Fantastic Adventures: Chicago Pulp Dreams in '39
We’re in 1939. Europe was just weeks away from plunging into another huge war, the Great Depression had finally started loosening its grip on America, and on the newsstands of Chicago there was a brand new pulp magazine. This was Fantastic Adventures, Vol. 1, No. 1 — the first issue of a title that would go on to publish another 128 issues and stick around until 1953. You have to admit, that’s quite a run for a pulp in such a crowded and cut-throat market. It isn’t the most famous debut issue in pulp history, and even back then critics thought it was a bit weak.
I can see why they felt that way in places, but I can also see exactly why it pulled in enough readers to keep going for so long.
The front cover was painted by Robert Fuqua (the pen name of Joseph Wirt Tillitson), whose melodramatic, colourful style became some of the most eye-catching artwork on magazine covers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. The back cover, meanwhile, came from Frank R. Paul, who contributed a scientific illustration called “The Man from Mars” — the first piece in his “Life on Other Worlds” series for the magazine.
Contents of the Issue
Revolt of The Robot - Arthur R. Tofte
In a distant future where humanity has grown frail and dependent on tireless robot servants, a young woman named Tarra Greghold discovers a revolutionary scientific breakthrough. This discovery promises to restore physical vitality. Driven by personal longing and ambition, she sets out on a daring path that challenges the established order of a peaceful but stagnant world empire.
The Invisible Robinhood - Eando Binder
“The Invisible Robinhood” tells the story of Lyle Trent, a scientist who discovers the secret of invisibility through a laboratory accident. Rather than publish his discovery or use it for personal gain, Trent dedicates his life to fighting crime and corruption while invisible. Moreover, he works with reporter Ted Marne as his publicist, which allows Trent to become a legendary figure. His unseen presence strikes fear into criminals nationwide and eventually worldwide.
The Empress of Mars - Ross Rocklynne
Darak of Werg, a warrior from a small but technologically advanced nation, sets out on a desperate mission to the hostile empire of Crill. His princess has been abducted together with the Royal Hinusian Bracelet, a mystical artefact that grants immortality to the people of Werg. Hunted through the dangerous city of Jador, he must navigate a world of canal pirates, palace intrigue, and watchful guards while following a compass that points toward the stolen bracelet. Along the way, he meets Thilna, a mysterious woman who claims to be a slave, and Paran Leeah, the reluctant Prince Consort to the tyrannical Empress Flavia.
The Sleeping Goddess - Maurice Duclos
A brash American adventurer named Jerry Miles stumbles upon a strange structure in the deserts of northern Afghanistan: a towering wall of transparent glass enclosing an entire valley ecosystem. Driven by curiosity, he scales the barrier and descends into a world sealed from the outside — a dense jungle bathed in blue-green gas, populated by a primitive people ruled by the seductive High Priestess Neena and her obedient mechanical servants
Adventure in Lemuria - Frederick Arnold Kummer Jr.
Khor the Wanderer, a bronze-age warrior from Crete, arrives in the mysterious land of Mu (Lemuria) after more than a hundred moons of eastward travel. Shortly after entering a peaceful grove near the city of Zac, he stumbles upon a desperate battle where a young man in a blue mantle fights against overwhelming odds. Khor’s intervention saves the stranger’s life and draws him into a deadly political conspiracy involving a usurped throne and dark religious rituals.
The Mummy of Ret-Seh - A. Hyatt Verrill
When antiquarian collector Hargraves acquires what appears to be an exquisite Egyptian mummy case depicting a beautiful woman, he believes he has found the perfect addition to his private museum. The case looks well preserved, showing the figure of a scantily clad woman with an alluring face and perfect form. Yet shortly after he brings it home, strange occurrences begin, starting with the arrival of a tortoiseshell cat on his doorstep.
The Devil Flower - Harl Vincent
A New York surgeon drives through mountain wilderness to visit a patient recuperating at a remote sanitarium, but something about the place unsettles him. His unease grows when his patient seems inexplicably worse than he should be. What starts as a professional visit turns into an investigation into something that defies the boundaries of medicine and natural science alike.
How Fantastic Adventures Got Its Start
Fantastic Adventures was a Ziff-Davis publication, launched as a companion to Amazing Stories, which the company had bought only the year before. The man in charge of both magazines was Raymond A. Palmer, one of the most colourful and controversial characters in the whole pulp scene. Palmer had taken over Amazing in 1938 and quickly turned it into a commercial success; not necessarily a critical one, but definitely a money-maker. Fantastic Adventures came from the same idea: give the readers more of what they wanted, and give it to them quickly.
Instead of trying to go head-to-head with Unknown (which had launched just two months earlier, in March 1939) or the well-established Weird Tales, Fantastic Adventures went for adventure stories in the vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs. That was a clever move: lighter, more escapist, and full of action compared with the harder science fiction that Astounding was putting out under John W. Campbell.
Raymond A. Palmer
Raymond A. Palmer has quite a curious and tough story that’s worth a quick look. At the age of seven he was hit by a truck and broke his back. A botched operation left him with a hunchback and stunted his growth. He worked his way up through science fiction fandom and, together with Walter Dennis, is credited with editing the very first fanzine, The Comet, back in May 1930.
Palmer was an unusual editor: sharp when it came to sales, often sensationalist, and happy to run stories that more careful editors would have turned down. Science fiction historians generally agree that he didn’t keep the literary quality consistently high, but he kept the magazines going and the readers happy. Fantastic Adventures soon gained a name for light-hearted and whimsical tales, with a lot of the material coming from a small circle of writers using both their own names and house names.
Timing is Everything: A Pulp During Dark Times
As we know, 1939 was a very tense time for Europe. Germany had already occupied Czechoslovakia and the world was about to change for good, even if American readers hadn’t felt the full impact yet. America would stay out of the direct fighting for a few more years before officially joining in, and selling war materials actually helped get the American economy back on its feet. I reckon adventure stories came at just the right moment.
Fantastic Adventures isn’t the magazine that history remembers most fondly — after all, there were far bigger things going on in the world at the time. It never had the strong editorial direction of Astounding under Campbell, the dark literary edge of Weird Tales, or the neat educational feel of Science Wonder Stories. Historians often point out that Palmer struggled to keep the quality of the fiction consistently high. But the magazine ran for nearly fifteen years, put out 128 issues, and gave readers exactly what they wanted.
This first issue is a bit rough around the edges, as debut issues often are. The comic strip experiment was dead on arrival. Several of the stories feel pretty standard for their genre. Even so, it still managed to deliver that sense of the fantastic.
For a first go in an incredibly competitive and throwaway market, that’s more than enough.
Another vintage pulp magazine:
Science Wonder Stories, Vol. 1, No. 1
Science Wonder Stories, Vol. 1, No. 2
Science Wonder Stories, Vol.1, No.3
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, Vol. 1, No. 1
Original Science Wonder Stories issue at the Internet Archive.
