The Black Mask debuted over 100 years ago during the spring of 1920. From its populist beginnings helping publishers H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan fund The Smart Set to its glory days under editor Joseph “Cap” Shaw, Black Mask published some of the finest hardboiled fiction from Carroll John Daly and Dashiell Hammett to Paul Cain and Raymond Chandler. While the magazine also showcased adventure, westerns, and romance stories; Black Mask will always be synonymous with the hardboiled detective and crime fiction that first graced its pages before exploding into virtually every media from newspapers comic strips to radio drama to the silver screen to television and more.
During the spring of 1940, Pro-Distributors Publishing Company handed over the reins of Black Mask to Popular Publications, publisher of Dime Detective Magazine. Although its “glory days” were behind, Black Mask continued to thrive, publishing excellent hardboiled fiction from Cleve F. Adams, W. T. Ballard, D. L. Champion, Merle Constiner, Norbert Davis, William Campbell Gault, John D. MacDonald, Peter Paige, Roger Torrrey, Cornell Woolrich, and many others until its final issue in 1951.
We hope you’ll join PulpFest 2024 on Friday, August 2, at 7:45 pm for “Black Mask: The Popular Years,” a look at the pulp magazine under editor Ken White.
Longtime Black Mask collectors and enthusiasts, John Wooley and John McMahan, and leading pulp dealer, scholar, and convention organizer John Gunnison will take a look at one of the leading magazines of the pulp magazine era.
John Wooley is probably the leading authority on Dan Turner, the “star” of Spicy Detective Stories. Wooley became interested in the work of Robert Leslie Bellem during the 1960s when he acquired some issues of Trojan Publishing’s Hollywood Detective. A writer, novelist, lecturer, filmmaker, radio and TV host, and podcaster, John’s specialties include movies, literature, and music. He’s also a pop-culture historian.
John has written, co-written, or edited nearly 50 books, including the recent 1930s-set horror trilogy — The Cleansing — with Robert A. Brown. Besides that, John has scripted several documentaries, including the Learning Channel’s Hauntings Across America, as well as the made-for-TV feature Dan Turner — Hollywood Detective and the award-winning independent movie, Cafe Purgatory. His scripting extends to comic books and graphic novels, including Plan Nine from Outer Space and The Miracle Squad, which he co-created with artist Terry Tidwell.
Along with movie historians Michael H. Price and Joey Hambrick, John does a monthly podcast called Forgotten Horrors. For the past 18 years, he has also hosted a weekly western-swing radio show and writes, co-hosts, and co-produces a weekly TV program, Film Noir Theatre, for public television.
John McMahan sells collectibles on ebay as mybckpages. He comes to us from Oklahoma, where he has long been active as a fan and dealer. A longtime member of the Oklahoma Alliance of Fandom — one of the oldest comic book groups and conventions in the country — John has been a supporter of PulpFest (and Pulpcon before it) for many years. With John Wooley, he edited and published the classic anthology Hard-Boiled Christmas Stories and the Jim Anthony collection Super-Detective Flip Book.
Like Wooley and McMahan, John Gunnison has been involved with the pulp community for decades. The founder of Adventure House, he is the editor and publisher of High Adventure and the company’s many fine pulp reprints. John discovered pulp fiction during the 1960s when he became hooked on the paperback reprints of Doc Savage, The Avenger, The Spider, and The Shadow. He was the co-editor of The Adventure House Guide to the Pulps and the designer of the award-winning Uncovered: The Hidden Art of the Girlie Pulps. John, who won the Lamont Award in 1995, is the co-chair of the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention and has been a longtime supporter of both PulpFest and Pulpcon before it. A resident of Maryland, John is one of the foremost dealers of pulp magazines and related collectibles in the United States, if not the world. He serves as the lead auctioneer at both PulpFest and Windy City.
PulpFest 2024 begins on August 1 and runs through August 4 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. We’ll be celebrating “Spice, Spies, Shaw, and More” at this year’s convention.
The general public is welcome to attend our evening programming events free of charge. To learn more about our programming, please click the Schedule button at the top of this page.
For those who also want to enjoy our dealers’ room, you can join PulpFest by clicking the registration button at the top of this page. And don’t forget to book a room at the DoubleTree. They’re almost sold out!
If you want to sell at this year’s PulpFest, our wall tables are sold out. Island tables are still available, but they won’t last long. Register soon!
Throughout its 30+ year run, Black Mask used an array of accomplished artists for their cover paintings. Our featured image is excerpted from Norman Saunders’ cover for the July 1949 issue of Black Mask, while our lead and final images are both adapted by William Lampkin from Rafael DeSoto’s covers. The lead image is adapted from the November 1942 number of Black Mask, while the final image is adapted from the January 1944 issue.
Our three selected covers include the April 1940 number — with cover art by George Janes — the final Pro-Distributors Publishing Company issue prior to the Popular Publications takeover. The February 1946 Black Mask features a cover by Gloria Stoll Karn, a young artist at the time who was recruited by Rafael DeSoto. Our final selection features cover art by Harry Barton. It’s the one-and-only issue of Black Mask Detective Magazine — dated July 1951 — the final issue of the magazine’s run.
To learn more, visit our YouTube Channel for Craig McDonald’s video, Joseph “Cap” Shaw & His “Black Mask Boys,” and other great pulp-related short films.
And while you’re there, please be sure to subscribe.
