 "The
Incredible Pulps"
Introduction by Frank M. Robinson
Collectors Press, 2006
Pulp magazines have
always held a special place in the heart of every American bachelor with
their lurid stories pressed between lurid painted covers. It showed a world
of adventure and rugged heroes--heroes fighting off gangsters, mad scientists,
and bug-eyed monsters from helpless, mostly captured and bound women. Because
the pulps were made to be consumed and thrown away, very few artifacts
from this genre exist today. Those that do survive today are crumbling
away due to the cheap materials used--hence the name "pulps" referring
to the cheap pulp paper publishers used. The Incredible Pulps
shows classic pulp magazine covers in all their colorful glory as if they
were just put out on the newsstand. Even today these covers pack a punch
mixing half-naked beautiful women with horrifying and gruesome images.
These images were powerful and even though their main purpose was to get
you to buy the magazine, they still effect you on a gut level. The
Incredible Pulps is just a quick overview of the world of pulps,
giving you a taste of the four major genres--science fiction, horror, mystery,
and adventure/western. The introduction by Frank M. Robinson
is a good primer for those wanting to learn the basics of pulp history.
For a more in-depth history, see books like The
Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines by Peter Haining
(which covers the classic era of pulps) and It's
A Man's World: Men's Adventure Magazines, the Postwar Pulps
by Adam Parfrey (which covers the later history of pulp magazine
publishing).
Buy this book from
Book Shelf Archives>>>
|
