Carl Kolchak was a great reporter, but his stubborn streak and refusal to kowtow to authority led to a lot of ruffled feathers and burnt bridges. By the early 1970’s he was pounding the crime beat for a small newspaper in Las Vegas. While investigating a series of murders on the Strip, Kolchak discovered that the perpetrator was an actual vampire! The authorities dismissed Carl as a crackpot and, as the vampire’s bodycount soared, the intrepid report had no choice but to take matters into his own hands. Kolchak (barely) managed to dispatch the undead killer but was not able to enjoy the fruits of his victory. Instead, his big story was suppressed by his publishers, his girlfriend was sent packing by the police, and Kolchak himself was exiled from Las Vegas.

Carl landed in Seattle and it wasn’t long before he stumbled across another supernatural being preying on the people at the fringes of society. Once more, the authorities refused to acknowledge the facts. Once more, Kolchak was forced to deal with the situation himself. Once more, he was run out of town on a rail.

Kolchak wound up in Chicago, which is apparently situated over a Hellmouth. He continued to encounter uncanny creatures of every stripe – werewolves, swamp monsters, witches, mummies, demons, headless bikers, zombies, and even aliens and killer robots! But the powers that be in Chicago were no more willing to acknowledge these threats than their counterparts in Vegas and Seattle were. And so week after week, Carl found himself prowling through the darkness, doing his best not to soil himself as he hunted the things that haunt our nightmares.

Kolchak wasn’t born into a dynasty of heroes. He didn’t have any special abilities or training. He didn’t even feel a particular calling to be a monster hunter. But Carl Kolchak stepped up to the job time after time simply because no one else would. And that’s what made him a true hero.