Who among us doesn’t love original pulp art? We discuss it. We collect it. We alternate between appreciating and coveting our friends’ collections.
Now don’t get me wrong, collectors know a lot about pulp art. But professional illustrators tend to look at it from a different perspective. We ask ourselves questions like, what sorts of paint did the original artist use and how did they use it? What colors? How were those ink marks made, and how were they corrected? How did the artists compose the piece and can I do the same? Sometimes, it’s a particular artist who inspires us or a group of them. Or even the art style of a particular era. Results will vary but one thing remains constant — creating new pulp art brings the artist closer to the originals.
At PulpFest 50, we’ll debut a new panel called “Bringing the Pulps to the 21st Century — The Artists.” In this panel, contemporary genre artists will chat about pulp art new and old. They’ll give listeners a chance to look “under the hood” at how modern pulp artists think about and create new art. They’ll also talk about some of the projects they’re currently working on.
For our inaugural artist panel, I’ll be talking with award-winning artist Mark Wheatley.
Since his teen years, Mark has been a fan of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, and other pulp authors. His career as an illustrator, TV development artist, and graphic novelist has earned him many awards including the Eisner, Inkpot, Mucker, Gem, Speakeasy, Golden Lion, and the Robert E. Howard Foundation Outstanding Achievement award, as well as nominations for the Harvey and the Ignatz. He is also an inductee to the Overstreet Hall of Fame.
Mark’s work has often been included in the annual Spectrum selection of fantastic art and has appeared in private gallery shows, as well as in many museums. He has written for television, illustrated books, designed cutting-edge role-playing games, hosted a weekly radio program, and was an early innovator of the online daily comic strip form. Despite his many credentials, his passion remains with his roots: the worlds and characters from the pulps.
“Bringing the Pulps to the 21st Century — The Artists” will be held on Saturday, August 6 from 2:30 pm to 3:20 pm. The general public is welcome to attend. We hope to see you there!
One lucky attendee of our “Bringing the Pulps to the 21st Century — The Artists” panel will go home with a hardcover copy of Beyond the Farthest Star: Restored Edition, featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs’ preferred text of the novel. Released by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. in 2021, readers can now enjoy this classic science fiction adventure in the way that Edgar Rice Burroughs intended it to be read! You need to be in attendance at our panel to win. Many thanks to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. for their generous donation of our door prize.
To learn more about our schedule, please click the Programming button at the top of this page.
And don’t forget about the rest of our great programming line-up. We’ll be celebrating “A Half-Century of Pulp Cons,” in recognition of our golden anniversary; the centennial of Fiction House, the pulp magazine and comic book publisher that gave us Action Stories, Fight Comics, Jumbo Comics, Jungle Stories, Lariat Story Magazine, North-West Romances, Planet Stories, Rangers Comics, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Wings, and many other classic titles; the ninetieth anniversary of Popular Publications’ “Dime” line of pulp magazines, particularly Dime Western and Dime Mystery; and much more at PulpFest 50.
To enjoy our dealers’ room, click the Registration button at the top of this page to join PulpFest. And don’t forget to book a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh — Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. They’re going fast! So don’t wait! Remember, you must book your room by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, July 20, to get the special convention rate.
You can reserve a room by calling 800.222.8733 or 724.776.6900.
At PulpFest 50, we’ll be celebrating the centennial of pulp magazine and comic book publisher Fiction House. One of their leading cover artists was Allen Anderson. A freelance artist who also contributed to Harry Donenfeld’s Culture Publications, Martin Goodman’s Newsstand Publishers, and A. A. Wyn’s Magazine Publishers, Anderson painted many covers for Fiction House’s detective, science fiction, and western pulps. Pictured above is Anderson’s original art for the May 1952 Planet Stories. Our featured image is excerpted from Anderson’s original art for the September 1941 issue of Lariat Story Magazine.
The March 4, 2017 issue of the National Capital Panthans Journal, depicting Tarzan and Sheena, a black leopard, is just one of many examples of Mark Wheatley’s pulp-inspired artwork. The National Capital Panthans Journal is distributed only to those attending chapter meetings and/or submitting contributions to the publication. Pictured above is the 245th issue of the periodical.
A professional journalist and illustrator with over thirty years of experience, Sara Light-Waller is an accomplished new-pulp fiction author/illustrator with two books out and more on the way. She is also the winner of the 2020 Cosmos Prize for her illustrated short story, “Battle at Neptune.” A huge pulp fan, Sara is especially fond of science fiction pulps. The extent of her pulp fandom can best be measured by the oversized rendition of Frank R. Paul’s August 1928 Amazing Stories cover that she painted on her garage.
Sara’s painting pictured above is the first in a series of fine art pieces paying homage to artists of the pulp era. This piece, “The Devil’s Pet,” was directly inspired by the cover paintings created by Dalton Stevens for Bernarr Macfadden’s Ghost Stories during the early 1930s.
Sara is a member of the PulpFest organizing committee and a regular contributor to our website and The Pulpster.
