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Pulp magazines, often called simply "pulps", were inexpensive text fiction magazines widely published in the 1930s - 1950s. The first "pulp" is considered to be Frank Munsey's revamped Argosy of 1894. Most of the few pulps still thriving today are science fiction or mystery magazines.The name comes from the cheap woodpulp paper on which they were printed. Magazines printed on better paper and usually offering content more oriented towards family reading were often called "slicks." Pulps were the successor to the " penny dreadfuls" and " dime novels" of the nineteenth century.
Though many respected writers wrote for pulps, the magazines are perhaps best remembered for the fast-paced, lurid, sensationalistic and exploitive stories often featured in their pages. Pulp covers were famous for their half-dressed damsels in distress, usually awaiting a rescuing hero.
1 Genres
Pulp magazines can be categorized into the following genres:
- Detective/Mystery
- Romance
- Science Fiction
- True crime
- Sports
- General
- Western
- Character (the precursor to the superheroA superhero is a fictional character who is noted for feats of courage and nobility and who usually has a colorful name and costume, and abilities beyond those of normal human beings. Superheroes spend much of their time battling monsters, natural disaste fantasy genre)
2 Characters
Popular regular pulp fiction characters included:
- The AvengerThe Avenger is a fictional character whose adventures were published from 1939 to 1942. He was a pulp hero who combined elements of Doc Savage and the Shadow though he was never as popular as either of these characters. The Avenger is actually Richard Hen
- BigglesMajor James Bigglesworth known to all as Biggles , is a fictional character created by W. He first appeared in the story "The White Fokker", published in the first issue of Popular Flying magazine. The first collection of Biggles stories, The Camels are C
- Conan the BarbarianConan the Barbarian is a literary character created by Robert E. Howard in a series of fantasy pulp stories published in Weird Tales in the 1930s. Setting The Conan stories take place on Earth, but in the mythical (created by Howard) "Hyborian Age", betwe
- Doc SavageDoc Savage is a fictional character, one of the most enduring pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. The character was created by Street and Smith Publications executive Henry Ralston and editor John Nanovic, but fully realized by Lester Dent, who wrote most
- G-8G-8 was an heroic aviator during World War I in pulp fiction. While not as dramatic a character as Doc Savage or the Shadow, his stories where often outlandish with many supernatural or science fictional elements. External links .
- Sexton BlakeSexton Blake is a fictional detective who has appeared in many British comic strips and novels. He first appeared in the story "The Missing Millionaire," by Harry Blyth (writing as Hal Meredith), in The Halfpenny Marvel #6 on December 20, 1893. He appeare
- The ShadowThis article is about the radio/pulp magazine/comic book hero. For other meanings, see shadow (disambiguation). The Shadow was best known as the hero (or anti-hero) of a long-running network radio show and pulp magazine. Later, he was featured in comic bo
- The Spider
- Tarzan
- Zorro
3 Authors
Many well-known authors wrote for the pulps at one time or another. Note that many people would make a distinction between an author who wrote for the pulps but later went on to transcend the limitations of the genre, and a "pulp author," who did not.
Well-known authors who wrote for the pulps include:
Many classic science fiction and crime novels were originally serialized
in pulp magazines such as Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, and Black Mask.
The format eventually declined (most dramatically in the 1950's) with rising paper costs, competition from comic books, television, and the paperback novel.
The genre also gave name to the movie Pulp Fiction.
Magazines
