‘Bronze Knuckles’

Bronze Knuckles is a recent New Pulp fanzine I discovered. The main emphasis of the fanzine is pulp hero stories, but other pulp-inspired stories are carried. Its slogan is “Keep Pulp Alive.” It’s done through a Patreon and six issues are out so far with a seventh on its way. More on the Patreon down below.

The issues are about 40 pages long, about 8- by 10.5-inches in size, and saddle stitched. They use an off-white paper inside that I think was chosen in imitation of the color of pulp paper, which I thought was a nice touch. The covers are in full color, with black-and-white interior artwork. Due to the length of the issues, some stories get serialized over 2 or more issues. There is a section in each issue giving profiles of all the creators, which I like.  In addition to the stories there are a few reviews and occasional non-fiction pieces.

It’s published by Splash Comics, and it’s a “sister” publication of Yeet Presents. The editor-in-chief (and I guess publisher) is Scott Mollon.

#1 (May 2022) kicks things off with three serialized stories, a stand-alone story, and a two-page comic strip. First off is the three-part “Moontreader” by Shane Luttrell, set in a fantasy world. An elderly and bored king disappears, and a knight and an elf tracker named Moontreader are looking for him. Will they succeed and come back safely? Next is the two-part ‘pulp hero’ story of Junkman by James Weaver. Next is a two-part story starring a villain, High Marshall Barrekarden, by Scott Mollon, where he faces a supernatural force in Peru. The stand-alone story by Jon Erin Mundy is about occult detective Ulysess Solomon Occult and his meeting the Heap, the swamp creature from the Golden Age comics.

I don’t have #2 (June 2022) yet, as copies were not available. They plan on reprinting it, and I hope to get it when I get #7. I know we get the first of a multi-part story of Ichabod Crane, Monster Hunter.

#3 (July 2022) has a comic strip starring Atomic Thundermouse. And the first chapter of a reprint from a Lone Ranger Big Little Book, The Menace of Murder Valley.

#4 (Sept 2022) gives us a short story by Scott Mollon about Cragmar the Barbarian as he tries to fit into suburbia. We are introduced to Clark Stout and his wife Patricia by Shane Luttrell. Clark is a mental and physical marvel. Visually I get a Reed Richards and Sue Storm vibe from them. We get the first of a two-part story with them dealing with a werewolf.

#5 (Oct 2022) is a Halloween Special, with “Bloody” drawn over “Bronze” on the cover. We get a diverse set of five short stories with a general horror theme.

#6 (Dec 2022) has the new story using Adventurers Inc, which is the highlight of this issue for me. William Bogart created this trio when he took one of his Doc Savage novels and changed Doc, Ham, and Monk into Rush Randall and his associates. One author did create a new Adventurers Inc. novel, but this group has rarely been used. This should be the first of what may be several new adventures. There are a pair of one-page stories by John Michael Helmer. And chapters two through six of a reprint from a Lone Ranger Big Little Book. There is also a non-fiction piece about the writer’s father’s interest in The Shadow.

As noted, this magazine is done through a Patreon campaign. To get new issues, you need to be part of the campaign. This is different from other fanzines which have used Kickstarter or similar to launch the fanzine, with issues being available via Amazon POD. Here you must be part of the zine’s Patreon to get current or past issues. In addition, there is also an associated Facebook group. So I joined the Patreon and was then able to obtain the past issues. I look forward to future issues and encourage others to check them out.