PulpCon 37, July 31 - August 3, 2008

The Dayton Convention Center will once again host PulpCon from 7/31 - 8/3 of 2008.

Pulp magazines primarily span the decades from the 1920's through the 1940's and include classic tales from renowned writers like H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Isaac Asimov, and many more, including our favorite, Hal Murray Bonnett.

Well known heroic characters like, The Shadow and The Spider were the precursors of Batman and The Spirit. Today's Hellboy and The X-Files owe their existence to the horror tales of Lovecraft and others, as well as the realms of science fiction. The movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still" has just been remade starring Keanu Reeves (I'll take the classic 1950's version any time) but it was originally a story called "Farewell to the Master" in a 1940's science fiction pulp.

"LOST" owes it's existence to some science fiction and fantasy titles but also to pulps like "Adventure"... and speaking of adventure, Indiana Jones, George Lucas says, was inspired by the old movie serials, but those serials were inspired by pulp stories and comics.

And last, but not least, is "Doc Savage", aka "The Man of Bronze", the hero's hero! Just yesterday at the San Diego Comic Con, a man connected with all the Batman movies since the Tim Burton days through today's "Dark Knight" announced on G4TV that a Doc Savage movie has been greenlighted for production. They'd better not screw this up. For those who don't know Doc Savage, I've always thought that our nearest modern day comparison is probably John MacLain (sp?) from the "Die Hard" movies. Doc is rough and tumble like our Die Hard hero, but Doc's adventures have a much more grandiose and fantastical element to them, and Doc has a team, but the do-or-die attitude is the same.

Anyway, everyone should check out PulpCon, if only to understand where today's heroes come from, but you'll also see a lot of great art and stories by great authors you already know who began their careers writing pulp stories. It's just... cool! Check it out! :-)