Back in the 80s, I thought of them as Manly Harlequins.
They were the new pulp novels: short, fast-paced two-fisted adventure stories with lurid covers.
My god but did he blow the shit out of a lot of guys named Carmine.
Between 68 and 1980, Pendleton published about a dozenExecutionernovels.
They were essentially comic books without the pictures.
), even the occasional mobster and crooked arms dealer.
The books had much more of a fantasy quality to them than the assortedExecutionerseries.
Both men despise firearms, preferring to dispatch their targets in more inventive, ridiculous ways.
Both, over the course of their respective long-running series, developed complex mythologies.
No such charges could be leveled against Pendleton.
They seemed a sure thing, right?
But for some reason the studios werent interested.
So why did it take them so long to catch on?
Well maybe for once they actually paid attention to history.
This isnt the first time the studios have tried to turn cheap paperbacks into big-budget franchises.
It came, it went, it was quickly forgotten, and few have thought about it since.
It was recently given a digital and made-to-order home release by the Warner Archive Collection.
Robert E. HowardsConan the Barbarianmade it through two big-budget features with Arnold Schwarzenegger before audiences started getting bored.
The series, originally written in the 30s, was really something.
According to Burroughs, they had a fourth primary color on Mars.
Man, that kept me going for weeks, as did all those green princesses with six arms.
No, history hasnt been kind to movie adaptations of the pulps, old and new alike.
Fu Manchu has also, like Tarzan, inspired comic books, radio shows, and television series.
Its doom, doom, doom.
Unless someone wanted to try and revive Fu Manchu!
Oh, wait a minute.
