Jeff Berkwits

Despite changing times, pulp heroes endure

Imagine a world without pulp heroes: A realm devoid of legendary detectives like Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade and The Shadow. Missing such adventure idols as Doc Savage, The Avenger and Tarzan. Lacking legendary sci-fi stars like Buck Rogers, Ole Doc Methuselah and Captain Future.

All of these indelible individuals were first introduced more than half a century ago on the pages of largely forgotten publications like Argosy, Weird Tales, Thrilling Detective and Startling Stories. While the magazines themselves may sound unfamiliar to most modern-day fans, the characters, and in some cases the authors that initially imagined them, remain cherished pop-culture icons.

Nevertheless, for every famous writer like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Raymond Chandler or Agatha Christie, there are dozens of other wordsmiths well worth remembering. Fortunately, there's been a recent resurgence of interest in both their most celebrated and most overlooked works. Even Hollywood has taken notice, with numerous pulp-based films in the pipeline, most notably John Carter of Mars, inspired by Burroughs' famous sci-fi hero, and a still-in-development version of Doc Savage.

Still, whether it's due to our turbulent economic era — a time similar to that experienced 80 years ago during the trying days of the Great Depression, when pulp publications really began their rise to mass popularity — or simply troubling current events, it's clear these decades-old escapist adventures continue to resonate for contemporary readers. Here are a few publishers who are at the forefront of that revival.

Over the past few years, Haffner Press has been releasing the complete fiction of sci-fi legend Jack Williamson (they're up to Volume 7 as of this writing), and more recently have begun issuing books devoted to the early stories of Edmond Hamilton and Henry Kuttner. They're also reprinting all of Hamilton's captivating Captain Future science-fiction stories, including the vintage illustrations, in a series of high-quality hardbound volumes.

Galaxy Press recently launched an ambitious plan to reprint pulp pro L. Ron Hubbard's myriad novellas, novelettes and short stories. The author is of course famous for his more recent fiction, including the 10-volume Mission Earth saga and Battlefield Earth. In fact, he even dedicated the latter novel to over 70 "science-fiction and fantasy writers of the thirties and forties — The Golden Age — who made science fiction and fantasy the respected and popular literary genres they have become today."

As the title of the new series implies, Stories From the Golden Age features Hubbard's shorter narratives from that same period, ranging from celebrated science fiction and fantasy works to lesser-known yet still gripping western, mystery and adventure yarns. The 153 tales are being issued in an 80-book sequence over the course of approximately six years. To add an even more authentic vintage flair, Galaxy Press is also adapting each tale as a full-cast audio production, mimicking an old-time radio drama. These aural adventures are available on both CD and iTunes.

An unexpected player — Paizo Publishing, best known for their role-playing games — has emerged as a major source of long-lost pulp excellence, too, via their Planet Stories books. Published six times per year, each volume features a generally overlooked tale, often spotlighting comparatively forgotten writers like Manly Wade Wellman and frequent Weird Tales contributor Otis Adelbert Kline. Other issues focus upon such authors as Kuttner, C.L. Moore and Robert E. Howard.

Meanwhile, Sanctum Books continues their ongoing reprint program for such heroes as Doc Savage and The Shadow, with over 30 volumes already published devoted to each character. They've more recently launched titles focusing on more obscure pulp paladins like The Avenger and The Whisperer. At the same time, Age of Aces has embarked on an extensive program to revive long-ignored air combat stories from the 1930s, including Sky Devil, Smoke Wade and The Red Falcon, among others.

Though the days of the pulp magazine may be long gone, thanks to these intrepid modern-day publishers — plus websites like Pulp Engine, which introduce new audiences to altogether fresh idols — the popularity of pulp heroes endures.

Jeff Berkwits is a Hugo Award-nominated writer who grew up on a steady diet of pulp tales. Getting lost in the worlds of Doc Savage and John Carter of Mars remain popular pastimes, though he has also recently rediscovered classic air adventure stories. Jeff can be reached at scifiguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net.

May 24, 2010