May 19, 1938 (a Thursday). It is only 130 pages. Here is a second example of a Shadow magazine cover, with no Shadow story accompanying it inside.

(Click for larger)
La sentencia en el espejo
    by Austin Weyland
Una noche de terror
    by Thomas W. Prince
¡Chinta Aznar!
    by Antonio B. Quijano
Chapopote: ¡Muerte!
    by Mirin D. Green
El canto de la sirena
    by Alfred Brandon

**This last listing from eBay has very specific data in terms of issue numbering and publication date, but it doesn't add up.**

This issue was listed as "#58" dated "April 31, 1938" (before issue #56 and there IS NO April 31). The cover is believed to have been copied from an American Charlie Chan movie poster.

(Click for larger)
Una tragedia en el Ártico
    by W. M. Meirer
El hombre del ojo fotográfico
    by Joe Massal
El rescate del muerte
    by Harry Read
La heroica belleza de Reno
    by Hollis B. Fultz
El crimen del General Haas
    by Nick Carter
Los últimos triunfos de Charlie Chan
    by Earl Derr Biggers

If you have any additional information that could give readers a more complete picture of Detectives Y Bandidos magazine's publishing history, please e-mail me!