Character pulps
Hero pulps, also called single-character pulps, were magazines named for and featuring a lead novel about a single character. ShadowThe The Shadow was the first hero pulp magazine.
Background
Before the debut of ShadowThe The Shadow in 1931, pulp magazines comprised short stories and, often, serialized novels. Regular characters were not uncommon in the pulps before that time. Characters such as TarzanCharacter Tarzan, Zorro Zorro, ConanCharacter Conan and others appeared periodically, but not regularly in magazines named after them.The success of StreetandSmith Street and Smith’s decision to name a pulp after a single character, and feature that character in a lead story each issue, triggered a rush of hero, or single-character, pulps. PhantomDetectiveThe The Phantom Detective and DocSavage Doc Savage followed in 1933. Soon news stands were stocked with pulps titled Operator5 Operator #5, DustyAyresandHisBattleBirds Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds, SecretAgentX Secret Agent X, WuFangTheMysterious The Mysterious Wu Fang and CaptainFuture Captain Future.
The character pulps rode high for nearly 20 years. Then television, movies, comic books and paperbacks finally took their toll and the pulps vanished in the 1950s.
The phrase “character pulps” is a bit more inclusive than “hero pulps” since several of the magazines that fit this genre featured a villain as the title character. Among those pulps featuring villains were The Mysterious Wu Fang, Doctor Death and The Octopus.
Key character pulps
Though there were numerous small publishers that put out character pulps, the majority were published by Street and Smith, Popular Publications, Thrilling (Standard/Better Publications) and Ace (Magazine Publications/Periodical House).Here is a rundown of their key character magazines:
StreetandSmith Street and Smith
- The Shadow (1931-49) 325 issues.
- Doc Savage (1933-49) 181 issues.
- Bill Barnes, Air Adventurer (1934-35) 20 issues, numerous stories (including as a backup in Doc Savage).
- The Skipper (1936-37) 12 issues, 40 stories as back-up series in Doc Savage.
- The Whisperer (1936-37, 1940-42) 14 issues/10 issues, 25 stories as back-up series in The Shadow.
- The Avenger (1939-42) 24 issues, plus six stories (five in Clues Detective magazine and one in The Shadow).
- The Wizard/Cash Gorman (1940-41) four issues/two issues.
PopularPublications Popular Publications (and affiliates)
- The Spider (1933-43) 118 issues.
- G-8 and His Battle Aces (1933-44) 110 issues.
- Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds (1934-35) 12 issues.
- The Secret Six (1934-35) four issues.
- Operator 5 (1934-39) 48 issues.
- Mysterious Wu Fang (1935-36) seven issues.
- Dr. Yen Sin (1936) three issues.
- Captain Satan (1938) five issues.
- The Octopus/The Scorpion (1939) one issue/one issue.
- Captain Combat (1940) three issues.
- Captain Zero (1949-50) three issues.
ThrillingGroup Thrilling (Standard/Better Publications)
- The Lone Eagle (1933-43) 76 issues.
- The Phantom Detective (1933-53) 170 issues.
- The Masked Detective (1940-42) 12 issues, with one story as a backup in Thrilling Mystery.
- The Ghost/The Green Ghost Detective (1940-44) four issues/three issues, six stories as a backup in Thrilling Mystery.
- Captain Future (1940-51) 27 issues.
AceMagazines Ace Magazines (Magazine Pub/Periodical House)
- Moon Man (1933-36) 39 issues.
- Secret Agent X (1934-39) 41 issues.
- Captain Hazzard (1938) one issue.
