Saturday, November 26, 2011

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Wild West Weekly, February 11, 1939

I like sunset covers, and this is a pretty nice one. It appears to be a good issue, too, with stories by Paul S. Powers (a Johnny Forty-five yarn under his Andrew Griffin pseudonym), George C. Henderson, William A. Todd, Gunnison Steele (Bennie Gardner), and Emery Jackson (J. Allan Dunn). WILD WEST WEEKLY had the reputation of being somewhat more juvenile than the other main Western pulp from Street & Smith, WESTERN STORY, but I've never read an issue of WILD WEST WEEKLY that was less than thoroughly entertaining.

9 comments:

Walker Martin said...

You are right about Wild West Weekly being more juvenile than the adult Western Story Magazine. A long time pulp collecting friend of mine, who actually bought Wild West Weekly off the newstands as a child, said the magazine was more fantastic than any SF pulp.

Street and Smith killed the title in 1943 because of paper restrictions but the magazine lives on and is remembered on Laurie Powers blog, LAURIES WILD WEST. She is the grandaughter of WWW author, Paul Powers and has written a book about him plus collecting some of his stories in RIDING THE PULP TRAIL.

Oscar Case said...

Man, I like that cover and I'm sure the stories were just as good.

Laurie Powers said...

Thanks for posting this, James. This has always been one of my favorite WWW covers too!

Cap'n Bob said...

What are the odds that some of use would be acquainted with two descendents of pulp writers?

Charles Gramlich said...

Definitely a cool cover.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I recently purchased 5 Western Story Magazines and 4 Wild West Weekly's at an estate sale. They range in date from 1930-1932. Any idea where I can get a value on these magazines? All are intact and in good condition although the paper is very fragile.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

James Reasoner said...

You can check eBay or ABE Books to see what comparable issues are selling for. My best guess is that they're probably worth $4 or $5 each. Possibly a little more depending on the authors in them.

Laurie Powers said...

WWWs that old may go for a little more, as long as they're in good shape. It's harder to find the 1930s through 32s. Condition will make all the difference.


Laurie

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the feedback! I haven't found hardly any on e-bay from the early 30's. In the stack of mags there was also a magazine called Fawcetts "Battle Stories" from March 1928, a dime "Detective Magazine" and a July 1930 Argosy magazine. The whole stack put me back $15. A fun find! I love the cover art for the westerns no matter their value. Thanks again for your help!