Tagged: pulp heroes

ALL PULP PANEL-WHAT MAKES A PULP HERO?

PANEL QUESTION- Pulps, both classic and new, are chock full of heroes.  Larger than life action types who swing in, throw fists, sling bullets or magical blasts or some such, and then swing out having routed the villains, wooed the love interest de jour, and gone on to the next adventure.  But what are these heroic types made of?  What does a character have to have to be a Pulp Hero?   

Send your responses to allpulp@yahoo.com and they will be posted here!  THIS IS YOUR PANEL, TOO!

From Rob Davis-
Pulp heroes must have a strong, overriding sense of justice and/or right and wrong.

From Nancy Hansen-
A pulp hero is always inspiring. This is someone any of us could look up to in awe; a person who rises to the occasion, sacrificing whatever it takes to make sure justice is done. She or he may not be the strongest, smartest, or most skilled warrior in the group, but there is a feeling of competence, a dogged persistence, at least some self-discipline, and enough grit and determination to see a situation through. That is what it takes to keep these larger than life characters in there fighting when all hope is gone, energy is flagging, and the injuries are taking their toll—in essence to the last dying moment and ounce of strength. And because pulp heroes have made at least some kind of bonds with others in the tales, there is generally a supporting cast of characters with more specialized skills and interests who may wade to assist at a critical moment. Add a dash of good luck and a few shakes of quirky yet comfortably predictable behavior, stir well, and you have a rousing good story and the birth of a legend.

From Percival Constantine-
A pulp hero should be larger than life, a character who readers stand in awe of. A pulp hero needs to have style and flair with which he or she goes about their duties. A healthy dose of wit also doesn’t hurt.

From Martin Powell-
That’s best answered, I think, by a pulp hero.  Put in simplest terms, and in the words of Doc Savage himself:

“…Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice.”

Works for me.

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND BULLDOG EDITION 2/15/11

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
BULLDOG EDITION
2/15/11
PULP HERO ENCYCLOPEDIA WELL UNDERWAY, BUT STILL WANTS MORE!
Tommy Hancock and Barry Reese, editors and writers of TURNING THE PAGE, a volume dedicated to modern Pulp heroes created since 1955, report that they are well into completing essays and formatting this extensive volume.  Although originally planned to be a self published tome, TURNING THE PAGE will now be the first of hopefully many similarly themed volumes from Reese and Hancock published by Pro Se Productions. 
TURNING THE PAGE is a collection of essays and, when available, art that spotlights and gives brief histories and commentary on characters that have arisen since 1955 in the Pulp genre.  Reese and Hancock, working on an inspiration from Pulp legend Tom Johnson, announced this planned book late last year and both report that progress is being made, but they also want more characters to fill the pages!
“This,” Hancock states, “is to be the definitive reference guide for the Pulp Renaissance, at least that is our goal.  To do that, we need all the characters we can get that would qualify as pulp heroes. We have an awesome cast already, don’t get me wrong, some of them dating back to 1955 and some created within just the last few weeks.  But we want more.  Lots more.  If you have a character that you’ve created that fits a pulp genre (action, adventure, crime, western, fantasy, etc), then we want it in TURNING THE PAGE!”
If you are interested in your published creations (either in print or in e form in an e-publication and/or a well done, organized site) being reviewed for inclusion in TURNING THE PAGE, email the TURNING THE PAGE staff at thpulp@ymail.com.  If you have submitted your character already and have any new information or stories to add, Hancock encourages you to email that also.   Originally announced as being slated for March, Hancock reports that with the desire to include more characters as well as the move from self publishing to Pro Se, the more likely publication date will be April, 2011.  Stay tuned to ALL PULP for any and all updates!
BOOK CAVE CATCH UP!
Due to being ill and such, ALL PULP has not kept its stalwart readers caught up with the latest BOOK CAVE episodes.  Apologies to all who have waited with baited breath, but most of all to Ric and Art!  Find the last two weeks of BOOK CAVE episodes discussed below…
February 2011
Ron Fortier and Rob Davis joins Art and Ric to talk about the second annual Pulp Factory Awards coming to Windy City. My recording program stopped close to the end and muted my mic. You aren’t missing much, just Ric yelling like a crazy nut trying to tell the others that he was no longer recording. I think it was a couple of minutes before they realized I was gone.  ;-)  no All Pulp news this week, Tommy Hancock couldn’t get the nurses to let him out of his room in the nursing home. Be sure and check out the All Pulp site to see what is going on for this week.

Bill Preston returns to talk about “Clockworks”, his prequel to last year’s epic short story, “Helping Them Take The Old Man Down”.

HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT TO JOHNSONS’ EXCITING PULP TALES!

Tippin’ Hancock’s Hat-Pulp Reviews by Tommy Hancock
EXCITING PULP TALES
by Tom Johnson
Published by Altus Press
384 Pages

In this day of what is truly a modern Pulp renaissance, we are seeing fantastic new takes on old pulp concepts, new pulp heroes fighting new pulp villains, and new techniques used in telling two fisted action adventure tales.  All that new is necessary to move a genre into the forefront of modern reading, to make sure that a type of fiction continues to live for years and years to come.  Having said that, however, it’s also important, particularly for pulp, that our roots not be forgotten, that the magazines and writers who started this vital arena of heroic fiction be remembered and honored.  Not just in terms of reprinting the old standards.  No, we still need someone skilled enough and willing to write in the old style, to stick to the conventions established by the originals, to write new stories that read like old pulp.

Thank God that we have Tom Johnson to do just that.

EXCITING PULP TALES, Johnson’s latest from Altus Press, is a collection of ten new stories spotlighting little known and even obscure Pulp characters that have entered the public domain.  Names like Ki-Gor, The Purple Scar, Funny Face, and others that mostly didn’t make it past 2 or 3 original appearances fill the pages of this book with excitement, action, mystery, and enough humor to balance it all out.  Normally, I would go story to story and rate them, but with this collection, that’s not necessary.  Johnson emulates the style of pulp authors from the hey day of the medium with such precision and exact attention to not only the period and character elements, but also to the stylistic work of the individual authors.  These stories each could have appeared in a pulp magazine from the 1930s and 40s and fit perfectly.   Do they follow a formula? Yes.  Do they have heroes, villains, and some stock literary devices? Yes.  Do they stand out as some of the best pulp stories I’ve read in a while? You bet.

Are they perfect, though? No.  A couple of stories drag in places, getting more involved in setting the scene than telling the tale, but Johnson quickly pulls the reader back to where they need to be.  On the edge of their seat waiting for the next bullet to be fired or body to be found.  

Exciting? Yep.  Pulp?  No doubt.   Tales?  Ones I would read again and again for the most part.  Altus and Tom Johnson, both known for their excellent work in pulp storytelling, have most assuredly done it again with this one.

FOUR OF FIVE TIPS OF HANCOCK’S HAT-Overall, these stories are exactly what I feel Tom intended them to be.  New tales told in the old way bringing some excellent rarely seen characters to the spotlight where they belong.