This post is brought to you by Madam Murder, the third novel in the Wild Inc. series by Jack Mackenzie. Doc Savage style action in the present day with bumbling Harry Calhoun trying to find his place inside the Wild Inc. organization. Someone is killing people and her name is Madame Murder!
Pulp heroes, the really popular ones, show up in other media. Movies, serials, and later TV, but usually Radio was first. Radio created the first Hero Pulp character, The Shadow. The comics came after, often published by the same companies that put out the Pulps. Street & Smith gave us both Doc Savage and Doc Savage Comics, adapting some of the super-sagas in those comic pages but also creating new adventures as well. Many of the writers who penned the Pulps also helped out on the Radio and comic versions.
Some characters like Doc Savage and The Shadow have several different comic versions over the decades, while other characters had to wait until Pulp nostalgia brought them to comics. Independent comics like Dynamite Comics and Moonstone Comics have made a cottage industry of Pulp-related titles since the 1990s. In this post we are going to look at the first comic, the first story, the first writer and artist for each of these famous Pulp icons. Some are clunky Golden Age affairs while others are much slicker and modern publications.
The Shadow
The Shadow began his life as an anonymous voice (done by Orson Welles) that grew into a character. He first appeared on Detective Story Hour, July 31, 1930 still largely a shadowy blob. Eventually he became Lamont Cranston. The first Pulp bearing his name was “The Living Shadow” (The Shadow #1, April 1, 1931) written by Walter B. Gibson as Maxwell Grant. The hero Pulps always used house names so they could replace their writers if they wanted. Nine years later Street & Smith decided to get into comics. The first issue of Shadow Comics appeared on January 12, 1940. “The Shadow” was the first comic about this character. Unfortunately we know very little about it. Will Murray has confirmed that Walter B. Gibson did not write it. We don’t know the artists either. This first story has the Shadow take out a ring of foreign spies known only by a number.
Doc Savage
Doc first Pulp was “The Man of Bronze” (Doc Savage #1, March 1933) written by Lester Dent as Kenneth Robeson. Doc comics had a try-out in Shadow Comics before getting his own comic for twenty issues. When that comic was cancelled he returned to his first home. (They also gave him a stupid hood.) This first outing was written by an unknown author. Only Monk appears from his crew of five assistants. This first story has Doc and Monk in Africa to stop von Guyter from stirring up a revolt. They rescue Mary Fuller too. Pretty tame stuff. For more Street & Smith’s Doc Savage Comics.
The Avenger
The Avenger first appeared in The Avenger #1 September 1939, written by Paul Ernst as Kenneth Robeson. His first comic was “The Yellow Hoard” in Shadow Comics #2, February 21, 1940 based on the novel. (Imagine that! A comic with the three top hero characters in it!) The adaptor is not known. For more on The Avenger comics, go here.
The Phantom Detective
The Phantom Detective was created by Pulpster, D. L. Champion but appeared under the house name G. Wayman Jones and then Robert Wallace beginning with Phantom Detective #1 (February 1933). The comic version ran in Thrilling Comics #53-70 from 1946 to 1949 as well as America’s Best Comics #26 in 1948. The Phantom Detective shared his comic with The Lone Eagle who also had his own aviation Pulp. This first story was written by Robert Wallace (house name). The PD takes on the criminal mastermind known as the Rajah. he uses cobras to kill victims and throws knives.
The Spider
The Spider first appeared in “The Spider Strikes” (The Spider #1, October 1933) by R. T. M. Scott at first but later was credired to Grant Stockbridge who was mostly Norvell W. Page. The first comic had to wait sixty years. Timothy Truman wrote and penciled the comic for Eclipse Comics in 1991. Inks by Enrique Alcatena. The character would return in later decades for Dynamite.
The Black Bat
The Black Bat had an unusual evolution. Any character who resembles Batman would. The original character appeared in six issues in 1931, nine years before Bob Kane would draw Bruce Wayne. The second incarnation appeared for the first time in Black Book Detective, July 1939, (several months after Batman) and is a different character essentially. The author was Norman A. Daniels as G. Wayman Jones. It is this second Black Bat that got adapted in May 2013. It was written by Brian Buccellato. Being a Dynamite comics it had five covers. I picked my favorite.
Conclusion
Where are the rest of the Hero Pulp crew? Operator 5, G-8, Doctor Satan, Captain Satan, etc. Well, the superheroes quickly followed the Pulp heroes and the comics became very crowded. If a Pulp title wasn’t burning off the shelves, there was little chance a comic version was going to happen. Of course, there were plenty of other Pulp heroes I haven’t included because of their fantastic nature including Tarzan, Conan, Zorro, Captain Future, and the detectives, Sam Spade, Ellery Queen, The Saint, Mike Shayne, etc. I haven’t even mentioned the Westerns.
But there is something special and different about pure Hero Pulp. Doc Savage comes closest to Science Fiction but never quite goes there. The Shadow, Doc, The Phantom Detective, The Avenger and friends have an aura of fun that isn’t quite Superman outrageousness nor Sci-Fi weirdo. They dwell in a world of big characters, big events and exciting action without the capes and silver underwear. Their comics also reflected this world where true heroes can exist.
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