As previously noted, the fanzine Echoes ran from 1982 to 2002. Published by the late Tom and Ginger Johnson, 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 third and longest format change, that occurred for issues #17 through #80. So to wrap up this series, I’ll be doing more than the usual.
These issues are 8.5- by 11-inches and stapled along the left side and 50 pages. They are on white 20-pound paper. Many have Frank Hamilton covers and interiors, but not all. The nice logo that Frank Hamilton created was dropped after issue #24, after which there was no consistent Echoes logo.
There are also letter pages, reviews, and a few columns. We get many works by leading pulp researchers like Al Tonik, Link Hullar, Don Hutchison, Nick Carr, Dickson Thorpe, Howard Hopkins, Will Murray, and others. As usual, I will not note every article, just the ones I found most interesting. While we get a lot of articles on popular pulp heroes, we also get articles on western and romance pulps, digests, and movies.
Echoes #17 (February 1985): The highlight of this issue is the cover article by Ted Baglin on the aviation heroes. He contributed the cover art and art for the article. Rick Lai has an article on The Shadow and his confronting a group that is clearly the KKK in one story. Another by Victor Berch looks at Emile Tepperman‘s career outside of the pulps. And Will Murray looks at who wrote The Phantom Detective, a matter that was worked on for many years.
Echoes #18 (April 1985): We get a nice Frank Hamilton cover highlighting pulp artist Norm Saunders, which ties to an article on him by Dickson Thorpe. Rick Lai writes about The Shadow’s foe Dr. Rodil Mocquino. Nick Carr writes about Dr. Zeng, since reprinted by Steeger Books, and starts a column of “Spider Notes” on, of course, The Spider. Link Hullar starts an occasional column of “Pulpwoody Paperbacks” beginning with The Destroyer series. Howard Hopkins, who will provide several articles on Doc Savage stories, here looks at the best and worst of The Avenger paperback covers. Will Murray looks at the final Operator #5 series, the unfinished “Yellow Vulture” storyline, and compares it with Arthur Leo Zagat‘s “Tomorrow” series, since reprinted by Steeger Books.
Echoes #19 (June 1985): This issue has another nice Frank Hamilton cover somewhat tied to Howard Hopkins’ article on pulp-related radio shows. Nick Carr gives us the first of a two-part article on The Green Lama. And from Allan J. Isobel, we get a look at John D. MacDonald, better known for Travis McGee, in the Doc Savage pulp and sf pulps.
Echoes #20 (August 1985): This time has a Frank Hamilton cover highlighting Roy Rogers, which ties to an article by Link Hullar and Tom Johnson on the Roy Rogers books from Whitman. Bob Sampson writes on Senorita Scorpion, hence reprinted by Steeger Books. I did enjoy the article on advertisements in the pulps by James Edward Parten and Dafydd Neal Dyar. Will Murray takes a look at the Candid Camera Kid series, or more precisely, what happened to his last story. Where, like other Thrilling pulp heroes, the character was renamed before appearing in print. Now appearing as Johnny Wells instead Jerry Wade.
Echoes #21 (October 1985): It has another Frank Hamilton cover, this time with Joe Friday of Dragnet, tying in to an article by Jerome Collins. Will Murray writes about Johnny Saxon, a character created by William G. Bogart for a series of novels. These have all been reprinted by Steeger Books. Rick Lai looks at the brothers Zaroff. Robert Kenneth Jones provides the first of a two-part article on Adventure that would later be turned in the book The Lure of “Adventure”. Allan Isobel writes about Lester Dent in Adventure, with “Jonathan’s Falcon” in the May 1944 issue. Has this been reprinted somewhere?
Echoes #22 (December 1985): Tom Mix is the subject of Frank Hamilton’s cover, tying to John A. Dinan‘s article. Author Charles Spain Verral gave a taped speech at that year’s Pulpcon, and we get a transcript of it. He was the main writer on Bill Barnes. and Will Murray provides an article on the character as well.
Echoes #23 (February 1986): I believe Michael Avallone is the subject of Frank Hamilton’s cover, tying to an article by Link Hullar on his historical novels. Walter Gibson recently passed and we get items on him by Nick Carr and Will Murray. Robert Sampson looks at an early pulp master criminal, Anthony Trent. Don’t think his stories have been reprinted. We get two articles on Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.
Echoes #24 (April 1986): We get the last Frank Hamilton cover for a very long time, and the last use of his Echoes logo. His cover is based on a Doc Savage cover by Robert G. Harris, tied to an article on him by Nick Carr. Will Murray looks at who Lars Anderson, the creator/author of The Domino Lady, really was. Bob Sampson has an interesting look at what pulp magazines are. Nick Carr takes a look at Matalaa, the White Savage, a series reprinted by Steeger Books. We get two more tributes on Walter Gibson, one by Rick Harvey and the other by Tom Johnson and Link Hullar.
Echoes #25 (June 1986): Going forward we would get various takes on a cover logo, this time from Ted Bagline. The Crimson Clown is the subject of an article by Andy Biegel Jr. and Nick Carr. Albert Tonik speaks of trying to figure out who Jackson Cole, credited as the author of the Jim Hatfield western series. Carl Shaner writes again about a British “pulp” hero called Captain Justice (previously in Echoes #7). I wonder if this character might be a good candidate for reprints? Bob Sampson looks at an early “bent” pulp hero, Mr. Laxworthy. Stark House Press has reprinted two of his stories in one volume. This is the first use of the tagline “Echoes presents Fading Shadows,” which was intended to usher in a new name, but it didn’t happen. Yet they continued to use it going forward.
Echoes #26 (August 1986): We get the first of many Ron Wilber covers, though we do get a Frank Hamilton back cover. Will Murray writes about the pulp The Feds. Nick Carr goes over western hero Silver Buck. Gary Lovisi looks over various books on pulps that existed at the time.
Echoes #27 (October 1986): We get our first color cover by Ron Wilber this time. And the first use playing with the magazine name, here going with Startling Echoes. Al Tonik looks at the U.N.C.L.E. magazines. Nick Carr writes about pulp villains Wu Fang and Dr. Yen Sin. Jim Anthony is the subject of Dickson Thorpe’s article.
Echoes #28 (December 1986): Ron Wilber provides both front and back covers, both rendered in red ink. We get a reprint by Frank Munsey that ran in one of his magazines about the establishment of the firm. Nick Carr writes about The Purple Scar, since reprinted by Steeger Books with new stories from Airship 27. We get three articles looking into the matter of insanity and the pulp hero by Tom Johnson, Link Hullar, and Nick Carr.
Echoes #29 (February 1987): Ron Wilber provides both front and back covers, both dealing with The Red Mask, which ties to an article by Nick Carr and Tom Johnson. Adventure House has done facsimile reprints of two of his pulps. Allan J. Isobel provides an article on the the hard-boiled dames of Gun Molls. Doug Ellis looks at the character of Awlo of Ulm from a short series in Amazing Stories from 1931. Western hero Freckles Malone is the subject of Nick Carr’s article. And Will Murray looks at the Doc Savage movie.
Echoes #30 (April 1987): Ted Baglin provides the cover that ties to his article on aviation heroes, which he also illustrates. James Ellis adds to this with an article on George Bruce’s Squadron. We get two illustrated one-page articles by Mario DeMarco on The Spider and actor Victor Jory. This will be the first of several such works by him that seem reminiscent of illustrated newspaper pieces. Robert Sampson provides the first in a series of personal remembrances titled “Starting Again.” I think as an experiment, this issue had several pages where different colored ink was used. Some pages are blue or purple, or maybe red, instead of black. This will continue for several issues.
Echoes #31 (June 1987): Nick Carr and Tom Johnson write about The Phantom Detective. Gary Lovisi looks at the Prince Zarkon series. Will Murray writes on the less known 1950s Flash Gordon TV series. John Roy provides as look at Canadian pulps.
Echoes #32 (August 1987): We get two articles on Mike Shayne, one by Tom Johnson looking at the femme fatale The Black Lotus, and the other by author James Reasoner. We get a series of linked articles by several writers on the theme of pulp heroes and the death-defying syndrome. Frank D. McSherry Jr. looks at the “Monster Maker” series from Blue Book.
Echoes #33 (October 1987): The cover by Larry Latham on The Black Hood ties to the article by Will Murray on this rare comic to pulp hero. Nick Carr and Link Hullar look at western hero Flash Steele. And we get a reprint of a newspaper article on pulp artist Frank R. Paul.
Echoes #34 (December 1987): Ron Wilber’s cover of The Suicide Squad ties to the article by Don Hutchison, with the name Ace Echoes Stories. Albert Tonik looks at the development of popular fiction from story papers to dime novels to pulp magazines to paperbacks and wonders what may come next.
So it’s a good set of issues with some great articles and art. I do miss the Frank Hamilton artwork. It’s nice to see some of the more obscure topics covered. I look forward to the next set.
