Tonight, My Love

In 1954 Mickey Spillane wrote and performed a Mike Hammer bit on an extended play 45 RMP record which tells the story of how he first met Velda who would later become his secretary. Velda is played by Betty Ackerman with music written and performed by Stan Purdy. So if you ever wondered what Mickey Spillane sounded like, especially when acting as his quintessential PI, head over to The Pulp Reader facebook page to check it out.

Click for audio at Facebook

Pulp Reference Online

The mysterious yet prolific Robert Sampson wrote a lot of reference books about the world of the pulps. Some are limited editions that now sell for astounding amounts of money, if they are findable at all. Certain books may never come to light again such as his seminal work on Norvell Page's SPIDER.

But Popular Press, an imprint of The University of Wisconsin has made available to Google Books several of Sampson's other texts. These are titles which are more readily available on the market, but hey, this is free... if you don't mind reading online. Certain sections of each book seem to be missing, but I'd say 90% of each is present.

Click the book TITLE to go to the books!

DEADLY EXCITEMENTS

History of the American pulp magazine. Includes such titles as The Shadow, Black Mask, Weird Tales, Scientic Detective Monthly and Scarlet Adventuress as well as characters like Doc Savage, Captain Future, The Spider, Phantom Detective, The Whisperer and Senorita Scorpion, quick-trigger blonde from Old Texas.

GLORY FIGURES

The pulp magazines dealt in fiction that was, by reason of the audience and the medium, heightened beyond normal experience. The drama was intense, the colors vivid, and the pace exhausting. The characters moving through these prose dreams were heightened, too. Most were cast in a quasi-heroic mold and moved on elevated planes of accomplishment. 

    This book and its companion volumes are concerned with the slow shaping of many literary conventions over many decades. This volume begins the study with the dime novels and several early series characters who influenced the direction of pulp fiction at its source.

STRANGE DAYS

The second volume within this series presents more than fifty series characters within pulp fiction, selected to represent four popular story types from the 1907–1939 pulps—scientific detectives, occult and psychic investigators, jungle men, and adventurers in interplanetary romance. Some characters—Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Craig Kennedy, Anthony (Buck) Rogers—became internationally known. Others are now almost forgotten, except by collectors and specialists.

THE SOLVERS

For the fourth volume of this series, Robert Sampson has selected more than fifty magazine series characters to illustrate the development of the character of the detective. Included here are both the amateur and professional detective, female investigators, deducting doctors, brilliant amateurs, and equally brilliant professional police. There are private detectives reflecting Holmes and hard-boiled cops from the parallel traditions of realism and melodramatic fantasy. Characters include Brady and Riordan, Terry Trimble, Glamorous Nan Russell, J. G. Reeder, plus many others.

DANGEROUS HORIZONS

In this fifth volume of the Yesterday’s Faces series, Robert Sampson has selected a host of series characters who adventured throughout the world in the 1903–1930 pulps. Sparkling brightly among these characters are Terence O'Rourke, Captain Blood, and the ferocious Hurricane Williams. More characters include Peter the Brazen, in China, Sanders of the River, in Africa—and much, much more.  

The Wrong Block

More animated Noir, this time it's a feature coming from Montreal:

FOLLOWING THE MYSTERIOUS AND TRAGIC DEATH OF HIS PARTNER, THE CITY'S TOP DETECTIVE, MAX BRADDOCK, RETIRES FROM THE FORCE AND BURIES HIMSELF IN THE BOTTLE.

ELEVEN YEARS LATER, AS HE ATTEMPTS TO PUT THE PIECES OF HIS LIFE BACK TOGETHER HE DISCOVERS THAT THE CHILD HE SWORE TO PROTECT THAT NIGHT, HIS PARTNER'S SON, HAS BECOME THE MOST FEARED CRIMINAL MASTERMIND IN THE CITY. DROWNING IN GUILT, MAX FIGHTS HIS WAY OUT OF PURGATORY AND TAKES IT UPON HIMSELF TO RIGHT THE WRONG HE COMMITTED SO MANY YEARS AGO...WITH THIS ONE LAST CASE.

THE CRUMBLING, URBAN BLIGHT IS THE BATTLEGROUND FOR THIS TWISTED, DARK TALE OF REDEMPTION, COURAGE, AND SACRIFICE.

SOMETIMES, YOU HAVE TO GO TO WAR TO ESCAPE YOUR PAST...AND MAX BRADDOCK IS LOCKED AND LOADED.

THIS IS THE WRONG BLOCK.

http://www.thewrongblock.com/

Stark and Cooke's The OUTFIT

Darwyn Cooke has a wonderful retro yet modern style to his art and has written some of the great stories of the last few years including the remarkable Justice League: New Frontier. Also he was the artist at the forefront of rebooting Will Eisner's The SPIRIT which has been running for a few years now.

He has now adapted a bit of hard boiled crime to graphic novel format. Usually I don't think comics and pulp go together that well. But from what I've seen of The OUTFIT this might be a good exception. My suggestion is the head to amazon and check out the "Look Inside" preview there.

There's a great, in depth interview at Comic Book Resources with Cooke talking all about the production of this latest effort. This is the intro which will give you some background and there's a link at the end for the interview.

There is no doubt that Darwyn Cooke and IDW Comics took a bit of a gamble when the decision was made to re-imagine Richard Stark's "Parker" hard-boiled crime thrillers into a series of graphic novels. But man, did that gamble pay off.

Last year, Cooke landed an Eisner for "The Hunter," which he adapted and illustrated, and the 140-page hardcover book also found a home on "The New York Times" bestseller list.

IDW released Parker Book 2: "The Outfit" today and CBR News spoke with the critically acclaimed cartoonist about the title character's latest exploits.

Originally conceived by Donald Westlake, under the pseudonym Richard Stark, Parker made his first appearance in "The Hunter" in 1962. The first novel was adapted into three different movies; "Point Blank" starring Lee Marvin, "Full Contact" with Chow Yun-fat and the Mel Gibson vehicle, "Payback." Parker, an anti-heroic criminal, ultimately appeared in 23 novels, including "The Outfit," which was published in 1963.

Cooke told CBR News that while he made some changes to the original story, every one of those types of choices was a difficult one. But he believed if he stayed true to Parker, a now deceased Westlake would certainly approve. Or at the very least, understand. He also revealed details about the remaining books in the series - "The Score" and "Slayground" - and teased a possible major project for DC Comics. And no, it's not a sequel to "DC: New Frontier."

Interview is continued here...