Captain Future was a cross between a Science Fiction Pulp and a Hero Pulp (such as Doc Savage or The Shadow). Curt Newton was a recurring character with a crew who met novel-length adventures each quarter. Created by Mort Weisinger and Leo Marguiles (during the first SF convention in 1939!), the character was refined by the main author, Edmond Hamilton. These quarterly magazines were targeted to younger SF readers so there was plenty of action and daring-do but Hamilton included ideas as well. Like all Pulp heroes, Newton had companions (known as the Futuremen) to help him in his adventures: the robot Grag, the android , Otho and the brain-in-box, Doctor Simon Wright. Planet Patrol agent, Joan Randall, provides a love interest. Curt’s ship The Comet is also a regular. The Futuremen received a series of short back-up pieces that were fictional but written like they were factual. The author(s) of these pieces are not known though it probably fell to assistant editors.
Edmond Hamilton wrote the majority of the stories though Joseph Samachson and Manly Wade Wellman did too. There is a good possibility that Leigh Brackett wrote or assisted on the later short stories. Some of the novels got paperback versions in the late 1960s, most with Herbert J. Bruck covers. In the years since, authors like Allen Steele have continued Cap’s adventures.
Rather confusingly, Ned Pines’ own comic book company, Nedor, had a character named “Captain Future” but he wasn’t Curt Newton but a Superman knock-off in Startling Comics. He is a scientist named Andrew Bryant who get zapped by super rays and gets powers. Imagine how disappointed I was when I thought the Pulp company had done a comic version of their Pulps. Oh well….
And imagine how excited I was to find that the first Captain Future novel Captain Future and the Space Emperor had actually been adapted in Exciting Comics #1 (April 1940) as “The Beast Plague From Jupiter”! This was on the stands two months after the first magazine. It appears old Ned Pines had tried it and perhaps didn’t like the results (?) The writer is not known but Max Plaisted did the artwork. Curt Newton is now called “Major Mars” but Grag still has his name.
Captain Future and the Space Emperor (Captain Future, Winter 1940) by Edmond Hamilton. The series began with a consistent artist in H. W. Wesso. He defined the look of the series with friendly and fun versions of Curt and his friends. The first issues were profusely illustrated. As the series wound down there was usually only one new image with plenty of stock portraits.
“The Futuremen: No. 1—The Metal Robot” (Captain Future, Winter 1940)
Calling Captain Future (Captain Future, Spring 1940) by Edmond Hamilton. Earle K. Bergey would provide most of the Pulp covers for Captain Future. He had a perfectly believable but fantastic look.
Captain Future’s Challenge (Captain Future, Summer 1940) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: No. 2—The Synthetic Man” (Captain Future, Summer 1940)
The Triumph of Captain Future (Captain Future, Fall 1940) by Edmond Hamilton was reprinted a Galaxy Mission.
“The Futuremen: No. 3—The Living Brain” (Captain Future, Fall 1940)
Captain Future and the Seven Space Stones (Captain Future, Winter 1941) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: No. 4—Marshal Ezra Gurney” (Captain Future, Winter 1941)
Star Trail to Glory (Captain Future, Spring 1941) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: No. 5—Joan Randall of the Planet Police” (Captain Future, Spring 1941)
The Magician of Mars (Captain Future, Summer 1941) by Edmond Hamilton This was the last novel to get the full Wesso treatment. Illustrations will become fewer with more stock portraits.
The Lost World of Time (Captain Future, Fall 1941) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: No. 6—The Comet” (Captain Future, Fall 1941)
Quest Beyond the Stars (Captain Future, Winter 1942) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: No. 7—The Moon Laboratory” (Captain Future, Winter 1942)
Outlaws of the Moon (Captain Future, Spring 1942) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: No. 8 Captain Future’s Boyhood” (Captain Future, Spring 1942)
“Treasure on Thunder Moon” (Amazing Stories, April 1942) by Edmond Hamilton is a side story int he Captain Future universe. It does not feature Cap or his three famous helpers. Instead it focuses on minor characters who run through the Cap novels. Strangest of all, Hamilton sold it to rival magazine, Amazing Stories and Ray A. Palmer.
The Comet Kings (Captain Future, Summer 1942) by Edmond Hamilton This was H. W. Wesso’s last Captain Future. His first appearance had nine images while his last only four. Later issues would receive even less.
“The Futuremen: How Curt Newton Became Captain Future” (Captain Future, Summer 1942)
Planets in Peril (Captain Future, Fall 1942) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: Captain Future Trails the Chameleon” (Captain Future, Fall 1942)
The Face of the Deep (Captain Future, Winter 1943) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: The Puzzling Case of the Space Queen” (Captain Future, Winter 1943)
Worlds to Come (Captain Future, Spring 1943) by Joseph Samachson as William Morrison
“The Futuremen: The Birth of Grag” (Captain Future, Spring 1943)
Star of Dread (Captain Future, Summer 1943) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: Captain Future’s Strangest Adventure” (Captain Future, Summer 1943)
Magic Moon (Captain Future,Winter 1944) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Futuremen: The Metamorphosis of Simon Wright” (Captain Future,Winter 1944)
Days of Creation (Captain Future, Spring 1944) by Joseph Samachson as Brett Sterling. This one got artwork by Virgil Finlay, which should be a reason to jump up and down. But, sadly, not that special. This book was reprinted as The Tenth Planet.
“The Futuremen: The Amazing Creation of Otho” (Captain Future, Spring 1944)
Red Sun of Danger (Startling Stories, Spring 1945) by Edmond Hamilton. This book was reprinted as Danger Planet. Frank Frazetta covers are cool because old FF drew those great Buck Rogers covers in the 1950s.
Outlaw World (Startling Stories, Winter 1946) by Edmond Hamilton. With this issue the majority of the interior art was done by Paul Orban. This is cool because Orban had drawn the interior art for Doc Savage through the 1930s. Who better to draw the Doc Savage of Space?
“Forgotten World” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1946) by Edmond Hamilton is a second side story. This time it stayed in the Better Magazines family, going to Startling‘s sister mag, Thrilling Winder Stories.
The Solar Invasion (Startling Stories, Fall 1946) by Manly Wade Wellman as Brett Sterling.
“The Return of Captain Future” (Startling Stories, January 1950) by Edmond Hamilton
“Children of the Sun” (Startling Stories, May 1950) by Edmond Hamilton
“The Harpers of Titan” (Startling Stories, September 1950) by Edmond Hamilton
“Pardon My Iron Nerves” (Startling Stories, November 1950) by Edmond Hamilton
“Moon of the Unforgiven” (Startling Stories, January 1951) by Edmond Hamilton. “Galactic Trouble-Shooters” sounds like Oscar J. Friend begging for more readers.
“Earthmen No More” (Startling Stories, March 1951) by Edmond Hamilton
“Birthplace of Creation” (Startling Stories, May 1951) by Edmond Hamilton. “Well Done and Farewell” has the editor, Oscar J. Friend, saying good-bye to a relic of the 1940s. Science Fiction is moving in a new direction, and it isn’t ray guns and pow-pow. But as he says, “So do not say good-bye but farewell.” Space Opera is slowly taking a nap, but 1977 is only sixteen years away. (Wait for it!)
Conclusion
This was not the end for Captain Future. His legacy would inspire other space heroes as well as morph into new versions like the Japanese cartoon. For Edmond Hamilton, he would return to space with a very Cap-like Christ KL-99 in DC’s Strange Adventures. The ironic part of this is that Mort Weisnger left Ned Pines’ company in the summer of 1941 and went to DC Comics. Edmond Hamilton dove seriously into comics around 1946 when the original magazine run of Captain Future ended. He found himself working for Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger, writing Superman and other DC comics. When DC decided to do a Science Fiction anthology comic in 1950, it only made sense to hire writers like Hamilton, along with Gardner F. Fox, H. L. Gold, Manly Wade Wellman, Otto Binder and artists, Virgil Finlay and John Giunta.
E. C. Tubb, a big fan of Hamilton and his wife, Leigh Brackett, would pen the Cap Kennedy novels for DAW in the 1970s (as Gregory Kern). (More on these in another post.) The Captain Future spirit lives on!
Thanks to the scanners at PulpScans for the wonderful images. Also thanks to ISFDB for covers and info.
