Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Thrilling Adventures, August 1938

Covers like this always remind me of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, although this issue of THRILLING ADVENTURES came out long before that movie, of course. I don't know the artist. The painting might have been inspired by the story "The Desert Legion", by the only house-name in the issue, Jackson Cole, or maybe it was one that Standard Magazines had in inventory. Doesn't matter, since it does its job either way and makes me want to read this issue. I just might, if I actually owned a copy, which I don't. There's a strong line-up of authors in its pages, too: Johnston McCulley, Arthur J. Burks, Ward Hawkins, Lt. John Hopper, Charles S. Strong (who was also an editor of Thrilling Group pulps), and Kenneth Sinclair. 

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Thrilling Adventures, July 1939

THRILLING ADVENTURES may have set the record for the most covers with pith helmets on them. Somebody with more time than I have should look into that. I don't know the artist on this cover, but I like it. Inside is a pretty good lineup of authors led by E. Hoffmann Price with two stories, one under his name and one as by Hamlin Daly. Also on hand are Charles S. Strong (one of the editors at Standard Magazines, as well as a writer), Louis C. Goldsmith, Edward Parrish Ware, little-remembered Crawford Sullivan, and house-name Capt. Kerry McRoberts. I think this issue probably would be worth reading just for the Price stories. He was great at exotic adventure yarns.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Thrilling Detective, April 1941

Now I understand why I never liked going to the barber shop. You never know when there might be some mug with a gat lurking there, ready to bump you off. However, if I'd ever seen a redhead like that in my local barber shop, I might have risked it anyway. The best known author is this issue of THRILLING DETECTIVE is probably Frederick C. Painton, who wrote a lot of serials for most of the major adventure pulps. Also in this issue are stories by author and literary agent Oscar J. Friend (writing as Owen Fox Jerome), pulp editors Charles S. Strong and Joseph Samachson (writing as William Morrison; Samachson's other claim to fame is creating the Martian Manhunter for DC Comics), Marvin Ryerson (not a pseudonym for Ryerson Johnson but an actual guy), Benton Braden (who appears to have been fairly prolific), and Cornelius Reece (who never published another story except this one, as far as the FMI knows). Not a stellar line-up, but I'll bet it's a fairly entertaining issue.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: G-Men Detective, September 1941

There's a lot happening on this cover of G-MEN DETECTIVE, and it definitely makes me want to read the issue. I don't know who did the art. I'm a little less enthusiastic about what's inside, since the Dan Fowler lead novel is by Charles S. Strong. I haven't read much by Strong, only a couple of his Western novels under his Chuck Stanley pseudonym, but I found them to be pretty bland. However, he might be a lot better with a Dan Fowler yarn. Maybe I'll find out someday. Meanwhile, there are some dependably good authors on hand, too, including the great John K. Butler, Norman A. Daniels, and Robert Sidney Bowen.