Romance comics grew out of the 'true confession' magazines of the 30s and 40s, but were targeted at a post-war teen market. The comics industry was looking to diversify and love stories looked like an untapped market.

Romance comics told first-person stories of the agony and the ecstasy of teenage love, even if their early protagonists looked anything but teen-age! Having older characters helped them tell more mature stories however.

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Pulp Librarian

@PulpLibrarian

1 Dec

Today in pulp let's look back at a landmark #RPG that let you jump from star to star across the Imperium, trading and battling with various sophonts along the way.

It's a game of the far future that's lasted over 40 years: Traveller!

Traveller is a science fiction role-playing game, first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop. Launched a year before TSRs rival Gamma World it's probably* the superior SF RPG - its certainly stood the test of time.

(*Don't @ me!)

Traveller features various descendants of humanity with different skills and abilities. Your ship can jump faster than light to reach other planets but you can't communicate FTL, so you have to deal with whatever world you jump to before moving somewhere else.

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Pulp Librarian

@PulpLibrarian

30 Nov

He is X-RAY-3, the best agent in the Psychoanalytic Special Department. He battles supernatural crime and mad scientists. His books have sold over 20 million copies in the German-speaking world.

For today's #MondayMotivation let me introduce you to Larry Brent...

Larry Brent and the other agents of the Psychoanalytic Special Department lead the worldwide fight against crimes of supernatural or unusual origin. Their base is under the Tavern On The Green pub in New York's Central Park, if you're ever in the area.

And Larry Brent is quite a cool hero: he drives a Lotus Europa, uses a Smith & Wesson laser gun and has a secret communicator ring. It's all vital kit in the battle against his corrupt demonic adversaries!

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Pulp Librarian

@PulpLibrarian

28 Nov

Britain in the 1970s: Raleigh choppers, lumberjack jackets and Findus crispy pancakes for tea. And one magazine really summed up the spirit of '70s Britain for me...

This is the story of Look-In! #SaturdayThoughts

Children's TV reflected the British class system: the BBC was seen as worthy, educational and safe; ITV was considered brash, vulgar and rude. Some strict parents wouldn't even let their children watch the 'commercial' channel!

However by the 1970s ITV children's programmes had really started to hit their stride. And unlike the prim BBC they weren't afraid to be subversive.

Noisy, crazy and often very funny they stated to hoover up viewers...

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Pulp Librarian

@PulpLibrarian

27 Nov

Some serious 'school photo faces' going on here...

That face your parents pull when you first bring your new girl or boyfriend home: 'so we can do homework together'...

When you don't know what Amazon Ring is and it starts talking to you...

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Pulp Librarian

@PulpLibrarian

25 Nov

Time once again for my occasional series "Women with great hair fleeing gothic houses!"

And today It's an open thread. Ask me anything you like about this popular pastime and I'll do my best to answer it below for the next hour.

Over to you...

One frequent question I'm asked is "do I need long hair to flee a gothic house?" The answer is no; many short-haired heroines have vacated gothic domiciles in the past. However most have worn evening gloves whilst doing it.

"Am I in the UK?" Yes I am.

"Do I own all these books?" Alas no. I have about 90 or so gothic romances but I have sold many more. I used to work in the book trade and these things went like hot cakes!

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