Alex Ross and the pulps

[TPN Editor]

I finally got around to purchasing and reading Kingdom Come, the graphic novel by Alex Ross and Mark Waid. It was good; the artwork was great. (I say it was only ìgoodî because of my long-standing complaint with comic books: They are a high cost per minute of enjoyment. For instance, the paperback version of KC was about $15, yet it took only a couple of hours to read. But this is another discussion altogether.)



Getting back to KC... About half the way into the story, there's a panel showing a newsstand with a hawker selling newspapers and magazines. In the background is a rack full of pulps -- Startling Stories, Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, Cowboy Stories, etc. (I guess in this alternate universe, the pulps never died!)



You can see Alex Ross's true appreciation and respect for the characters heís painting -- Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, etc. It would be great if Ross would tackle a pulp character with the same respect, reflecting the nature of the original pulp character and the time during which the character was created and appeared (yet, updated themes would be appropriate).



I always thought the first few issues of the 1970s The Shadow comic showed a respect for the character. He wasn't just dropped into a standard formulaic comic, like Doc Savage was in the Marvel b&w books. (I have to admit I've not read The Spider graphic novel from a few years back.)



Just thinking out loud (or at least in print).

[eblackhawk]

You have to remember that Alex Ross is too young to truly appreciate the rich and vibrant history of the pulps! However, I may be all wet and he just hasn't "got around to it"!

As far as Kingdom Come not taking you long to read...Well, you needed to drool over the pictures more!

Eric