An interesting nostalgia fanzine devoted to movies, books, radio, sci-fi, comics (books and strips), art, including pulp, was The New Captain George’s Whizzbang.
The bimonthly — later quarterly — lasted for 18 issues from 1968 to 1974. It was published by George Henderson (1929-92) out of his Memory Lane bookstore in Toronto, through his own Memory Lane Publications, also known as the “Vast Whizzbang Organization.”
Peter Harris was the editor and a large contributor. Derek Carter contributed artwork in many issues. And Canadian pulp expert Don Hutchison soon joined the zine and contributed a series on the pulp heroes, which was incorporated into his The Great Pulp Heroes book. And, yes, George Henderson is the “Captain George” of the Vast Whizzbang Organization.
It was actually one of several magazines put out by Memory Lane Publications/Vast Whizzbang Organization. There was another focused on comic books and strips Captain George’s Comic World (28 issues, 1967-69), renamed to Captain George Presents (#29-46, 1969-72). It’s incompletely indexed at The Grand Comics Database.
There was a weekly newsletter Captain George’s Penny Dreadful (1969-82), apparently mainly dedicated to movies, which ran over 600 issues. The ones I have were printed on 8.5-by-11-inch paper folded in half and feature several of the same writers. There was another one titled The Movies started in 1970 that I believe was later renamed Film Pictorial and The Movies, which was merged into The New Captain George’s with issue #7, but I have no idea how many issues it had. I’ve only seen the first one offered online.
The format of The New Captain George’s Whizzbang changed over time. Originally a tabloid newspaper publication, it was at first 11.5-by-15.25 inches on newsprint with 16 pages. With issue #7, it went to a magazine format and 32 pages. This was due to sales issues. That issue was 8.25-by-10.5 inches with a slick paper cover with newsprint interior. With #8, it went to 8-by-10.75 inches with white paper for cover and interior. For that issue and the next, it was 40 pages. With #10, it went to 8-by-10.5 inches with color paper covers. And with #12, the size went to 8.25-by-11.75 inches, and went to newsprint interiors with #14.
It was kind of crazy. You don’t really notice the size variations until you have them all and are trying to bag and board them.
Weirdly, they also stopped indicating the date of publication after the third issue, though they did note the year of copyright. Not sure the reason for this unless it was another way to help sales so older issues wouldn’t be returned, or the like.
And what I do not know is if there was a prior Captain George’s Whizzbang, seeing as this is the “new one.” The name reminds me of William Fawcett‘s Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang magazine, published before he got into comic-book publishing, and I suspect that was on purpose.
Content was a mix of various columns noting new books and the like, usually covering each in about a paragraph, with longer articles on different topics, photos, comic strip, and ad reprints, and the like. A good deal of the articles are on older movies, but there are lots on comics and comic strips. Production quality was pretty good as its clearly professionally printed.
But the focus here is on pulps, and there are several pulp articles throughout the run of this fanzine.
The first appeared in the third issue and is on Dashiell Hammett‘s Continental Op, written by Peter Harris. In #6, he did a general article on the pulps, and in #7, he did an article on the aviation pulps.
Don Hutchison’s articles started off with The Shadow in #8, then Doc Savage (#10). This was then a series now called “The Great Pulp Heroes,” with The Avenger (#12), Operator #5 (#14, also cover featured), G-8 (#16), and a review of Philip José Farmer‘s Doc Savage, His Apocalyptic Life (#17). And then with Wooda “Nick” Carr, he had an article on Russell Thorndike‘s Dr. Syn in the last issue (#18).
Don Miller contributed a general article on pulps in #11 titled “I Find Some Tattered Pulps Among My Souvenirs.”
Pulp artwork was also highlighted in several issues. There were portfolios of artwork by Virgil Finlay (#4), J. Allen St. John (#5). And in issues #13 and 18, there was “Pulp Parade,” which reprinted several pulp covers.
For most people, I don’t think there are enough pulp-related materials to track this down. Especially as you can get Hutchison’s book. There was enough other material here, such as on Canadian comics and related, that I enjoyed this fanzine.
I may pick up a few issues of Captain George’s Penny Dreadful, especially those that are more pulp-oriented, but there’s no way to build a complete collection of that.
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