This was a book I first saw at Barnes & Noble some time ago, and I considered buying it. Instead, though, I added it to my Amazon wish list and decided to think on it some. That was several years ago. Every now and then I would look at it, intrigued by the beautiful art of those old pulp magazines - from heroic to horrific, from sci-fi to strange, from damsels in distress to dangerous villains. Those old covers featured pretty much any thing you could possibly imagine in your mind's eye, bringing them to life in such vivid ways, it's no surprise they sold so well back in the day. But alongside the beautiful art, the book provided the history of those beautifully painted covers. Well, this past Christmas, I received the book as a present, and I couldn't have been happier! After years of looking at it, I finally had it in my hands and could actually read it.
The Art of the Pulps takes a look at the complete history of the period of pulps, from its inception at the end of the 19th century to its heyday in the early 20th century, to its "demise" in the mid-20th century. Edited by Douglas Ellis, Ed Hulse, and Robert Weinberg, this oversized hardcover is chock full of covers of many, MANY pulp magazines that were published throughout the decades. After a brief foreword by F. Paul Wilson (who is probably best known for his "Repairman Jack" novels) and an introduction by Douglas, the book offers up 12 glorious chapters of pulp art, each chapter focusing on the many facets of pulp history - from adventure to detectives ... from westerns to sci-fi .... from sports to romance ... from horror to fantasy. Just about every genre imaginable was published in pulp form. There's even a chapter that focuses on the "heroes" of the pulp era, including The Shadow, Doc Savage, and others; and, less we forget, there's a chapter that shares some of the history of those spicy pulps that many people automatically picture when they think of "pulp" magazines - super-sexy covers with very scantily clad women (and in some instances, bold, in-your-face nudes! The book concludes with a chapters that look at the famous artists of the pulp era and the famous writers from that time.
I will admit, I skimmed some of the chapters that discussed genres for which I have no interest - westerns and sports being the top two. Now, that's not to say I didn't pour over the art on the covers showcased therein - but the actual history given, I ignored (no offense to Ed Hulse or Michelle Nolan, who authored those chapters). But as for the other chapters? I read every word, soaking in not only the gorgeous, painted covers, but the detailed history shared by the authors of those chapters - and I learned quite a bit that I did not know about pulps! For instance - did you know the man who originally got Atlas Comics (later renamed Marvel Comics) was originally a publisher of pulps? Nope, neither did I! And did you know there was a pulp magazine (
Spicy Mystery Stories) that featured a cover advertising a story about the "Bat-Man" - in February 1936, some three years before DC Comics would premier its own "Batman"! Nope, I definitely didn't know that one. And even more surprising (for me, at least) - did you know that a number of famous authors had a hand in writing pulp stories - Arthur Conan Doyle, O. Henry, Jack London, Raymond Chandler, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Heinlein, Max Brand, Edgar Rice Burroughs, among others? I certainly did not! This book offers up a wealth of information that I otherwise would have never known, and for that, it was well worth the money.
But, let's face it - it's really the art that is the major draw for the book. The amount of covers reproduced in this book is awe-inspiring. I'm not sure where they were able to get such beautifully preserved copies of these books to scan the covers (unless they were not so great and were photo-shopped to clean them up), but they are so absolutely gorgeous, you can't help but spend quite a lengthy time staring at each page, wanting to soak up every detail of every cover.
The All Story magazine ... Blue Book magazine ... Mystery Story magazine ... Black Mask ... Gun Molls ... Bull's Eye Western Stories ... Smashing Western ... Flying Stories ... Sky Aces ... Fight Stories ... Knock-Out Magazine ... Lover's Magazine ... Thrilling Love ... Thrilling Mysteries ... Dime Mystery Magazine ... Marvel Tales ... Ghost Stories ... Weird Tales ... The Secret 6 ... The Spider ... Capt. Hazzard ... Dan Dunn ... Jungle Stories ... Hollywood Nights ... Tattle Tales ... and so, so, SO many others. I could keep looking at this book for weeks on end and probably still never take it all in.
So many talented artists ... so many surprising authors ... and so much care was taken to put this book together. Pulp historians Douglas Ellis, Ed Hulse, and Robert Weinberg deserve some very high praise for the effort they put into making this book as perfect as it is. It truly is a wealth of information and reference, and based on the back cover blurb, it has over 400 "rarely seen pulp covers and original illustrations." I just went to a local comic convention this past weekend, and there was a dealer there who specialized in pulp magazines - so I spent quite a bit of time at his booth, looking over all of his magazines, smiling to myself as I recognized not only titles that I had never even heard before before reading this book, but characters and even some of the covers (the prices, on the other hand, were something I did not even want to look at!). This book has been an eye-opener, and it has also piqued my curiosity with some of the obscure titles (such as
Gun Molls, a short-lived magazine in which women were the protagonists in the stories), and I've begun a search to find some of those issues at some reasonable prices that I can afford!
If you area fan of pulps, or even if you are just curious about the cover art (as I was), then this book is a MUST HAVE!
RATING: 10 damsels in distress out of 10 for doing such a wonderful job of preserving this era of stories and art for future generations - may the pulp live on forever!
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