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Hellboy Will Punch More Nazis Promises Chris Roberson In Pulp Comics Panel At ECCC

Published Mon, 06 Mar 2017 11:00:32 -0600

Judd Morse writes,

Forbes comics writer Rob Salkowitz hosted an intimate panel at Emerald City Comicon this weekend, which looked at the history of pulp fiction and the genre's future in comics and media. He was joined by the creative team of Paul Guinan and Ania Bennett, creators of Boilerplate and Heartbreakers, and by writer Chris Roberson, known for both his work on pulp titles like Doc Savage, and for his work on fan favorite BPRD.

Salkowitz opened the forum by asking what the term "Pulp" now means to the panelists. I think of it as kind of overcooked, said Guinan. The characters are a little more outrageous than what you'd find in regular fiction, and there's a definite feel of writing within a certain period of time.

I see it as the original form of genre fiction, said Bennett. It was a blanket term for a lot of cheaply produced, fresh off the press work in the 19th and 20th century. It's also very action oriented and very male-centric, she said.

Roberson said that to him, pulp is defined in terms of how it approaches stories. There's no time for introspection, it's just action and forward momentum.

Salkowitz added that his favorite definition is a type of literature in which the main character never develops. Supporting characters do or at least can grow or change, but the lead remains constant. Roberson agreed, and said characters like The Shadow are not ones where we ever get the inside track on their inner selves. We never get a POV on the character. Much like TV shows and films of the early and mid-20th century, Bennet added.

Guinan talked about his and Bennett's project Frank Reade: Adventures In The Age Of Invention, and how they've used an existing pulp hero as almost a setting, allowing that all the fantastic things the main character had done in his pulp fiction days was canon, but essentially revisiting the character posthumously, through secret journals found by his daughter after his death.

This approach allows them to explore the crazy adventure of the original pulp, but also delve into some of the stereotypical and racist conceptions of the times and flesh out a lot of the characters by adding more perspective.

Roberson said that one of the big pulp-related pushes he's making in writing Hellboy is to focus more on WWII era stories and spy stories. You never see him punch a Nazi, Roberson said. And you should. You should see him punch more Nazis whenever possible. Because you should always punch Nazis.

Because you should always punch Nazis.

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