Listen now | Reviving the Pulps: From Sketch to Story, Episode 3. This week I'm talking about what makes pulp heroes compelling. If you’re a fiction writer, this post may be helpful. It includes information I’ve back engineered from my favorite pulp-era stories.
It's fascinating to learn how much the tech of the era influenced the aesthetics of the entertainment. I've read that part of the reason why the flagship characters of Marvel and DC are in the bright colors we've come to know them in, is because other colors did not register as strongly, so they had to go with bright colors. I'm happy to see that with pulp covers there was a more range of color and tone than with comics.
The markets were originally different. Although the pulps on the newsstands were also read by kids, most were read by young adults and up. Comics used to look like they were for kids. Now we have many who relate to them from all ages. There's a lot you can pack into why that happened. But our population today is highly focused on fantasy, clearly the results of applied pressure from the forces that do and can. It's really like squeezing the paste out of a tube. How long before the tube is empty? I think we're getting there. :-(
That is true. There is only so much escapism you can give to people before that also reaches a saturation point. I imagine the current events in LA and now in other cities are a manifestation of this.
Yeah. There's also the Middle East, that's also a stress point right now especially. Sometimes it's hard to keep the faith. (Generally, not religiously.)
It's fascinating to learn how much the tech of the era influenced the aesthetics of the entertainment. I've read that part of the reason why the flagship characters of Marvel and DC are in the bright colors we've come to know them in, is because other colors did not register as strongly, so they had to go with bright colors. I'm happy to see that with pulp covers there was a more range of color and tone than with comics.
The markets were originally different. Although the pulps on the newsstands were also read by kids, most were read by young adults and up. Comics used to look like they were for kids. Now we have many who relate to them from all ages. There's a lot you can pack into why that happened. But our population today is highly focused on fantasy, clearly the results of applied pressure from the forces that do and can. It's really like squeezing the paste out of a tube. How long before the tube is empty? I think we're getting there. :-(
That is true. There is only so much escapism you can give to people before that also reaches a saturation point. I imagine the current events in LA and now in other cities are a manifestation of this.
Yeah. There's also the Middle East, that's also a stress point right now especially. Sometimes it's hard to keep the faith. (Generally, not religiously.)
I get what you mean, yeah:) we might be reaching the point where the epic, never-gonna-surrender rock anthem might what the audiences need:)
I guess, we'll see... lol
😎💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾