I recently got Jim Main‘s Pulp Fan #6, dated Fall 2022. This issue is themed around Doc Savage, starting with a great cover by Brad Olrich and includes several great articles. Like other issues, it is printed on slick paper with color covers and interiors, running around 30 pages in total.
From long-time pulp researcher and the new Kenneth Robeson, Will Murray, we get a long article looking at Ryerson Johnson, who is known mainly for ghosting three Doc novels: “Land of Always-Night,” “Fantastic Island,” and “The Motion Menace.” We learn that the original outline for “The Motion Menace” by Johnson was rejected, so Murray reused it for his new Doc novel The War Maker. But the bulk of the article is on a section of “Fantastic Island” that was removed involving giant turtles.
Dennis Kininger gives his list of the top 10 Doc villains. Does this match up with yours? Yes, John Sunlight and Cadwiller Olden make the list. But who else?
Finally, from Michael F. Housel, we get an article on Emery Clarke, who was a pulp-cover artist that did the Doc covers after R.G. Harris at the start of 1938 until being replaced by Modest Stein in 1943. He also did other pulp covers, including The Phantom Detective. We get a good overview of his life and career and three pages of his covers, with lots of his Doc covers.
It’s another great issue. I’m told the next one is being worked on and will focus on another pulp hero. I’m not sure who, but I think I have an idea. Get it if you can, and other issues may still be available. This has always been a good fanzine to obtain.
