And the winner is...

Thanks to everyone who entered my first Friday Challenge! I enjoyed reading all of the entries and the comments on the entries. Without further ado, on to the entries!

Vidad - What can I say about Vidad's entry? It was well written, strange, warped, funny and wildly off topic. All par for the course for Vidad! I am also pleased to learn there are strange, robotic women whose sole duty is guaranteeing the purity of my Friday Challenges. But strange, robotic, Friday Challenge guarding women would drop their tops and reveal a pair of .38s, not shotguns. A missed pulp trope if ever there was one.

Giraffe - You gave us a well written send up to all the standard pulp tropes. Only Doctor Darkness stays true to his pulp nature, including taking the time to deal with Cote personally. The handsome yet bumbling hero with the unassuming yet competent sidekick who does most of the actual work has probably been done enough times that it's become a trope for pulp send ups. That's not a criticism, that's just a way of explaining why your entry just barely sneaks into the pulp genre. And, from Cote's point of view, you could even be said to have given us a happy ending.

Arisia - I'd never have thought of a French fashionista as a pulp villain. Perhaps that's because I'm just a typical geek and not fashionable in the least. The final confrontation between Cliff and Doctor Darkness was physical and handled with a fist to the chin. You also got the little details right, such as Sopwith Camels and Spads or the publication runs for Vogue and Elle magazine. (Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know Elle didn't appear on newstands until 1945.) I enjoyed your entry but Cliff and Cote didn't hang quite as often as a cliffhanger requires.

Waterboy - Let's check the style sheet for Waterboy's entry. Danger at every turn? Check. Improbable escape for the villain to setup the final, minion free confrontation? Check. Alliterative descriptions such as sickening sibling and mad maniac? Check. An airship filled with flamable gas? Check. The stalwart hero who sends those he cares about to safety while risking his own life? Check. A villain hoist by his own petard? Check. Certain death for the hero averted by an improbable rescue? Check. Cousin Cloze Hanger? Uh, that one was unexpected! Plucky heroine falls into the arms of the handsome hero at the end? Check. The only criticism I have for your entry is that you depended on the airship hitting an air pocket too many times. Other than that, your entry was spot on! You're this week's winner!

Come on down and select your prize, Waterboy!