PulpFest 2019 is drawing to a close, but there is still time to get in on the action. The dealers’ room will be open from 9 AM until 2 PM today. With most of our dealers getting ready to head for home, our admission for the day is only $10, which includes a copy of our highly collectible program book, THE PULPSTER. Children who are fifteen and younger and accompanied by a parent, will be admitted free of charge. There are no programming events scheduled for Sunday.
Located in the Grand Ballroom of the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, our dealers’ room will feature exhibitors selling and trading pulp magazines and related materials, digests, vintage paperbacks, contemporary genre fiction and pulp reprints, men’s adventure and true crime magazines, first-edition hardcovers, series books, dime novels, original art, Big Little Books, B-movies, serials and related paper collectibles, old-time-radio shows, and Golden and Silver Age as well as pulp-related comic books and games. Although our dealers’ room will be open, buying opportunities may be limited as most of our dealers will be packing up to head home.
If you have not been able to attend PulpFest in 2019, start making your plans right now to join the 49th anniversary of summer’s annual pulp con in 2020. We’ll be setting our sights on Bradbury, BLACK MASK, and Brundage from August 6 – 9 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. For good measure, we may add a touch of Brackett and Burroughs to the mix. Our FarmerCon friends should also be back to celebrate the life and legacy of Grand Master of Science Fiction Philip José Farmer. As always, expect a terrific dealers’ room and superb programming.
To keep informed about PulpFest 2020, please bookmark pulpfest.com or like our Facebook page. Over on Twitter, you’ll find tweets with our updates. You’ll also find selected posts on various newsgroups, including Pulpmags. And don’t forget about our Instagram page where we have been exploring “The Children of the Pulps.” Wherever you look for PulpFest on the web, we’ll be sure to keep you informed of our plans.
Many thanks to all of you who attended this year’s convention. We hope that you enjoyed yourself and plan to return for PulpFest 2020. Please bring your friends!
Your PulpFest Organizing Committee — Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers, Sally Cullers, Bill Lampkin, William Patrick Maynard, & Barry Traylor
(PulpFest is the summertime destination for fans and collectors of popular fiction — old and new — and related materials. It seeks to honor the pulps by drawing attention to the many ways these throwaway magazines have inspired writers, artists, film directors, game designers, and other creators over the years.
While Batman artist Bob Kane cited Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy as one of his inspirations — particularly for his villains — Bill Finger, Batman’s writer, admitted that, “My first (Batman) script was a take-off on a Shadow story . . . . I patterned my style of writing Batman after the Shadow . . . . It was completely pulp style.” The Batman was introduced to readers in DETECTIVE COMICS #27, dated May 1939.
Although The Shadow certainly played the most influential role in the creation of the Batman saga, other pulp characters also inspired Bill Finger and Bob Kane.
PulpFest 2019 has focused on the many ways pulp fiction and pulp art have inspired and continue to inspire creators. Next year, the convention will set its sights on Bradbury, BLACK MASK, and Brundage (with a touch of Brackett and Burroughs thrown in for good measure).
