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Main article: Nick Carter: Killmaster

The series relaunched the Nick Carter dime novel character in 1964 as a spy. Obviously one of the many Bond knockoffs for that time, however this one kept going for 261 books before ending in 1990.

Nick Carter (Code name N3) works for AXE. His official rank is KILLMASTER, which is the highest grade of operative. Some books imply it's a nickname however. Spends a lot of time getting out of trouble and into beautiful women. Even when not working.

No author was credited for any of the series officially. While most are third person, some are written in first. Even the main character's personality can vary quite a bit from one book to the next due to lax editorial oversight. The series is usually in the Martini section of Spy Fiction, with frequent trips into Dirty Martini. Is Tropes Used in the Series

  • Big Bad Mr. Judas
  • Depending on the Writer Both Nick Carter and Julie Barron vary significantly for no other reason. In particular Carter's attitude towards working with women and Barron's competence seem to frequently change.
    • In Assignment: Israel it's mentioned that Carter will be upset about being subordinate to Mossad agent Sabra, because "he hates working with women." Similar statement in *Eyes of The Tiger*, by the same writer. Yet he doesn't have a problem doing it in three of the first four books, and repeatedly afterwards.
  • Double Standard Rape (Female on Male) Has happened, or almost happened, to Carter on several occasions. Usually he just feels annoyed.
  • Enhanced Interrogation Techniques He used the dangling from a cliff thing years before Bond, and frequently uses death threats to get info.
  • Good Guns, Bad Guns Subverted in that Nick's main gun through the series is a Luger named Wilhemina. Played straight most of the time with enemies carrying Chinese or Russian made weapons depending on who was backing them.
  • Government Agency of Fiction AXE is a counterintelligence agency that cuts the heads off threats to the US.
  • Improbably Cool Car Drives a Lamborghini 350 GT on vacation. Implied that he actually owns it.
  • Knife Fight N3 carries a stiletto allegedly made by Benvenuto Cellini. Unsurprisingly there's more knife work than a Benihana through the series.
  • Knife Nut Julie Barron moves into this territory on occasion, or at least pretends to. Even Carter isn't sure she's actually acting.
  • The Pornomancer There's a reason the series had a reputation for being more sexually explicitly than Bond and the other competitors.
  • Those Wacky Nazis Show up as enemies more often than the soviets during the 60s. Both original and neo flavored. Also Carter was an OSS agent in the European theater during WWII.
  • Training From Hell "The Purg." It's in Arizona with water and cigarette restrictions. Dusk to Dawn forced marches; savate, karate, and judo training; knife and club training; fireams and explosives training. Sparring matches with weapons. Then you start with classwork. Did we mention this is the annual refresher training and failing, including by being to injured to finish, equals being forced out of AXE?
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