Thread by @PulpLibrarian

Today in pulp: what name should you give your pulp vigilante anti-hero? Geoff? Sebastian? Todger?

Well funnily enough there are some rules about this. To learn more come this way...

By the end of the 1960s pulp was growing tired of swinging superspies. Dry martinis, world domination and exotic locations weren't really cutting it any more. The audience was changing.

The darker side of the '60s counterculture was causing quite a moral panic by the decade's end. Hippies, bikers, cultists and radicals were dominating the tabloid mind.

So was the war in Vietnam. It wasn't going well. Protests, demonstrations and the perceived lack of respect for the military by students and radicals were creating a perfect storm of anger and discord in US life.

Pulp is often aimed at a blue collar audience: thrills and escapism are the dominant themes, patriotism matters and the good guys need to win in the end. By 1970 this audience was starting to gravitate to a new theme: rough justice.

And with the release of the first Dirty Harry movie in 1971 they had a new protagonist: tough, hard-boiled, good with a gun and crucially someone taking aim at the targets of the tabloid moral panic: the counterculture.

And so the '70s became the era of the pulp vigilante. Like his hard boiled 1930s predecessor he solved problems with a gun. Unlike the 1930s however he carried a raw streak of nihilistic violence within him.

So what are the rules of the '70s pulp vigilante? Well first off, no toffs! The hero had to be from the wrong side of the tracks: broken home, reform school, maybe a spell in jail. He resents authority, but he still ends up defending it.

A spell in the military also helps. It straightens him out, tempers his rage with some discipline. He leans how to shoot straight and plan. Crucially it also means "he's seen things..."

Back in civilian life he drifts between jobs, before his 'special skills' bring him to the attention of shadowy figures operating at the fringes of government. Now he's fighting the reds, the terrorists, the Klan, the mafia: anyone who thinks they are untouchable.

If it sounds familiar it's because its a rip-n-retool job on 1930s pulp. Change the villains from gangsters to mafiosi, or from Imperial Japan to Red China, and you have your template.

However a number of new strands also began to appear in '70s action pulp as well...

Death Wish, published in 1972 and filmed in 1974, set out an alternative story arc for the pulp hero. A nice guy, maybe a liberal, has his world destroyed by violence. The cops do nothing. But the event opens his eyes to the endemic corruption of the world. So he acts...

...and his action is vengeance. Not just against those who did him wrong, but against all wrongdoers. His vengeance becomes unstoppable, no matter how much he says he wants it to end. As he drifts from town to town there's always some punk who ends up pushing his buttons.

A refinement of this trope is the the mafia vigilante. When his family is killed by the mob he swears all out war against the Cosa Nostra. Nothing is off limits and nothing gets in his way.

The mafia, like the Nazis, are one if those all-purpose villains that pulp heroes can destroy all day without penalty. They're everywhere, they're evil and their organised - though not so much that one man with an M14 and some sunglasses can't consistently kick their ass.

The vigilante cop - based on Dirty Harry - became another common trope of '70s pulp. He brought lethal justice to those the law couldn't touch, in an attempt to avenge the death of his wife/child/partner.

And finally there was the martial arts master seeking justice and/or revenge against international crime syndicates, armed only with his lethal fists and his extensive training in some remote monastery.

So if that's the cast list, what do we name them? Well first they need a good blue collar Christian name: one or two syllables that can be snarled by an enemy or gently cooed by a love interest. Steve, Terry, Mack. Something with a hard consonant or two tucked away in it.

For example: Justin just doesn't work as a vigilante first name. Sure it sounds a bit like 'Justice' but it also sounds like the name of the maître d' at a snooty restaurant. Jason would have worked better here. Or Jack. Or J.J.

Next you need a memorable surname, something that makes the hero stand out, something his boss can yell at him actoss a desk when he's chewing him out. No puns please, but a bit of nominative determinism never goes amiss.

But crucially you need a good nickname. Something short and snappy that sounds tough and looks good in a bold font. We don't need any complex backstory for it: if he's cool he's The Iceman; if he kills a lot he's The Butcher. You get the drift...

Pulp is all about the formula, so don't try to mess too much with it. Vince Kilkenny, ex-SEAL, wife killed by the mob. Framed by crooked cops he busts out of the joint with vengeance burning in his veins. He digs up his secret stash of weapons, hops into a Corvette, etc etc.

That's it for my pulp vigilante character tips today. Don't forget: if you're writing this kind of story you'll need to create a tough nom de plume to go with it.

But that's a thread for another day...