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''The Death Merchant'' is the title and lead character of a series of men's action-adventure books written by Joseph Rupert Rosenberger and published by Pinnacle Books from 1971 to 1988. Richard Joseph Camellion, as described in the books, is a master of disguise, the martial arts and wet-work. Cynical and lethal in equal measure, his normal employer was the CIA - at a cost of $100,000 tax-free bucks a mission. He is described on the back of the books as "Richard Camellion, master of death, destruction, and disguise. He gets the dirty jobs, the impossible missions, the operations that cannot be handled by the FBI, CIA, or any other legal or extra-legal force. He is a man without a face, without a single identifying characteristic...except that he succeeds by being a Merchant of Death!" == Fictional Character Biography == ''Birthplace'': St. Louis, Missouri, according to information in ''#30, The Shambhala Strike''. As an adult, Richard Camellion keeps a ranch in Votaw, Texas, where he lives when not on a mission. ''#12 The KGB Frame'' includes a lot of information about, and descriptions of, the ranch. ''Education'': Two books, ''#30 The Shambhala Strike'' and ''#53 The Judas Scrolls'' mention Camellion studying at St. Louis University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. It is also stated in the former book that Camellion holds a degree in engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. Two books (''#1 The Death Merchant'' and ''#9 Laser Mission'') mention that Camellion is an ex-teacher of history, but this may simply be a cover story. ''Hobbies'': Gardening, Martial Arts, Amateur archaeology (mentioned in ''#9 Laser Mission'' and ''#61 Bulgarian Termination''). Camellion is very interested in the occult and the prophecies of Nostradamus. ''Alias:'' Camellion usually uses at least one alias in every book. Examples: James Valdorian, Chester Giffwangle, Leonard Higgdon, Emil Milrich, Milton Sessions, Ludwig Huelsenbeck, Thomas Wang-Ji. On two occasions, when asked if Camellion is his real name, he replies that it does not matter. ''#63 The Soul Search Project'' reveals that Richard Joseph Camellion is not the name on his birth certificate. Frequently disguises himself (and fellow mercs) during operations ''Worked with'': ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence), NSA, CIA, MAD (West German counter-intelligence) ''Known enemies'': the KGB, SWAPO, GROB (Indonesian Political Security Service), various terrorist organizations. The Death Merchant has two pet pigs, known as Damon and Pythias. The Death Merchant is notable in being rather more nihilistic than many of his 1970s and 1980s action series counterparts; he normally does not think twice about killing innocent people if it is the quickest way to get the mission accomplished. For example, ''#62, The Soul Search Project'' sees the Death Merchant's team killing over fifty New York Police Department officers who try to stop them during a mission. (Another book series by Rosenberger, ''COBRA'', features similar characters in this regard.) In an early book, however, he does mention a former girlfriend, "the one true love of his life" who had been killed by the KGB, and he on one occasion states that he will not feel truly satisfied until the Soviet Union is "a sea of radioactive glass." In ''#43, The Devil's Trashcan'', Camellion reveals he was once married, but found it very boring. The Death Merchant's face is not described in great detail, and it is mentioned that he has had plastic surgery to alter his appearance numerous times. He does, however, like his men's action adventure counterpart Mack Bolan, have blue eyes which are regularly described as "icy." The Death Merchant is described as being in his mid-30s, about six feet tall and having a slender, wiry frame. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Death Merchant」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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