Dark Invasion

Marvel Science Stories #5 (1935)

Mysta of the Moon - Chapter 22

Planet Comics #56 (September 1948) is a pulpy entry into the Mysta of the Moon serial. Veteran pulp artist Joe Doolin is credited with the cover and it really hearkens back to the style of the 20s and 30s speculative fiction magazines. The Mysta tale is penciled by Matt Baker and his signature style is pretty clear even with the 'good girl' aspect of his art not as evident. Baker may not be as suited to science fiction as he is to drama and intrigue tales yet he puts in a good showing.

As for this chapter of Mysta itself it is full of imagery familiar to fans of pulps. Robots, BEM's and the space ship wielding a giant spinning saw blade used to destroy buildings all evoke adventure mags of decades prior. The threat is from without this time and features what might be the first actual alien life form depicted in this series. It is never specifically identified as such but the villain of this tale is a colony creature suspended in fluid and may not be a genetically modified member of the human race used for labor as speculated in the other chapters.

The Safety Council and chairman Dirk Garro makes another showing and lends credence to the theory that the old government more friendly to Mysta and her decrees has been replaced. Domestic trouble at home is also on the horizon as the increasingly absent Mysta (who remains undercover with the Safety Council) causes Bron to become more dissatisfied with his role as her assistant and possible romantic interest. Mysta's robot is not utilized at all (except for perhaps a guard keeping an electric eye on Bron) and appears modified again to be more utilitarian, vastly different from the previous model of humanoid, transparent musculature before the appearance of Bron.

Uncensored Detective

Great cover for what is a run-of-the-mill detective mag despite the teasing title and salacious come-ons.


Uncensored Detective (December 1946).

Not so fast

True Detective (June 1956).

Scorpion Moon

Detective Story (May 1938).

Diamond Bomb

Female lead characters were poorly represented in the Pulp Era of magazines. For the most part any magazines that featured women in the lead were usually written for titillation for male readers or the young adult female audience. Unless the book was aimed at the homemaker, no pulp titles with a woman carrying the series comes immediately to mind. So in a flash of inspiration that struck when I was browsing through some Pulp and Noir art I made one up.

Diamond Bomb is a tough, practical dame from the mean streets of the city who isn't afraid to use a gun. Her past is hidden in mystery but some whisper she was the favored gun moll of notorious bank robber and cop-killer Michael "Boatswain" Sweeney.

Rumor has it when she fell out of favor with the ultra-violent "Boatswain" Sweeney the former Moll was marked for death. The hard-boiled blond went on the run, determined to gain revenge for the murder of her sister by single-handedly taking down the greedy criminal empire of the "Boatswain" Mob.

The Diamond Bomb pulp magazine mock-up is based on the classic July 1947 Black Mask magazine cover by Norman Saunders. The Black Mask pulp cover was used because it featured a blond packing heat and was easy to manipulate. Ideally though, in my mind the character resembles a "Maguire Girl". I have one of the Robert Maguire paintings specifically in mind that I feel perfectly represents the character of Diamond. Once I get the book of his collected art out of storage I'll post it up.

Once you go Dvorak you never go back

Weird Tales - The Unusual Romance of Ferdinand Pratt (September 1940).

Cosmos magazine frontispiece (July 1977)

Unsafe at any speed

Spicy Stories (September 1936).

Return of the Whispering Gorilla

In the original pulp story The Whispering Gorilla a crime-victim had his brain transplanted into the body of a gorilla. After fighting crime while becoming something of a celebrity the hero suffered a brutal beating at the hands of the local police, causing brain damage which reverted his human brain to that of a wild animal. When last seen, the Whispering Gorilla was being returned to Africa and set free to live among other apes in the hope that he would at last find peace. What no one anticipated is that the injuries suffered by "W. G." were temporary and he soon regained his human intelligence.

In the February 1943 issue of Fantastic Adventures the tale Return of the Whispering Gorilla was published. In this issue "W.G." is found alive and well (as well as a human brain can be after being placed into the body of a giant primate) in Africa. "W.G." is still fighting crime though this time it isn't petty mobsters he is attacking. This time he is fighting the incursions of the organized criminal cabal of the Nazi invasion into Africa.

In the 1940 issue of Fantastic Adventures the story was credited to Don Wilcox. In the sequel three years later it is David V. Reed penning the story with "permission by Don Wilcox". While many pulp stories are hit-and-miss when it comes to quality the move from the Whispering Gorilla as a Shadow-like mystery man to an heroic defender of the realm is welcome. Any sequel that features a gorilla pummeling Nazis is automatically superior to the original entry.


BONUS! "Introducing the Author" page profiling David Reed and featuring Fantastic Adventures editor Julius Schwartz many years before his tenure at DC Comics.

Weird and Headless

Amazing Stories - The Headless Horror (May 1944).

You have become a demigod!

From Mind Over Matter. Astounding Stories, January 1935. Story by Raymond Z. Gallum with art by M. Marchioni.

Never trust a beautiful woman

Man (February 1950).

Ocean Liners in the Sky

Amazing Stories, June 1930

Science Wonder Stories, July 1929

Wonder Stories, December 1935

Captain carrot and the Final Ark #3, February 2008
Amazing Stories, December 1926


 Ad for Disney Cruise Lines. In San Diego, 94E and Federal, 10-8-10.


My homage to the classic "floating ship" pulp covers, November 2007

You can read about the 1935 pulp story and the famous Frank R. Paul cover of Dream's End (and even read the entire story) via this archived Lady, That's My Skull link.

Pulp Sleestak

The moment she walked into my office through the door I forgot the first rule of detective work: Never trust a beautiful dame. There was something about her. Something special and I could sense it right away. She came breezing in on a cloud of expensive French perfume, all blond and soft curves and sharp, high cheekbones. From the way she was dressed I could tell she could afford an entire team of private dicks so if she came to a skid row P.I. like me it could only be for two reasons: She was desperate and had a secret.

"I was referred to you by a mutual acquaintance, Mr. Sleestak. You come highly recommended as a person who could get things done quietly and with out fuss. I can't afford this problem to be a matter of public fodder for the gossip columns."

"Why don't we start with your name." I said. I didn't bother to correct her notion about keeping things quiet. A lot of my cases usually ended with a lot of noise. The kind of noise that comes from the business end of a gun. I motioned her to a chair and she reluctantly took a seat. She was high class, that was for sure. She was almost able to keep the expression of distaste of her angelic face as she settled onto the chair. I wasn't one for housecleaning. I was sure that this skirt would burn her dress the first chance she got.

"I'm Susan Evers." She said. I knew the name. The famous, or should I say infamous Evers Family had their fingers in all kinds of pies in this town. She was rich. Real rich. "My estranged sister is out to destroy the family."

"Go on." I urged her, taking another drink from the bottle of cheap bourbon I always keep on hand in my desk. I tipped the bottle towards her in a silent offer of a drink, but she ignored my gesture. My already high estimation of her went up a couple of notches.

"As you may know, my family does not always get along." Miss Evers began. "In fact, my parents divorced early and fought for controlling interests in the family holdings for decades. Since in the event of their passing the family money and business goes to us children, my sister and I where used as weapons by each parent to control the other. My mother and sister, Sharon, who is my exact twin by the way, moved to England shortly after the divorce. It is only recently come to my attention that Sharon has been attempting to take control of the business by undermining my influence."

Getting mixed up in family problems was always bad news for a detective. Too much emotion and not enough facts cloud the issue. I've seen this before. People say it's about right and wrong but in the end it always come down to one thing. Greed. I nodded. "So why come to me? This seems like more of a matter for a shyster and not a low-rent gumshoe."

"I wish I could use the courts, but all the lawyers are being manipulated and some of them are in on the plan. Sharon has already impersonated me a number of times and is always one step ahead of my own team. Sharon signs paperwork and makes appearances as me and if I attempt to reverse one of "my" decisions I look weak, foolish or ineffective to the board of directors. That plays right into Sharon's hands."

"Mr. Sleestak, The shareholder's meeting is in two weeks and for the first time in 20 years our parents will be living under the same roof for the duration. It was Sharon's idea that we all get together. We will all be one big "happy family" again until the proxy vote is over and I'm worried that Sharon has laid some kind of trap for our parents. My fear is that Sharon will take that opportunity murder them and me in order to take control of the family business."

She started to cry then, and dabbed delicately at her tears with a lace handkerchief. At that point I knew that little bit of cloth was the luckiest silk to ever be extruded from the bowels of a caterpillar. If I had one weakness it was when a dame starts with the waterworks. She looked up at me. "I need your help to get the proof I need to stop Sharon, Mr. Sleestak. Will you take the case?"

"Yesssss." I said. "Call me Slee."

See the original cover here.

Dream's End

As a kid I read everything I could get my hands on. Mostly I read Science Fiction and Horror. Thanks to the SF/Fantasy boom in the 70's there was plenty of reading material available. What I did not notice right away was that many of the books I read were not new novels, but were collections or adaptations of stories published or serialized years before in various pulp magazines, with some stories going back to the 1930's. Once I knew this I looked for pulp magazines for my collection.

In the 70's and 80's Downtown San Diego was a pretty good source for used book stores and crazy homeless people. I'd spend every other Saturday looking through the former while dodging the attention of the latter. Pulp magazines were relatively inexpensive when you could find them and I could get a copy for $2-3 each. The same book today is $35 dollars and more.

Here's the first pulp I ever bought...



Unlike many of the books, the cover story was pretty good. Human minds transplanted into giant war machines...can't beat that. Not a new idea even back when this was first published (Frankenstein, anyone?) but it was well done.

A few years ago I discovered the cover to the December 1935 Wonder Stories, featuring the short story Dream's End. This is just an amazing cover and is a fan favorite of many for the surreal aspect of a ship floating above the city. It is in my top 10 favorite pulp covers and I just recently purchased a copy of my own. I don't know how I missed this for so long but I had never before seen it in either anthology books or during my searches, which was amazing because it is a great Frank R. Paul image. Paul was a prolific pulp artist for decades. FYI for the comic fanatics: he also did the art to the cover of Marvel Comics #1, featuring the Human Torch.

cover art and interior illustration by Frank R. Paul

Dream's End is a short story written by Arthur Connell. In it the world is breaking down, gravity changes, people and things vanish and strange things occur with increasing frequency. Soon, it is realized that the universe is a dream, and the dreamer is slowly waking up, causing the end of creation.

That story is basically an update on the old Zen tale of the Monk & the Butterfly, retold with a modern Science Fiction theme. My review of this story is that the cover art and interior illustration is far superior to the story itself. Oddly enough, this story has been referenced several times in various articles and papers, however briefly. The earliest reference I found to the story was in academia. In several instances it appears to have been mentioned without any first-hand knowledge of the subject matter. The phrasing of the early academic statement pops up later and leads me to believe that any subsequent mention was used only because it is was an obscure and interesting reference.

I believe I can safely speculate that such treasures would have stayed lost or unknown by the general public forever were it not for the proliferation of affordable scanners and inexpensive high-speed internet. Previously only scholars or hard core collectors were familiar with all the great work in the pulps. There are many thousands of examples of pulp art and published collections can't possibly present it all.

I would also say that the preservation of the rapidly decaying pulps, by the hobbyist-scanner and professional, has led in part to their increasing value and higher sales. Exposure of the product is never a bad thing from a business standpoint. When the images are archived by fans and made available on seller websites they must surely generate interest and sales. I know they did in my case. As I was made aware of an interesting book I was often inspired to track the original down for my collection.

For those interested in reading Dream's End, you can read it at this Flickr link.