Pulp Articles The Pulp Companion Winter 2003 edition

The Pulp Companion: Winter 2003 edition

A grand pulp tradition

The Pulp Companion is following in a grand pulp tradition: We’ve moved from monthly to quarterly. Though, thanks to being an electronic format rather than a printed publication, we can make minor updates and changes as circumstances develop. Meanwhile, enjoy the latest Pulp Companion and watch for more stories and reviews in upcoming installments.


A man named Dirk

Meet a very Doc Savage-like character who’s been on the best-seller lists for over 20 years: Dirk Pitt. MORE …

A ‘Frost’ in winter

Ron Fortier reviews a collection of pulp stories by Donald Wandrei. MORE …

Tuned in

Pick up your latest pulp and tune in the Senators vs Cleveland Indians game, or a Shadow radio program, or another program from the past. MORE …


Pulp replicas

Girasol Collectibles offers two new pulp reproductions in March: the March 15, 1934, issue of The Shadow magazine, with the story “The Green Box”; and issue number 7 of the short run series, Strange Tales, which features the classic Hugh Cave story “Murgunstrumm” and a Robert E. Howard story. Both are reprinted in their original sizes, complete with interior art, but on high quality paper rather than pulp paper. Both are $25, which also includes shipping and handling in North America. The two new replicas join 13 other Shadow issues and eight other pulp reprints. For more on these and other pulp replicas, visit the Girasol Collectibles website.

Cutting loose with Cthulhu

Maybe one of those trendy Beanie Babies isn’t what you really need. How about a cuddly Cthulhu? Toy Vault offers a tentacle-full of plush toys based on H.P. Lovecraft mythos that are sure to please that reader of horror pulp you know. Summer Fun Plush Cthulhu, at right, sells for about $20. If one of the Cthulhus don’t suit your needs, try a plush Nyarlethotep. Pricing and information on where to buy them can be found at the Toy Vault website. (Oh, just don’t ask us how to pronounce Cthulhu, or Nyarlethotep, for that matter.)

— William Lampkin

Pulp Q&A

I am trying to find out the name of the artist who did the covers for The Shadow pulps. Was there more than one artist? The covers seem to have a consistant style which leads me to believe that it was just one artist.

There is a surprising consistency to The Shadow covers, but several artists worked on them over the years. Street & Smith must have had fairly strict requirements to maintain the look and feel of The Shadow covers. (Though, there are several years’ worth in the late 1940s — shortly before the magazine folded — that featured truly horrible covers, with few appearances of The Shadow on them.)

George Rozen probably painted more of The Shadow covers than any other artist. The other artists included his twin brother Jerome Rozen, Graves Gladney (another prolific Shadow artist), Charles De Feo, Modest Stein, H. Swenson, S.R. Powell and someone signed Timmons. There are a few covers whose artists are unknown.

Pulp events

Events are subject to change.

March 24, 2024: The Paperback & Pulp Fair at Bloomsbury Ephemera Fair, London, U.K.

April 5-7, 2024: Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, Lombard, Ill.

June 1, 2024: Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale, Toronto, ON, Canada.

June 7-8, 2024: Howard Days, Cross Plains, Texas

Aug. 1-4, 2024: PulpFest 2024, Pittsburgh, Pa.

On–going:
• Gotham Pulp Collectors Club, 1 p.m. the third Saturday of each month via Zoom. Check its website for location.