Well, it’s Summer of 2015, and we get another issue of Murania Press‘ (Ed Hulse‘s) excellent magazine Blood ‘n’ Thunder.
Last summer we got a single issue (#41) and after another delay, we got another huge triple issue for 2014-15 that covered #42-44. So I decided to just cover this issue rather than hold off for when the next issue will come out (which should be this fall).
Blood ‘n’ Thunder covers not just pulps, but their dime novel forerunners, movie serials, and early radio. But every issue has something of interest to pulp fans, and this one is no exception, having both new articles, and reprints of both fiction and non-fiction.
Let’s take a closer look at Blood ‘n’ Thunder #45 (Summer 2015).
The cover article kicks off the first part of an extended survey of Famous Fantastic Mysteries. This Munsey pulp reprinted classic early stories of science fiction. It ran from 1939 to 1953, the last 10 years published by Popular Publications. It was so successful they launched a companion magazine, Fantastic Novels, to handle longer works. This part of the survey, which takes up a good part of the issue, focuses on the Munsey period, where the second part will cover the period at Popular.
I never knew there was a King Kong radio serial, but thanks to Martin Grams, a researcher in old-time radio, we now learn the history of this long-forgotten serial, plus we get lengthy script excerpts.
Wold Newton scholar Rick Lai has an article looking at Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn.
David Smith focuses his sights on Pistol Pete Rice, Street & Smith’s modern Western pulp hero launched after the success of The Shadow and Doc Savage. A kind of Western version of Doc, which even had Walter Baumhoffer doing the covers, Sheriff Rice had a group of secondary characters similar to Doc’s aides. His own pulp, launched shortly after Doc’s, lasted three years then Pete moved to Wild West Weekly.
In a reprint from the third issue, film critic Glenn Kelly provides an appreciation of the screen’s first super-villain, the legendary Fantomas. A super popular French pulp villain who ran for many stories for several years, this article focuses on the a set of silent serials released in the teens (Kino Video has them on DVD). These serials would lead to other serials staring Judex (which I previously reviewed), Les Vampires, Belphegor and others. At some point I need to put together a posting on Fantomas.
There is also an interesting article on the basic but sad history of nickel-priced pulps by veteran fictioneer James W. Egan. These pulps included All-Detective that gave us the Scarlet Ace, Dorus Noel, and the first Doctor Death.
Finally, we get a facsimile reprint of the long-forgotten first adventure of The Hornet, a short-lived (three stories) pulp hero created in 1934 by Samuel Merwin. He appeared in the first issue of World Adventurer magazine. Be interesting to see the other two reprinted as well (maybe in future issues?).
Another great issue. I certainly look forward to the next issue, and encourage other pulp fans to check this out. Per Ed, the plan is for BnT to continue as a “periodical” through #50. And he has a special subscription rate for the “final five” issues of BnT (#46-50). After that, BnT will go forward as a series of books, ideally coming out about two to three times a year, each with a thematic focus, and be about 200 pages long. Hopefully one out in spring for Windy City, and one in summer for Pulpfest, and a third in the Fall. Sounds like a good plan.
