The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes

by Jess Nevins

1902 to 1945 were years in which global popular culture exploded. Thanks to new distribution methods, new publishers, new formats, and a greatly increased interest in fictional genres like adventure, science fiction, and westerns, the number of series characters appearing in countries around the world skyrocketed during these decades, growing from a few dozen to several thousand. The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes is the first collection of these series characters. Drawing upon pulps, magazines, novels, movies, radio shows, comic strips, and other media and formats, the Encyclopedia features characters from a wide variety of genres. The Encyclopedia has over 4000 character entries from over 50 countries, listing the character’s creator(s), where and when the character appeared, and a thorough description of the character and his or her milieu, allies, and enemies. The Encyclopedia also includes a short history of the pulp format, an essay on the pulps in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and a lengthy bibliography.

2090 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 4, 2017

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a great reference book! Tons of entries from the most famous to some of the least known characters from the Pulp era. Very recommended for Pulp fans

[Chris Halliday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply brilliant. Jess Nevins excels at this kind of scholarship, and this is a worthy companion to his earlier Encyclopaedia of Victorian Villainy. This is the kind of book you can dive into and lose entire evenings to. Very highly recommended.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive survey of pulp characters and creators. I think it suffers from trying too hard -expanding the scope to comics, radio and film may have been an overreach.