Tentagil’s Realm

A man in black who fights against injustice and oppression.  A masked man who laughs in the face of his enemies, taunting them before dispatching them with great skill and ease.  A man feared by evil.  A common description for many pulp heroes of the 30s.  But in this case it originates a decade early [...]

In the late 30s the golden age of pulps was coming to its end and comic books were starting to edge them out on newsstands.  But even with a great many books being canceled the pulp publishers continued to try out new characters and ideas.  Among them a character who is considered by some the [...]

While all the other pulp companies were cashing in on hero craze started with The Shadow and Doc Savage, Street and Smith were making attempts of their own to coax that lightning to strike again.  Thus in 1936 they released the first issue of their new creation; and the world was introduced to The Whisperer, [...]

Early writers of Batman readily admitted being inspired by the pulps, some of the earliest stories were even based on plots lifted from The Shadow novels.  However there may be another character to whom the Batman owes even more inspiration, another minor and forgotten pulp hero, The Black Bat.

There were actually two characters who went [...]

1933 was a popular year for the pulp hero.  Street and Smith were enjoying the goldmine that was The Shadow and had recently released Doc Savage.  Thrilling Publications The Phantom Detective was fighting for his piece of newsstand real estate.  But one of the strangest of the pulp heroes was yet to come.  Popular Publications [...]

In 1933 Street and Smith were at the top of their game.  They’d released The Shadow to great success a year before, and Doc Savage was already starting to reach similar levels of popularity.  But between these two great behemoths another character premiered.  Reaching the newsstands a month before Doc Savage, and ending its run [...]

Doc Savage was born out of Street and Smith Publications attempts to broaden the already great profits they were reaping from the unexpected demand for The Shadow magazine.  Knowing that simply copying the formula wouldn’t work executive Henry Ralston and editor John Nanovic began working on a new hero, one designed to be an opposite [...]

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of Men?  The Shadow knows!”

So began the radio program Detective Story Hour premiering in July of 1930.  Created as an advertisement for Street and Smith Publications’ Detective Story Magazine the series proved a dismal failure for its intended purpose; however from it was born a legend.  People [...]