Russian Space Art
The Atompunk era is fascinatingly paralleled across much of the planet. As in the west, the soviet block went through a similar arc. The 1950s were prosperous and held the promise of a future without limits. This led into an […]
pulp
Life On Neptune: Frank R Paul
Frank R Paul was an illustrator for the great pulp magazines of the 20s and 30s. His full color covers for Amazing Stories, Wonder Stories Science Fiction Magazine defined the look of what was at the time the brand new […]
7 Essential Lost Worlds of the Victorian/Pulp Eras
Yeah, see a theme going here? Hey, i’m on a kick and i genuinely love exploring literary and creative mythos. Before we get started i just want to quickly state that the demo for the 1st Act of the Dieselpunk […]
Spring Heeled Jack: The 1st Super Villain?
One character who was an early fixture of penny dreadfuls was Spring Heeled Jack. He would leap in out of nowhere, slap you, cop a feel, or rip your dress and then leap away. He could leap over tall shrubbery, […]
Penny Gaffs
From 1830 to 1870, the exact time the macabre and violent incarnations of the penny dreadful were being published, otherwise known as penny bloods, a complementary form of theater was also taking place, Penny Gaffs. The penny gaff alludes to […]
Penny Dreadfuls II: From Blood To Boys
For decades, since their conception in 1832, Penny Dreadfuls, 8 pages of lurid tales printed on cheap paper and sold for a penny, specialized in highly gruesome material. For the first 10 years or so there was a fair amount […]
Penny Dreadfuls. Before the comic book, before the pulp…
The comic book probably remains the dominant medium for fanciful, fantastic literature pumped out industriously for youth consumption. Actually if you ask me, the comic book has been replaced by the video game, but if we stick to just literature it’s the […]
Charlie Chan
During the 1920s and 30s, one of the most famous screen detectives, featured in numerous serials and feature films, was Charlie Chan. He was created by writer Earl Derr Biggers as an Asian detective based in Honolulu in an attempt to throw a […]
Fu Manchu
This post was originally going to be about Charlie Chan, but before we get to that famous character of Dieselpunk era serials, i figured it might be interesting if we start with the even more famous Fu Manchu, for whom Charlie Chan […]
Flash Gordon: An Atompunk Hero for a Dieselpunk World.
The Atompunk hero began in the great depression. Tales of outer space, wild futures, and ray guns, always ray guns became immensely popular, thanks to the invention of the daily comic strip Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Due to the success […]