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Jesus Garcia
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Posted: 19 November 2014 at 11:29am | IP Logged | 1  

http://www.pulpartists.com/PulpMag-01.html

The evolution to comics was obvious, I guess.

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Matt Hawes
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Posted: 19 November 2014 at 11:34am | IP Logged | 2  

Pulp Magazines were usually anthologies that focused on adventure, fantasy, and horror stories, printed on pulp paper, which is where the name comes from. It was the cheapest form of paper used to print magazines, as the Pulp Magazines were meant to be cheap, disposable entertainment. Pulp stories were also text pieces with illustrations from time to time.

Edited to add: And, yep, it was a natural progression from the pulps to the comics, as it was basically the same crowd that the product was geared towards. Comics, though, expanded the audience with humor, romance, and other genres over time.

Edited by Matt Hawes on 19 November 2014 at 11:38am
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Jesus Garcia
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Posted: 19 November 2014 at 11:55am | IP Logged | 3  

Sterankos's "History of Comics" (the first volume) is what introduced me to the medium and it has remained an object of fascination for me. Interesting to learn what the cerators of The Batman were most likely reading when they conceived the character, for instance.

Also, Lester Dent's sure-fire formula for writing a Doc Savage adventure.

A few years back I picked up "The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories", a thick volume of tales that for the most part reproduces the printed format of the stories, along with illustrations.

A phenomenal period of American Literature which deserves to be re-issued.



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Conrad Teves
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Posted: 19 November 2014 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | 4  

Matt>> printed on pulp paper, which is where the name comes from. It was the cheapest form of paper used to print magazines<<

Pulp paper also produces my favorite odor.  It's the one thing about modern printing tech I don't like.  You just don't get that pulp paper smell on good paper.  Considering all the paperbacks and comics I've read, that smell doesn't just take me back, it takes me everywhere.
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Ed Fahey
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Posted: 20 November 2014 at 8:13am | IP Logged | 5  

This thread got me wondering if a return to this format today would have any market success? Cheap paper, black and white printing to drop prices enough to attract a new audience. Maybe in a format closer to modern comics but with less art, say a 50/50 split between artwork and text. It would be interesting to see someone try something different if this hasn't been done.
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Bob Simko
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Posted: 20 November 2014 at 9:29am | IP Logged | 6  

Most of the more popular pulps...The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Avenger...are being reprinted in a larger format on a regular basis (monthly, I think?).
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Jesus Garcia
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Posted: 20 November 2014 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | 7  

I discovered that The Phantom Detective is the "third" pulp A-Lister. His adventures started being published a month before Doc Savage's, he had a run of 170 issues, and his magazine lasted until 1953 long after Doc Savage and The Shadow had folded. He carried a diamond studded badge that identified him as "The Phantom Detective" although in the novels he was referred to only as "The Phantom". He had the support of global police forces.

He was an absolute master of disguise and was often summoned by a flashing sign on top of a large downtown building -- predating the Bat-Signal.

Apparently, Lee Falk's "The Phantom" was an urban character as the beginning like "The Phantom Detective" but switched over to a jungle setting soon after initial publication.

Equally a fascinating read to The Shadow and Doc Savage.

The connections between pulps and comics gives rise to endless entertainment. I find it interesting that the pulp characters worked best as unillustrated prose without the benefit of illustration. Makes me wonder how The Batman and Superman would read in "pulp mode".
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Ed Love
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Posted: 20 November 2014 at 9:03pm | IP Logged | 8  

I often find myself having to make the point in regards to interviews and promotions about characters that "pulp" is not A genre. I've seen characters like the Green Hornet, the Phantom, Captain Midnight, Miss Fury among others listed as being pulp characters. While they appeared in various formats, the one area they did not was the pulps. Saw one review even call the first Captain America movie as being a pulp hero adventure. Of course, Cap is not a pulp character and most of the heroes from the character pulps rarely fought the Nazis!

Pulp is a format like comic books.Like comics, it might be largely associated with one particular genre, but that's not the whole of the format. Pulp is the precursor to comics, but it's also the precursor to paperback novels (several GA publishers of pulps and comics moved to the paperback market in the 1950s) and nowadays television shows.

 While much is made of comics being read overseas by soldiers, comics were marketed to and read by mainly by kids. In regards to pulps, comics brought in younger readers than what pulps were aimed for.

Jesus -- Yeah, Bill Finger "borrowed" from the pulps quite a bit. Batman's inspiration from a wayward flying bat is from a minor pulp character called the Bat, possibly created by Johnston McCully who created Zorro. Commissioner Gordon is from The Whisperer whose identity is Commissioner James "Wildcat" Gordon. Two-Face's origin is that of the Black Bat (as is Dr. Mid-Nite's). The Joker's laughing gas is reminiscent of "The Master Mystery" by Arthur B. Reeve which was filmed with Houdini. It also has reputedly one of film's first robots which is referred to as being a "superman" and a "man of steel".

Bob -- Altus Press has printed a lot of pulp material in book form as well as new stories of Doc Savage. Also heard that they bought the copyrights to Popular Publication ie the Spider, G-8, The Octopus/Scorpion.


Edited by Ed Love on 20 November 2014 at 9:05pm
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Ed Love
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Posted: 20 November 2014 at 9:28pm | IP Logged | 9  

Jesus-- The Black Bat wore a costume and MLJ's Black Hood appeared a a few pulps. One of them is on Project Gutenberg. Search for "Hooded Detective". Otherwise, there's some Batman paperback short stories. I don't know why the companies don't try to do some paperback novels featuring some of their characters. 
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