Thoughts and comments on the world of the pulp magazines
Seeking pulp photo help
UPDATED | 
Yesterday we posted six new photos over on ThePulp.Net‘s pulp photos gallery.
The earliest of the latest batch is 1913; one was from 1939; and three others from 1943. There was one from, probably, the early to mid-1940s.
We could use your help on two of those photos.
The 1939 photo was taken in San Antonio, Texas, at a newsstand selling Mexican newspapers and magazines. One of those magazines appears as if it could be a Spanish-language pulp. That’s a closeup of it at right.
The cover appears to be that of Policia Detective (or Police Detective), with subtitles of “Teatros” (Theater) and “Cines” (cinemas). The cover art teases to “El espia X-21″ (or “The Spy X-21″).
Does anyone know anything about this magazine? Was it a pulp? Or was it something else?
Read MoreDoc Savage movie links
Doc Savage
We’ve added links to more than two dozen articles to the “Doc Savage movie (2013)” listing. That listing is near the bottom of the page (or click this link to jump there).
More links will be added as new information becomes available.
Read MoreBefore the ‘Planet of the Apes’
Humans discover that Earth in the future is populated by civilized apes. Sounds like “Planet of the Apes,” doesn’t it?
Well, turn back the clock back 22 years — and then ahead several million — and you have “Genus Homo,” a pretty solid SF novel by L. Sprague de Camp and P. Schuyler Miller.
It was originally published in the March 1941 number of Super Science Novels (the temporarily renamed Super Science Stories), a typically lackluster SF pulp edited by Frederik Pohl that, while it did occasionally run a good story, is most notable for publishing the early works of a number of now well-known writers.
Pierre Boulle‘s 1963 novel, “Planet of the Apes,” is primarily about a human mission to a planet orbiting Betelgeuse that turns out to be inhabited by intelligent apes (with a twist at the very end); whereas the 1968 and 2001 movies take place on Earth, but in the future.
Read MoreA history of ‘pulp magazine’
Every so often someone raises a question online that basically asks: Did the folks putting out the pulp magazines call them “pulps”?
The quick answer is yes.
But who first called them that — pulp magazines or just pulps — and when isn’t certain. Of course, those terms derive from the low-quality, wood-pulp paper that the magazines were printed on.
Let’s take a look at some instances where those or similar terms were used:
The Editor, a publication of Author’s Weekly, refers to “pulps” and “pulp magazine” several times in its Sept. 21, 1929, article “Working for the Pulps.”
Read MoreA ‘pulp’ mystery continues…
Back in February, I picked up a publicity photo of actress Betsy Drake standing in front of a newsstand (at right). I’ve been intending to add it to the collection of newsstand photos over on the Pulp Photos page.
When I first got the photo, no pulps jumped out at me. The only pulp-related item seemed to be the promotional poster for The Shadow high on the wall above Drake. I noticed a Time magazine cover from November 1948, so I assumed the photo must have been taken around that time.
Last evening, I scanned the photo and was processing it for posting when something caught my eye. It was none other than the mysterious Cowboy Thrill Magazine — or so I thought.
Read MoreRandom thoughts on ‘Doc Savage’ covers
I’ve been working on a project for this year’s Doc Con XVI, which naturally will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of the first appearance of Doc Savage Magazine on newsstands.
As a result, I’ve been looking through all 181 pulp covers. One thing jumped out at me: the logo color. The magazine’s logo is yellow most often (67 times), while a white logo appears 37 times and a red one shows up 27 times. Okay, I stopped counting after that. Enough of the minutia.
The 1940s covers aren’t as familiar to me as those from the ’30s. And while they aren’t as heroic as the earlier Walter Baumhofer covers, the 1940s covers are actually pretty good on their own.
Read More‘Doc Savage’ movie gets 90 days…
Shane Black
Black was talking to Bleeding Cool‘s Brendon Connelly about his latest movie, Iron Man 3, and upcoming projects.
Black co-wrote (with Drew Pearce) and directs the upcoming third installment of the Iron Man movie series. It opens May 3. (Let’s hope it’s better than the last.)
Here’s what Black had to say about the Man of Bronze:
Read MoreAbout Yellowed Perils
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