Sunday, June 07, 2020

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Adventure Trails, October 1938


Although I don't believe the Stalwart, Fur-Hatted Hero on this cover has a mustache (it's kind of hard to tell), I think the unknown artist intended for him to look like Errol Flynn. That's the way it appears to me, anyway. ADVENTURE TRAILS was a short-lived pulp from Manvis Publications, one of the lower-rung pulp publishers. The biggest name in this issue is Rodney Blake, who was really the great H. Bedford-Jones, although it's unlikely that readers of the time knew that. Also on hand are house-names Ken Jason and James Hall, plus little-known pulpsters such as Rex Evans, Lon Taylor, and Beech Allen. I'm sure the HB-J yarn is worth reading, and I'll bet some of the others are, too.

8 comments:

Joe said...

Going to put this on mu reading list. Thanks.

Joe said...

Is this reprinted I wonder? Likely not.

James Reasoner said...

No, it doesn't appear to have been reprinted.

James Reasoner said...

Adventure House reprinted the first issue of ADVENTURE TRAILS, though:

https://www.amazon.com/Adventure-Trails-2008-Rodney-Blake/dp/B074R9NDRZ/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=Rodney+Blake&qid=1591537153&s=books&sr=1-5

Anonymous said...

The gloss and cluttered action of the cover make me wonder if it might be a Norman Saunders.

Great looking pulp.
Oh for the days the news stands were crammed with adventure fiction.

Hope you’re doing well in this ever stranger world,

John Hocking

James Reasoner said...

I thought the same thing about Saunders but haven’t taken the time yet to research it.

Anonymous said...

I’m no expert but it doesn’t look very Saunders-y to me. My money’s on J.W. Scott. The lack of emotion on the lady’s face is one of his trademarks.

- b.t.

James Reasoner said...

I agree. It certainly looks like it could be J.W. Scott's work.