Pulp Spotlight: Alan Moore

Hello pulp-friends,

this month spotlight is for one of the greatest (comicbook) writers of our times: Alan Moore.
He is the genius mind behind so many milestones of the sequential literature (From Hell, V for Vendetta, Watchmen to name a few) but he is also the creator of the Pulp series of the Greyshirt, Cobweb, and Tom Strong, all published in the anthological books "Tomorrow Stories" for America's Best Comics line (Wildstorm). If you haven't read these series yet, then do yourself a favor and try to find the back issues: thay are perfect gems for Pulp lovers like us.


Greyshirt is a clear tribute to the Spirit even if he likes to wear scarf and hat like the Shadow. To make it more classy, he also wears a tie and carries a nice cane. The man behind Greyshirt is Frank Lafayette, a former gangster turned vigilante after an explosion deformed his face and made everyone think he was dead. The art chores were held by Rick Veitch, who sapiently recreates the jungle of back-alleys and cement and asphalt seen in many stories of the Spirit.


Cobweb is the clasic femme fatale (and lethal), whose erotic power is enhanced by the fact that she wears see-through purple nighty and (seemingly) no panties. To make all this more hot, she has an assistant in a chauffeur's outfit (like Kato in Green Hornet!!!) who is also her lesbian lover. The art for the series is supplied by artist (and Alan's wife) Melinda Gebbie, who used her feminist erotica style to depict the strange adventures of this domino-masked heroine. The cool thing is that Melinda was using different approaches in each stories, making all of them visually entertaining.

We will talk later of the other pulp heroes created by Alan Moore and Co. for ABC. Meanwhile hope you guys enjoy my tributes to these series and have a great Pulp Sunday.

Cheers,
Francesco

P.S. Since I have been out all the weekend for a convention, I had to use some previously drawn art ;) (as you can tell from the dates) I hope that's cool with you and you enjoy them regardless :P

Pulp Spotlight is the new monthly feature where I will cover other famous characters that have helped to build the Pulp genre not just on the radio but also in the other media.

"Death Speaks Twice" (Feb 15, 1942)

After the little break with the Green Hornet (who will be back soon), we are back with the classic radio episodes of the Shadow.
This week episode starts in a prison, where an inmate, Marty, is trying to convince another one, Paul, that they need to break out of the place to get revenge on the judge that put them both there. A tiny important detail is that the judge is Paul's uncle and even if Martin is insisting that the judge framed his own nephew to put him away, Paul doesn't believe to that and he is willing, after 4 years already spent in jail, to do the remaining 2 years he has been sentenced to. Marty keeps insisting that Paul's uncle is evil and he is pushing Paul's beloved girlfriend to marry Paul's stepbrother. That makes it! Now Paul is decided to break out of the prison with Marty, but when Marty kills a guard during the attempt, he changes his mind. Weirdly enough Marty knocks him out and succeed in the plan carrying Paul on his shoulders.
That's the part I found strange: why does Marty insists to have Paul out of the prison? Well, the answer is in the episode (which I am not going to spoil ;) - Check the link below and you'll find out).


A very minutiosly planned and brilliantly executed murder, with the life of Lamont at risk and with Margo stepping in into the Shadow investigative operation, this episode has it all, including a recorder which turns out to be a key element to solve the case. The episode has been recorded in 1942, so just for the fun of it, above you can see what the common household recorder looked like at that time (this is from a 1942 catalogue). I LOVE the claim under the highlighted box: A complete Recordio lab in smart airplane portable cases! You gotta love that "small size, portable" vintage technology ;)

Enjoy the show and have a great (pulp) Sunday!

Francesco

Download from the Internet Archive

Pulp Spotlight: The Green Hornet

Well, after last week radio episode dedicated to another pulp icon such as the Green Hornet, this month spotlight should come as no surprise ;)

As for the Shadow, the Green Hornet has been around since the '30s and it has been adapted in many media: radio show, movies, tv series, and novels and comics. Created by Fran Striker, the Green Hornet tells the war against the crime conducted by this vigilante who is often helped by his (expert in martial arts) Asian manservant Kato. The man behind the mask is Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher by day, who uses his investigative reports to hunt down the criminals in the city with also the help of some cool gadgets and the technological equipped car (ala Batman!) known as Black Beauty.


The mask on his face has changed thorough the years (from covering just his lower face as a bandit, to the upper face to a full face mask) but the symbol of the green hornet has been always there to testify that this is indeed a hornet that stings!
In his TV series version, the Green Hornet is famous to have Bruce Lee in the role of Kato. Even if the series was up just for one season, it is still remembered nowadays for Lee's performance (the show was actually re-titled "the Kato show" for the Asian market).

Little interesting trivia: being created by the same writer, the Green Hornet real identity, Britt Reid, is the virtual grandnephew of another famous pulp character born from Striker's pen: the Lone Ranger! (who should appear on this blog at a certain point ;))

That's it for today. Feel free to gimme suggestions on who you would like to see portrayed in the future radio-shows or spotlight: there are so many characters that I don't even know where to start ;)

Have a Pulp Sunday, everyone!

Francesco

Pulp Spotlight is the new monthly feature where I will cover other famous characters that have helped to build the Pulp genre not just on the radio but also in the other media.

"The Ghost Who Talked Too Much" (May 25, 1939)

Another ghost story for this week, but with a different hero coming to save the day of the unlucky victims: the Green Hornet! We will get to the Green Hornet profile when he gets the spotlight feature, but for now let's enjoy the episode assuming you all are familiar with this other icon of the pulp genre.

In last week episode, the "ghosts" were after the fortunes of a rich woman. This week the "ghosts" are bringing their savvy counseling to the mourning relatives thanks to the special gift of a medium who can put the living in contact with the dead. Soon the Green Hornet and his faithful manservant Kato will discover that the dead have more practical interest than they should. Ghosts and real estate: that's a genius scam that sadly could also work in reality ;)

Before closing, please let me also thank Bill Cunnigham for sending me links to the radio shows of other pulp characters like the Green Hornet. Thanks, Bill :)

Enjoy the episode of "Il Calabrone Verde" and have a Pulp Sunday!

Francesco


Download this episode

"The Three Ghosts" (Oct 31, 1937)

Even if this episode was aired on Halloween and starts in what seems to be a haunted house, we will soon discover that (as usually happens in the Scooby-doo cartoons ;)) there is a perfectly logic explanation behind the supernatural phenomena happening in the mansion.
A woman is brought to madness by the newly married husband, a "professor" who turns out to be a crook just released from jail. The guy works with 2 "partners" who play the black widow card as well.

Speaking of card, it's interesting to see how The Shadow plays the terror card, literally, by throwing a half ace of spade to the professor menacing next time he will give him the other half as sign of his death sentence. the Shadow also use his hypnotic powers to have to professor kill one of his own partners.

There isn't much to add other than:
Enjoy the episode and have a Pulp Sunday!

Francesco

Download this episode

"The White Legion" (Mar 20, 1938)

A "shadowy" group of masked men who call themselves The White Legion - Avengers of Injustice - are kidnapping and executing by hanging (after some sort of trial) key witnesses in an upcoming high profile court case against a famous gangster. Somehow the press is not covering the activities of The White Legion which makes Lamont suspicious about the whole situation (as he witnesses, first hand, the kidnapping of the assistant D.A.).

Lamont's suspicions lead him and Margo to follow Clays - the newspaper editor - to a rundown shack on the river. That's where the Shadow is forced to come into the game...

I liked the idea of this masked organization, and even if the name reminds a bit of the well known triple K, the description of the outfit and the purposes of the White Legion in the episode made me thing more to some kind of Masonic organization, so I came up with the design for the guys that you can appreciate in more details (including personalized logo ;)) on the left.

Finally it's cool to hear Orson Welles and Agnes Moorehead at the end of the episode (which was what we would call "the season finale" of that winter) inviting the listeners to call Blue Coal and tell how much they enjoyed the Shadow shows and to ask for more. Without sponsor, as we all know, there is no show ;)

Enjoy the episode and have a Pulp Sunday!

Francesco

Download this episode

"Blood on Christmas" (Dec 30, 2007)

It looks like my little Christmas project has been successful (thank you, everyone, for the kind words about it) so I couldn't let it go without giving it a proper lobby card, in the tradition of Pulp Sunday :)
I also loved the idea that this was some sort of "Margo Year One" so I decided to include a little portrait of the faithful companion of our hero.

Holiday season is still on so I hope everyone is having a great time and I wish to you all and your families and friends a wonderful, serene, and pulpy 2008! :)

Have a Pulp Sunday and see you next year! ;)

Francesco