For those of you, like me, who aren’t attending Windy City pulp convention, you can do it virtually, thanks to Matt Moring at Altus Press.

Matt’s posting updates and photos (such as the one at left) on his blog, From the Pulp Publisher, at Altus Press’ Web site.

Photos of the auction tables make me sorry I'm not there (and loaded with spendable cash).

(Thanks to Tom Johnson for originally posting this on the Pulp Fiction Uncensored group at Yahoo.)

— William

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Back in 1937, Warner Bros., purveyors of those classic Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, put out a short called “Speaking of the Weather.”

The actual toon seems rather dated these days. It's just a musical number “performed” by a variety of cartoon characters.

But what makes this interesting for the pulp fan is that the toon is set on a magazine rack. You see a range of contemporary magazines, many real and others fictional; from The Etude, Popular Mechanics and Woman’s Home Companion to “pulps” The Gang Magazine, Jungle Stores, The Spider, Operator 5 and other “Sweet & Smiff” magazines.

What I like about this cartoon is that it puts the magazines in context of their times. The average movie-goer then probably was very familiar with the magazine stand and those magazines.

It’s like a glimpse into a time machine.

If you’ve not watched it before, click to watch it below:



— William

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Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze - for better or worse - is officially available on DVD finally.

The 1975 movie, staring Ron Ely as Doc Savage, used to be available in authorized VHS and LaserDisc formats, but only bootleg versions have been available on DVD.

But you won’t find the new DVD release on Best Buy shelves, or any other store’s for that matter.

The film will be available through Time Warner’s new print-on-demand service, which opens the Warner Bros. film archive for purchase from the Warner Archive Collection online store only.

The Man of Bronze, as well as all of the other 154 currently available films, can be purchased as a DVD for $19.95 starting today. (Some films also can be purchased as a download copy for $14.95, but Doc Savage currently doesn't appear to be one of them.)

From the description, the store appears to be offering the widescreen version of The Man of Bronze, rather than the pan-and-scan version that's often seen on TV.

So (in my mind at least) the debate begins... Buy a copy just to have it in my collection (and replace the so-so quality bootleg version) or not?

Update: So after a few hours of internal debate, I did it. I ordered the DVD last night. (I also discovered that shipping is free.) When it comes it, I'll let you know about it.

— William

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Ads about the Watchmen movie, which opens Friday, are all over the TV and Web this week. They’re hard to miss. So, why not something about Watchmen on a pulp blog?

Pulp heroes are important in the genesis of a “masked adventurer” in the Watchmen graphic novel.

As a diversion from pulp reading last summer, I picked up a copy of the graphic novel Watchmen, by writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons. I knew little about it, but had read rave reviews over the years and knew there’s a movie in the works. So I thought it would be worth reading.

Much to my surprise, pulp magazines, in particular The Shadow Magazine and Doc Savage, play a part in the story early on.

Each chapter of Watchmen (each originally was a single issue of the series) features a typical comicbook narrative with panels, then ends with several pages of text. The first chapter includes the first two chapters of the supposed autobiography, Under the Hood, of Hollis Mason, who was the first Nite Owl. (Stephen McHattie, pictured above, plays him in the movie.)

He recounts his childhood during the Great Depression:

When the gap between the world of the city and the world my grandfather had presented to me as right and good became too wide and depressing to tolerate, I’d turn to my other great love, which was pulp adventure fiction. Despite the fact that Hollis Mason Sr. would have had nothing but scorn and loathing for all of those violent and garish magazines, there was a sort of prevailing morality in them that I’m sure he would have responded to. The world of Doc Savage and The Shadow was one of absolute values, where what was good was never in the slightest doubt and where what was evil inevitably suffered some fitting punishement.

I haven’t seen the movie version of Watchmen yet, so I don’t know if there is any reference to pulp heroes in it. I doubt it since there is so much story to cram into the roughly two-and-a-half hour movie. Nonetheless, there’s that tip-of-the-hat to them in the printed version.

— William

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I had intended to write an entry regarding the PulpFest flier that arrived in the mail on Saturday. On how, in the past, the arrival of a pulp convention newsletter generated a flurry of posts on the alt.pulp or Yahoo pulp newsgroups. But that this one hadn’t and that it had been fairly quiet so far.

The reason, I was going to propose, was the excellent communication the PulpFest team has had with the online pulp community over the past few months. Also, that the PulpFest Web site has been regularly updated with plenty of information about the upcoming event.

How, in the past, PulpCon news came out in dribs and drabs, in a newsletter, possibly a second newsletter, a few months later, then a new page or two on the PulpCon Web site. And how, even now, there has been little news of this year’s PulpCon.

Well, that has changed.

After registration information for PulpCon was removed from its Web site, there was some speculation on newsgroups, but no information.

I was in the process of updating the PulpEvents list that appears on the front page of ThePulp.Net, so I sent an e-mail to PulpCon committee member Richard Clear to confirm the dates of the gathering.

The reply I received was brief and to the point:

PulpCon will not be held this year. Take at look at Pulpfest.

With attendance slipping at PulpCon the past few years, something needed to be done to re-invigorate the convention. Without rehashing the whole story, the new PulpFest was the result of efforts in this regard by some of the PulpCon committee members.

Since 1972, PulpCon has been a fixture on pulp fans’ calendars. I’ve sent in my annual membership since the mid-1990s, even though I’ve been able to attend only one PulpCon. So it’s sad that there’s not going to be an “official” PulpCon this year. I’m sure PulpFest will be a strong successor. I hope the name PulpCon returns to the PulpEvents schedule in the future, but attached to a re-energized, re-invigorated and relevent convention.

— William

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