(MACK BOLAN COVER ART BY DANIEL CROUSE)
GUIDES TO THE MEN'S ACTION
ADVENTURE GENRE
I’ve written a number of columns recently highlighting men’s
action adventure paperback original series deserving of wider exposure. In
those columns, I’ve also mention some reference works and a few of the sites on
the web where further information on these series can be found. For this
column, I wanted to gather those sites together in one handy reference and add
a number of others…
I have spent way too
much time perusing the many books of my misspent youth on Joe Kenny’s info
packed Glorious Trash blog. Trawling the
depths of forgotten fiction, films, and beyond, Glorious Trash is filled
with reviews and biting commentary on an outrageous number of paperback
original men’s action/adventure series. This is a must hangout for faithful
acolytes of the genre.
Another site dedicated to reviewing men's adventure, pulp heroes, horror paperbacks, disposable culture,
transgressive literature, and theme parks. I’ll admit this is the only site
to include reviews of theme parks, but the inclusion illustrates each of these
sites gives a different perspective and adds additional information on the
genre.
Here you’ll find way too many desirable vintage men’s
action/adventure paperbacks for sale. Spend too much time browsing and the
irresistible offerings will steal cash out of your wallet like a thief in the
night.
Celebrating the men’s adventure magazines of the ‘50s ‘60s
and ‘70s, there is no other place on the web packed with so much information,
original material, and wonderful cover scans of the men’s adventure magazines
that dominated the magazine racks for three decades. Administrator Bob Dies has
done a fantastic job preserving the history, cultural importance, and sheer
over-the-top fearlessness of the men’s adventure magazines. Don’t go here
unless you have several hours to spare. However, once you do visit, you’ll be
drawn back again and again.
Kevin Burton Smith’s comprehensive Thrilling Detective
website is the go to reference for almost any detective series or character
ever to pull a gat, get hit over the head, or be a sucker for a dame. The
listings are filled with inside info and provide full check lists of titles for
every entry.
An extensive listing of detailed information on almost 6,000
spy novels from 1,000 different series. Also includes expanded details on
movies, television episodes, and a ton of other pertinent information.
Subtitled, An
Encyclopedia From Able Team To Z-Comm, Serial
Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction is available in both physical and e-book
version. Either way, it’s a wonderful experience to browse through the pages.
This extensive reference is not perfect. The complete lack of related cover art
is almost criminal and, beginning as it does in 1969 with Don Pendleton's The Executioner, there are some truly
great series and characters missing from the listings. However, this is the
first overview ever of the serial vigilante genre and it really is a terrific
effort and required reading. The book examines the connections between serial
vigilantes and the pulp heroes who preceded them and how the serial vigilante
has influenced a variety of tough guys, private eyes, spies and cops in
different media. A complete bibliography for each series is featured as well as
background on the authors, including those behind the many pen names,
pseudonyms, and publishing house names.
Novelizations and movie tie-ins from A(ce) to Z(ebra). Only the uninitiated would not recognize Ace and Zebra
as two of the main publishers of men’s action adventure series and a flood of
other pop culture related paperbacks from action adventure TV shows and
movies…Pinnacle and other publishers of similar fare also get spotlighted on
this ongoing blog with a deep archive of material.
Book reviews, movie reviews,
interviews (Anne Francis, Pam Grier, and many more)…If it can be labeled shlock, you’ll find it covered here.
Temple of Schlock also has an Endangered Species List looking at those precious
gems of pop culture threatened with extinction by the passing of time.
Bruce Grossman’s column on the Bookgasm hasn’t been added to lately,
but the archives of the column still hits all the high points and low points of
men’s action/adventure series. Grossman is knowledgeable and has an abiding
interest in the genre that shines through in his reviews.
Marty McKee defines his blog in no uncertain terms—trashy
movies, trashy paperbacks, trashy old TV shows, trashy...well, you get the
picture. The description is not misleading. As in other sites mentioned in
this column, Johnny Larue’s Crane Shot has extensive listings and reviews of
all the stuff to satisfy a genre fan’s delight.
The Paperback Fanatic
is the British magazine for collectors of pulp paperbacks from the 1960s and
1970s…Jam-packed with author interviews and articles about the weird and
wonderful books from that era, The Paperback
Fanatic is bursting with previously undocumented information and loaded
with reproductions of many rarely seen covers.
A spin-off from the Paperback
Fanatic, the three out of print Men
Of Violence issues are extremely worth tracking down on the used market. Men Of Violence covers the lurid, often
bloody, men's adventure paperbacks of the 1970s. Topics include intriguing
aspects of the genre, such as a look at Manor Books—a New York-based operation
that published some of the genre's sleaziest series, including Kill Squad, Bronson, Peter McCurtin's long running Marksman series, the western series Renegade starring Captain Gringo and more. Black-and-white cover
reproductions are sprinkled across the pages giving a quick visual guide to
what the genre is all about.
Each issue of Exploitation
Retrospect is brimming with the kind of behind the scenes details that are
catnip to genre fanatics. There are often articles on many of the men's action/adventure
series, such as The Destroyer, Dirty Harry, and Ninja Master, as well as articles on Nikkatsu Erotic Cinema, Nazi
Zombie Flicks, and a huge DVD review section of the best and worst in sci-fi,
action, horror and sleazy trash sinema.
The above are the core sites and
reference guides to the men’s action/adventure genre. There are certainly many
others, which you can find by following the links on the sites above…
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