The Mucker The Mucker: Spawned by the slum jungles of Chicago, Billy Byrne was a vicious animal -- ruthless, powerful and blood thirsty. Before long, his natural ability for finding trouble left him shipwrecked in a Far East jungle where he was free to unleash the savage nature that was his only chance for survival.
The Return of the Mucker: The Mucker spent his life fighting. He fought his way out of the worst of Chicago's slums, he fought his way out of a jail sentence for a murder he didn't commit. Then, forced to fight for his freedom, destiny led him through a startling series of further adventures to Mexico -- and a fight for his life in the middle of a bloody revolution. Like two thieves they crept along in the shadow of the canyon wall. Inwardly Billy cursed the darkness of the night which hid from view everything more than a few paces from them. Yet it might have been this very darkness which would help save them, since it hid them as effectually from an enemy as it hid the enemy from them.

www.edgarriceburroughs.com

INTRODUCTION by Jeff Long Edgar Rice Burroughs was a product of the streets and alleys of Chicago’s great West Side. And so was one of his most complex heroes – Billy Byrne.

Reared in a harsh environment where life was cheap and brute strength ruled, Billy’s transformation in The Mucker from hulking thug to gallant gentleman rivals the rise of ERB’s most famous creation, Tarzan, from savage beast to noble savage.

Both were torn by inner battles that pitted upbringing against intellect, underscored by the desire of each to become more than a mere accident of birth could dictate.

Burroughs explored the theme often, in settings that ranged from the Arizona plains among the Apaches to the laboratory of a mad scientist who dared create a race of Monster Men.

ERB never mined those contrasts so thoroughly, however, as he did with Byrne and Lord Greystoke. Billy’s urban jungle proved no less a challenge than the one conquered by John Clayton in Tarzan of the Apes.

Both novels are pure fantasy, with twists and turns and exotic locales worthy of the Master of Adventure’s extraordinary imagination. But The Mucker adds a grain of gritty realism. It’s the story of a troubled city youth, raised in a setting that rings familiar today. While the ethnicities may have changed in Billy’s West Side Chicago neighborhood, the seemingly insurmountable obstacles faced by the young men who live there remain.

There’s a crucial difference between Clayton and Byrne.

Burroughs explored the way Tarzan’s noble lineage drove his ascent to a lofty position above beasts and unscrupulous men. Billy, the scion of an alcoholic mother and absent father, had no such advantage. Unlike many other Burroughs novels, the conclusion of The Mucker holds no dramatic revelation about a separation at birth from wealthy or royal parents. That makes Byrne’s ultimate triumph all the more impressive.

In true Burroughs fashion, each hero owes the spark for his determination to a woman, who helps him become more than his background might have allowed. For Tarzan, it was Jane Porter – a Baltimore belle who rose herself to meet with dignity and vigor the challenges of the grim and dangerous circumstances thrust upon her by fate. Fate also introduced Billy Byrne to Barbara Harding, the New York socialite whose strength and self-confidence became a beacon to a man who might have otherwise wallowed among society’s forgotten dregs.

Burroughs never visited Africa. But he was intimately familiar with Billy Byrne’s streets and alleys, born in 1875 near the corner of Washington Boulevard and what was then called Robey Street, known to Chicago residents today as Damen Avenue. That’s a stone’s throw from "The Land of Grand Avenue" where young Billy prowled.

I’m convinced that ERB knew the people described in this book. From the muckers who were ready to "insult the first woman who passed," to the cops at the Twenty-eighth Precinct on Lake Street who adhered to their own chivalrous code. Old Man Schneider was probably like a dozen barkeeps populating that working class neighborhood of Old Chicago.

My own grandfather, born in 1905 in the same neighborhood, swore he knew the people ERB wrote about in this book. And the archives of The Chicago Tribune reference such social problems of the day as young boys fetching pails of beer from local saloons in the way that six-year-old Billy Byrne did for Kelley’s Gang.

When the Chicago chapter of the Burroughs Bibliophiles formed in 2006, we naturally took our name from the ERB book that opens on the streets of our great city.

The Muckers are pleased to present it to you now, as we host the 2010 Burroughs Bibliophiles Dum-Dum. It’s richly illustrated by artists – professionals and fans – who know and love ERB’s work as much as we do. They were recruited by Mucker and longtime Bibliophile Joan Bledig, who also designed this new edition.

Enjoy.

The Chicago Muckers:
Joan Bledig, Mike Conran, Laurence Dunn, Dave Gorecki, Jim Hadac, J.G. Huckenpohler, Ray Le Beau, Frank Lipo, Jeff Long, Ken Manson, Greg Phillips, Bill Ross, Jerry Spannraft, Ellern Vartanoff, Brad Vinson, and Bruce Wood (1947-2009)