Decoder Ring Theatre

A Far Reach Commander is a man without limits, a man for whom the boarders and petty territories carved out of space mean nothing... only that open expanse of sky. But even those who serve Control, the mysterious mistress of the Far Reach Fleet must still answer to a higher power; something Commander Deck Gibson will some to realize when his past returns to haunt him once again... before The Court...

Responding to a faint distress call brings Deck to a frozen wasteland of a planet. With bone-chilling temperatures and blinding blizzards, surely nothing could have survived in such an environment... Or could it? Isoloated from the Far Reach One, far from help, far from hope, Deck will find the answer to this and more questions during... Two Days on the Tundra of Terror!

This week: Deck is held prisoner after a Quasar Corps ambush and arrested as a traitor against Earth! Will his training as a Far Reach Commander save him, or will the last sight our hero ever sees be... The Room With No View ! 

In his own city, The Red Panda calls the shots - and he doesn't tolerate any interloping from other masked do-gooders that aren't soft and Squirrel-shaped. But when an investigation leads the Terrific Twosome of Toronto all the way to New York City; already teeming with huddled masses of mystery men, superheroes and masked vigilantes, a lot can happen on... The Field Trip !

A sudden rash of petty crime is spreading like wildfire, bleeding the city white a few dollars at a time. Is it really possible that these robberies are being carried out by an army of children? What elemental force could possibly have driven these innocents into a life of crime? And will even The Red Panda be able to oppose the might... of The Rat Lord ?

The day they carried Sam Merk out of the courtroom, he swore he'd never serve the life sentence he'd been given. He promised that the judge, the jury... everyone that had had put him behind bars would suffer a voodoo curse until he was freed. Of course, no one took him very seriously; until his victims started dropping like flies. Now The Red Panda may have only hours to crack the mystery... of Th...

A string of industrial accidents is plaguing the city, each more serious than the last. Little by little fear spreads, public confidence erodes and the economic engines of the city grind to a halt. Is this simple coincidence? A conspiricy of terror? Or are there forces still more sinister at work? The Red Panda must find out, or fall before the power of... Barton's Charm !

With that Pompous Pirate of the Pen known only as The Poet on the loose, it was only a matter of time before clues in couplet form started sprouting up all over the city, each promising new crime more fiendish than the last. But Baxter's Law says "When the Goony-birds start changing their tune, there's usually something else goin' on." Will The Red Panda find the key to the villainous verse in tim...

Return with us now to the thrill-packed exploits of the masked protectors of 1930's Toronto as they hunt down one of their oldest and most diabolical foes! But with mechanical walking bombs appearing all over the city, it looks like the world's greatest criminal mastermind just became the least of their problems - to say nothing of the unkown threat of the mysterious... Red Squirrel!   

They say that music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. But like just about everything "they" say, truth is in the eye of the beholder. When Jack and Trixie spend a little time in the company of musicians, the experience is neither particularly charming or remotely soothing. But at least thirty-five dollars a day hath charms to soothe the savage landlord.  

Everywhere you looked, there were goods to be gotten, and the getting often fell to Black Jack and Trixie. But there were consequences to be paid that often had nothing to do with the princely sum of thirty-five dollars a day, plus expenses. When it looks like their client may have stormed off half-cocked to do who-knows-what, it's up to our his-and-her shamuses... (shamuses?... Shami?... Whatever...

It sounded like a nice, simple job. Two sisters, estranged long ago over a man who was long gone. An apology... a reunion... the restoration of family ties in a cold and cynical world... Yes sir, it all sounded too good to be true. But Jack and Trixie know when it comes to family, nothing is ever quite that simple.

It wouldn't be quite right to say that Trixie had a soft spot in her heart for old Button-Down Theo. But she had a soft spot in her head for him anyway. After all, anyone who can make private detecting seem dull as dishwater must have some hidden talents. But when Theo gets himself in hot water, will the Girl Detective be able to persuade ol' Square Jaw to intervene? And if so, just who exactly is...

"Law stands mute in the midst of arms" they say. Well, that proves one thing anyway; old man Cicero never met Police Lieutenant Victor Sabien. He'd never stood mute a day in his life. And with ol' Square Jaw and the Girl Detective working at cross purposes through his office... to say nothing of the dynamic duo of Sgt Nelson and Freddie the Finger Hawthorne underfoot... well, can you blame the poo...

"...But to me, it was as if the city had emptied out at the word of Jack Justice's return. As well they might. As well they might..." Yes, Jack Justice and Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective return for all-new hardboiled adventure and mystery. But with Jack out to settle a score, and Trixie trying to close the books on a murder that's still unsolved at least partly due to the efforts of our intrepid pri...

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 S...

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 t...

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 prot...

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?