As previously noted, the fanzine Echoes ran from 1982 to 2002. Published by the late Tom Johnson with his wife Ginger, it is probably the longest-running pulp fanzine. Because of the changes in format, I’m not going with a strict 10 issues per posting. So we move to the fourth format change, that occurred for issues #81-100.
These issues are now 7- by 8.5-inches, saddle stitched, and about 50 pages. For issues #91-100, colored paper was used for the covers. I see several of the same authors in these issues that sadly I don’t think continued in fandom after this. As before, I’ll be noting only the more interesting articles. We get several multi-part articles as well. An ongoing column was “Comics Commentary” by Bill Thom that would cover more than comics and then become “Pulp Coming Attractions.” Another is the “Weird Column” by Steve Mitchell.
#81 (July 1995) We get a nice profile of Joseph Payne Brennan, by John A. Dinan, a weird-fiction author who I think is largely overlooked today. John Edwards looks at the characters in The Phantom Detective. Dickson Thorpe looks at Railroad Stories pulp.
#82 (August 1995) Nick Carr starts a nine-part series on the Masked Rider. Al Tonik writes on Donald Dayne Hobart, a writer of pulp mysteries and westerns. Burk Leake provides a two-part article on Kerry Keen, The Griffon, which will be followed by further articles on this aviation pulp hero.
#83 (October 1995) Bud Overn looks at aviation pulp hero Bill Barnes. Timothy Ray Dill, who has been writing on various characters from The Shadow, looks at Slade Farrow. Kristin Ladnier has a different article on the use of pulps in the classroom.
#84 (December 1995) We get a trio of linked articles by different authors on “nukes in the pulps.” Shawn Danowski looks at several issues of The Phantom Detective to show how the series did have changes. Kristin Ladnier has an article promoting Behind the Mask.
#85 (February 1996) Shawn Danowski looks at weird-menace pulps, and Allen Mueller looks at Henry Kutner‘s weirder mystery tales. Rick Lai looks at the chronology of Wu Fang and Yen Sin.
#86 (April 1996) John Edwards starts a five-part series on Dan Fowler, G-Man. Rick Lai looks at Fu Manchu and Cthulhu. Andy Salansky looks at the Jim Hatfield western series.
#87 (June 1996) Burk Leake now looks at Robert Hogan‘s Red Falcon. Timothy Ray Dill looks at the creation of The Shadow novel “The Golden Vulture” by Dent and Gibson.
#88 (August 1996) Shawn Danowski look at seven stories from Nick Carter Magazine. Burk Leake writes on Dusty Ayres.
#89 (October 1996) Burk Leake has another article on Dusty Ayres. Tim Dill has an interview with the founder of Vintage New Media, who was making available classic pulp via electronic media at the time.
#90 (December 1996) Burt Leake writes on aviation pulp author Arch Whitehouse.
#91 (February 1997) Nick Carr starts the first of a five-part series on The Range Riders. Burk Leake does an “interview” with Dusty Ayres. John Dinan writes on Newspaper Adventure Stories, a rare pulp. Rick Brooks writes on pulp-magazine letter columns.
#92 (April 1997) Shawn Danowski writes about Julia Sinclair, the Opportunist from Thrilling Detective. Has this character been reprinted? Burt Leake again starts writing on The Griffon. Will Murray looks into the mystery of who G. Wayman Jones was. I think by now this has been resolved. Rick Lai writes about the mysterious character known as “The Shadow” in The Phantom of the Opera. And Philip Rey has an article on Captain Future.
#93 (June 1997) Shawn Danowski writes on the short-lived, early pulp hero Doctor Coffin. Burt Leake now looks at Bill Barnes. And John Dinan writes about the “B” western pulp, Movie Western.
#94 (August 1997) Burt Leake again looks at Bill Barnes. Will Murray examines who reinvented The Phantom Detective. Nick Carr writes on the passing of Fred Cook, probably best known for publishing the early Doc fanzine Bronze Shadows.
#95 (Oct 1997) Rick Brooks writes on his favorite pulp hero: Lensman Kimball Kinnison. Al Tonik kicks off the first of a six-part series on the 100th anniversary of the pulps. I wish the reproduction of the pulp covers, here rendered as black/white thumbnails, was better. I guess you can always go online and see what they look like in glorious color. Tom Johnson looks at the revival of Alias Mr. Death, a series that has been reprinted by Steeger Books. Burt Leake continues his look at Bill Barnes, now on the series running in Doc Savage. And Will Murray looks into who might have written the pulp Lone Ranger stories. Has this been answered?
#96 (Dec 1997) Nick Carr looks at western-pulp hero Silver Trent. We get two related articles by Will Murray and John Edwards on The Phantom Detective and a sort-of knockoff character called The Blue Ghost. Jerry Page writes on Ray Bradbury in Planet Stories.
#97 (Feb 1998) Nick Carr again writes on Silver Trent. Will Murray works on another mystery about The Phantom Detective. Jerry Page tells us of an overlooked western story by F.R. Buckley. John Dinan looks at the end of the long run of Frank Merriwell stories in the pulps.
#98 (April 1998) Jeff Zverloff looks at the comicbook adventures of The Avenger, though only the DC Comics appearances. Nick Carr has another Silver Trent article. John Dinan looks at Jewish PIs. Burt Leake does a different article on the aviation pulps, this time looking at a story that kind of forced the reader to suspend their disbeliefs.
#99 (June 1998) Carleton Grindle writes about detective John Carstairs, created by Frank Belknap Long. Burt Leake again returns to The Griffon. Nick Carr writes about western pulp character Bullwhip McCracken. Will Murray looks into the mystery of who the anonymous author mentioned in an article in The Author & Journalist.
#100 (August 1998) This blow-out issue clocks in at 80 pages vs the 50 or so of the prior issues. Nick Carr has four articles. One contemplates the 100 issues of Echoes, another is his final notes on The Spider, and the next is his final notes on Operator #5. Then he lists some of his favorite pulp covers. Will Murray has one more article on The Phantom Detective. Burt Leake writes about Donald Keyhoe‘s Jailbird Flight series, now reprinted by Age of Aces. John Dinan has an update on pulp premiums. Tom and Ginger write about their trip to Cross Plains, Texas. And Carleton Grindle tells us about the Vampire Queen from Planet Stories.
After this, Echoes would continue for another 76 issues as a “newszine” from #101 (September 1998) to the final issue, #176 (December 2004). The main thing was running Bill Thom’s “Pulp Coming Attractions,” after which “Pulp Coming Attractions” moved to the web until shutting down in early August 2020. It now exists as a Facebook Group. It’s sad to think I wasn’t able to put out these reviews on Echoes until after Tom had passed away and “Pulp Coming Attractions” had ended.
I only have a couple of the newszine versions, XXX and #176 itself. Both are 8.5- by 11-inches in size.
Beyond that are the two Echoes special editions I have previously noted and reviewed here.
Again, I would really like to see some of this non-fiction work preserved. We need to reprint the works of Nick Carr, Al Tonik, and others. Heck, even if we were able to reprint these articles in the volumes reprinting the stories they talk about that would be great.
