In the next in this series of articles, I take an overview of one of the major pulp publishers and their pulp heroes: the Frank Munsey Co.
Frank Munsey is very important to the pulp field because he created the idea of pulp magazines: inexpensive all-fiction magazines published on cheap pulp paper. The first pulp magazine is considered The Argosy. Other early pulps his company published would include Munsey Magazine, All-Story Magazine, Cavalier and others.
It was in Munsey’s magazines that characters like Tarzan, Zorro, Semi Dual, The Mongoose, The Park Avenue Hunt Club, and others were published. Munsey passed away in 1925, but the company continued until they sold out to Popular Publications in 1942 which continued several of their magazines.
While Munsey published several pulp characters in the earlier years, as mentioned above, during the post-Shadow pulp hero boom, they didn’t get into pulp hero trend to the degree that others did. Most of them they kicked off in 1940 under the “Red Star” line. Some of their pulp heroes included:
■ Park Avenue Hunt Club (1934-44): This long running series by Judson Phillips was very popular. It’s claimed that Popular Publications’ Secret Six was inspired by this group. The group itself seems inspired by the Four Just Men of Edgar Wallace, published in British magazines from 1905-29. The Hunt Club consisted of four men: John Jericho, former big-game hunter who loved to fight; Arthur Hallam, strategist; and Geoffrey Saville, former intelligence officer and leader of the group. There is also Wu, their Chinese cook and houseman who also aided them with his knife. This series has been collected by the Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. But would love to see a more reasonably priced collection.
■ Anthony Hamilton (1935): Anthony Hamilton is a secret agent working in counter-intelligence, written by Max Brand, well known author of westerns. I am not aware of any reprints of this character.
■ Green Lama (1940-43): As noted, in the 1940s, the Munsey Co. finally got into the pulp hero world with several of their own characters, though few lasted very long. First up was the most successful: the Green Lama. As I covered in a prior posting, this character lasted 14 stories, and then lived on in two comic book series, a radio show, and might have gone on to TV fame. Altus Press has reprinted the originals, and we are getting new stories as well.
■ Doc Harker (1940): Doc Harker is a roving salesman, who sells patent medicines from a wagon, and encounters crime in his travels. Only lasting three stories, all have been recently reprinted by Altus Press.
■ Blue Ghost (1940): The Blue Ghost appeared in a couple of serialized stories in Detective Fiction Weekly, but don’t know much about him. Be nice to see this character reprinted.
■ Don Diavolo (1940-41): Don Diavolo, the Scarlet Wizard, is another magician-detective. Lasting four stories, he was reprinted by Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, but is now out of print.
■ Matalaa (1940-41): Matallaa is a sort of Tarzan clone, though set in the South Pacific. He is a survivor from a shipwreck raised by a witch doctor to fight evil. Lasting four stories written by E. Hoffman Price, he has recently been reprinted by Altus Press.
■ White Eagle (1941-42): The White Eagle (or Big Chief) is an anomaly among pulp heroes: one of the rare non-white heroes. He is an actual American Indian, and set in the West. But I’m not certain if his stories take place in modern times or the past. He lasted three stories, but not aware of any reprints.
So check out the Munsey heroes. Or better yet, check out the many works that this company put out over the years.
