Fighting Crime One Dime at a Time by Ed Hulse (editor)

For several years I’ve been on a quest to learn more about the old pulp stories and heroes. I’ve read quite a few of them now, in several different series and plan to sample a lot more in the future. But I know I’ll never be able to read them all. And that’s where books like this come in.

Per the Murania Press Website, “In the summer of 2002, long-time friends Ed Hulse, Mark Trost and Rick Scheckman launched Blood ‘n’ Thunder, an amateur journal for aficionados of adventure, mystery, and melodrama in American popular culture of the early 20th century.” As a quarterly publication (with a few gaps), a treasure trove of material has been accumulated over the years. Occasionally, a “Blood ‘N’ Thunder Presents" collection comes along, of which this volume is the third.

As the title implies, this volume is devoted to the crime fighting heroes of the pulps, particularly the “single character” type of heroes such as The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Lone Ranger, Black Bat, The Phantom, etc. Ed Hulse provides a marvelous introduction and summarizes the history of these pulp crime fighters. Fourteen articles follow as well as an appendix which provides two early comics that heavily borrowed from pulp characters.

Knowledgeable authors contributed these articles, including Will Murray, Mark Trost, John Coryell, Joe Rainone, Larry Latham, and of course Ed Hulse. The only article I didn’t really care for was also among the longest, “Masked Rider of the (Pulp) Plains – A History of The Lone Ranger Magazine”. The first part was great, describing, in detail, the history of the magazine and its impact. But then we are presented with a whole host of individual plot summaries of the stories, including the endings for all of them. Spoilers abound!

I would be hard pressed to name my favorite article but certainly near the top would be “The 20 Most Underrated Shadow Novels” wherein various contributors state their case for favorite entries that are often overlooked.

The book itself is well-designed, and of very high quality. One might wish for full color pictures instead of the black and white ones here, but I imagine the resulting retail price would keep it out of the hands of most. As for me, I can honestly say I learned a great deal about these pulp characters as well as the history of their publication and their ultimate demise as comics, paperbacks and TV usurped their role.

Highly recommended.