There has been a lot of interest in pulps lately over on the other boards, so I thought it might be a good time to start a pulp thread here.

There has always been a good deal of crossover interest in pulps from collectors, particularly GA collectors. That shouldn't really come as a surprise, since in many ways the first comic books could be seen as the offspring of the pulps. Many of the early comic book publishers were in the pulp business first; likewise for a number of writers and artists. The superhero genre has its roots in the hero pulps – before there was Superman and Batman, there was Doc Savage and the Shadow; there was John Carter of Mars and Tarzan; Conan and Kull; Buck Rogers; Zorro and many others.

I know there are pulp collectors among the members and regular posters here, so let’s see ‘em!

I'll start with some of the oldest pulps in my collection. In April 1926, publisher Hugo Gernsback launched Amazing Stories, the first publication of any kind devoted entirely to what would later be called "Science Fiction." Amazing Stories was an large-size 'bedsheet' pulp which contained classic reprints from speculative fiction pioneers like Poe, Verne and Wells, as well as original material from contempory writers like Burroughs, A. Merritt, Lovecraft, Jack Williamson, E. E. "Doc" Smith and others.

This is the historic first issue from April 1926:

This is the third issue with Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth as the cover story.

I should also mention that all of these classic early sf cover are by the legendary Frank R. Paul, who's probably best known to comic fans for doing the cover to Marvel Comics 1.


Fourth issue:

Sixth issue:

The ninth issue and the last one from 1926.

Those pulps are awesome!!!! I have just started collecting these. Heree are a few that have already arrived:

Great books, Josh!

That Fantastic is awesome - imagine what comic with a cover like that would go for.

You are so right. The pulp covers are incredible and pretty much blow away most comic covers of the era.

Wow, these are all awesome!!!!

Beginning in January 1927, Gernsback did something novel that would later have great implications for the comic book industry/hobby. He began publishing the addresses of the readers who wrote in to the letters page, allowing fans to be able comunicate directly with each other for the first time. It was from those early letters pages that sf "fandom" was born. In fact the the terms "fan" (a clip of "fanatic") and "fandom" were coined by this early sf community.

Soon you had fanzines and fan get-togethers, that eventually led to conventions (the first in 1939). Comic book fandom is a direct offshoot of that early sf fan community and a number of individuals of importance to the comic book industry came from those early letter pages of Amazing Stories - Jerry Siegel, Julie Schwartz, Mort Weisinger, and Forrie Ackerman to name a few.

Here's the February 1927 issue. This marks Edgar Rice Burroughs first appearance in the magazine with a reprinting of "The Land that Time Forgot" and the cover is a scene from that story. U-Boats vs. Dinosaurs - gotta love that!

Great Dinosaurs vs. Submarine covers!

1927 also saw the publication of the first (and only) Amazing Stories Annual. This rare pulp is one of my favorite books in my collection. It contains the first publication of a full-length Burroughs novel – The Mastermind of Mars.

Here is the most recent addition to my massive seven piece collection. Part of the ERB Tarzan and the Immortal Men serial is included.

We had our annual 2-day con this weekend and I picked up this great book for $30. I had seen the hard cover before at $150, but this was the first time I had a chance to grab the soft cover.

Very cool Mike!

I'm looking foward to seeing some of your acquisitions now that you're getting into pulps.
The st. John book hasbeen on my want list for a while too - I need to pick one up.

I recently had a massive sell-off of my pulps, but here are the ones I kept... we'll start with the A's...

The B's...

The C's...

The D's...

Very impressive! Keep 'em coming!

You certainly have a lot of pulps if this is after the sell-off.

Mike

The F's...

The G's...

The H's...

The J...

The K...

The L's...

The M's...

The N's...