Esprit De Corpse: A Johnny Liddell Thriller, by Frank Kane. Dell, 1965
"Johnny Amsterdam - eye with a beard"
I like It Cool, by Michael Lawrence. Popular Giant, 1960.
World Beyond Pluto: a new Johnny Mayhem novelette. Amazing Stories, November 1958. Cover by Ed Valigursky.
Johnny Staccato, by Frank Boyd (aka Frank Kane). Gold Medal Books, 1960.
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. Edited by Tommy Hancock. Moonstone Books, 2020.
This is an anthology of new pulp stories based on the popular 1950s radio series. Do check it out!
"Funny how?"
Johnny Havoc, by John Jakes. Belmont Books, 1960.
Johnny Comet, by Peter De Paulo and Frank Frazetta, 1953.
This was a short-lived syndicated comic strip in various Sunday newspapers and is now highly sought after!
The Suicide Squad (1939-46): Johnny Kerrigan, Stephen Klaw and Dan Murdoch. Three tough FBI agents sent to tackle the toughest crime bosses in America. They always came out shooting!
Johnny Bruck, one of the most prolific illustrators in science fiction. He painted over 6,000 covers during his career, as well as many interior illustrations. The vast majority were for one title: Perry Rhodan.
Misfits of Science (1985). Generation X-Men with super powers and a primetime TV show. Featuring Johnny B, who gained the power of electricity after he electrocuted himself on stage.
Oh and Courteney Cox...
Johnny Canuck (1940 onwards) The bare-chested Hitler wrestler of Saskatchewan, drawn by 16 year old Leo Bachle. What a guy!
Hello I'm Johnny Cash. Spire Christian Comics, 1976. Art by Al Hartley.
Johnny Alucard, the groovy Chelsea vampire from Hammer's "interesting" updating of the Dracula legend 'Dracula 1972 A.D.'
Yes his name is Dracula spelt backwards. No the audience didn't realise. Yes you should watch it at least once.
Jay Underwood as Johnny Storm, in Roger Corman's unreleased 1994 movie The Fantastic Four.
This is the only good Fantastic Four movie, so therefore it's never been officially released.
Introducing Johnny Alpha...
Star Lord issue 1, May 1978. This outsold 2000AD until IPC merged the two titles for cost reasons.
More Johnnys another time. Don't be rotten to each other...
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Today in pulp I look back at a few forgotten '80s sci-fi movies and ask: is it time to reappraise them?
Spoilers: not all of these are available on Betamax...
There were a huge number of mid and low budget sci-fi movies released throughout the '80s, many of which went straight to video. Today they lurk in the far corners of your streaming service.
Should you watch them? Well let me take you through a few you might be tempted by.
Battle Beyond The Stars (1980) was Roger Corman's retelling of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai in space. James Cameron did an impressive job on the SFX with a small budget and the film certainly has a distinctive look.
"A dream to some. A nightmare to others!" As it's Christmas let's look back at a film that I think helped redefine an old genre, captivated the imagination and launched many successful acting careers.
Let's look at John Boorman's Excalibur!
For a long time the film industry found the King Arthur story amusing. Camelot (1967) was a musical comedy; Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) was pure comedy.
But director John Boorman had been thinking seriously about the Arthurian legend since 1969, particularly Sir Thomas Malory's 1469 telling of the story 'Le Morte d’Arthur'. The mythic theme greatly appealed to him.
Today in pulp I'm looking back at some Michael Moorcock books, and having a think about the New Wave of science fiction that started in the 1960s...
In Britain the New Wave is often associated with New Worlds magazine, which Moorcock edited from 1964 to 1970. Financial troubles caused the magazine to close in 1970, but it made sporadic comebacks over the subsequent years.
However he started as editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1957, where he introduced Sojan the Swordsman - perhaps his first stab at creating an 'eternal champion' character
Today in pulp I'm looking back at one of the greatest albums of all time.
What are the chances...
By 1976 Jeff Wayne was already a successful composer and musician, as well as a producer for David Essex. His next plan was to compose a concept album.
War Of The Worlds was already a well known story, notorious due to the Orson Wells radio play production. For Wayne it seemed like a great choice for a rock opera.
Today in pulp I'm looking back at a very popular (and collectable) form of art: Micro Leyendas covers!
Micro Leyendas (mini legends) are a Mexican form of fumetto, small graphic novels normally pitting the everyday hero against the weird, the occult and the unfathomable.
The art of Micro Leyendas is bold, macabre and very funny. The books often tell a cautionary tale of revenge or humiliation, much like a modern folk tale.