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(It's All) Pulp Fiction

(This post can also be found here.)

It’s come to my attention that I’m a pulp reader. Perhaps I always was.

When I was younger I consumed primarily sci-fi and fantasy, and while that’s still true, my new love has evolved into a regression, at least temporally: pulp fiction. The term, as many know, comes from the kind of paper on which these stories were printed on—a kind of cheap, acidic paper that deteriorates and yellows over time. It was first used to refer to “pulp magazines” which were popular from the late 1890’s through 1950’s.

Nowadays, the term “pulp fiction” is used as a pejorative for any work (especially those of genre fiction) which are not/could not be considered “literature.” Although, in recent years, academia has come to recognize literary genre fiction as not only valuable popular media, but also academically viable.

When I say that I have come to love pulp fiction, I am simultaneously talking about the small, yellowing, 100-page Louis L’Amour paperbacks I pick up from the Goodwill and secondhand stores, and the comics that come out on a monthly basis. I’m talking about the racist and sexist romance comics from the 50’s and Tarzan and A Princess of Mars and Kiowa Trail. Indeed, some of these authors (like Edgar Rice Burroughs, for instance) had an undeniable influence on their successors as a whole. Tarzan, though has since fallen out of the height of its popularity, is a “modern” innovation of the captivity narrative, bildungsroman, and the adventure novel all in one, while still maintaining the racist and orientalist views of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Barsoom Chronicles, are planetary romances of sweeping proportions, with developed worlds and cultures (before such a thing as “world-building”), whose primary character, John Carter (a former Confederate soldier), and his incredible ability to launch himself through the Martian skies is the direct inspiration for Superman’s early abilities (“Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap a tall building in a single bound”).

The more I read, the more I come to realize how much the landscape of American Popular Media is shaped by stories and authors long forgotten. Modern science-fiction and fantasy bear the echoes of stories that defied their own genres: the planetary romance is now few and far between except, perhaps in erotica (which is a whole other can of worms) and the critically acclaimed Avatar movies directed by James Cameron. The Tarzan archetype is now no longer the story of survival of a man of the savage land, but instead is hidden in the survival stories like Lord of the Flies and Hatchet. The hero pulp genre, which originally featured characters like Arsine Lupin, Ka-Zar, and Conan have since become Netflix series and comic titles that stand idle on the shelves as the industry has contracted.

In addition to the shrinkage of pulp fiction production and consumption, genre fiction has become less stigmatized by the popular opinion, though some genres (such as the recent “Romantasy” genre) still remain under scrutiny. Genre fiction has become more accepted and is therefore less likely to be segregated or disparaged. The lurid, racy tales of pulp fiction full of violence, romance, and adventure have become more and more popular within the public opinion. Game of Thrones, for instance, might’ve once fallen under the pulp fiction category. There are few places left where true, scandalous, divergent, and taboo stories stand. Fanfiction is one of the most recent successors of that torrid low-brow medium.

The pulp genre, like the paper has been recycled and, well, turned into new pulp for the next generations. Maybe in the end, it’s all pulp fiction. And I love it all, which means, man, I love pulp fiction.

#goosegabs #blog post #pulp fiction #pulp #edgar rice burroughs #louis l'amour

My work with Seattle Arts and Lectures

Seattle Arts & Lectures cultivates transformative experiences through story and language with readers and writers of all generations.

My (published) work for the International Examiner

Raw and articulate, Sung fumigates her life with forceful sincerity. I devoured her highs and lows, swept up into the story of her life thro

It’s hard to talk about this book without being political. Despite Park’s insistence that she feels no allegiance to either Republicans or D

If you’re looking for a book dramatically grounded in land, culture, and people, Skull Water fits the bill. Set in South Korea 20 years afte

E.J. Koh’s style flirts with the boundary between stream of consciousness and internal monologue the same way her story flirts with hope and

In grounded and humorous prose, Elise Hu tells the stunning (pun intended) and sinister story of the Korean beauty industry and its rise to

Syntax that seems like mistranslation gives way to a psychedelic atmosphere, like a queer Alice in Wonderland. Up is down, down is up, the E

There have been only a few times that I remember hearing about Korean politics in American media. The most recent was the North Korean missi

Comics

A Superman Snapshot Story and Art by H.Goos

[COMIC] Cruelty and Kindness

A Superman Snapshot

Story and Art by H.Goos

[COMIC] Face the Sun

A Superman Snapshot

Story and Art by H.Goos

Miguel O’Hara as the Antithesis of the Spider-Man

In Across the Spider-Verse, Miguel is both an antagonist within the story but he is also an allegory (intentional or not) for the kinds of discussion fans have around “canon events.” Miguel is obsessed with this idea that Miles isn’t supposed to be Spider-Man, and both diegetically as well as thematically fails to understand what exactly it means to be Spider-Man. Similarly, the kinds of fans that are obsessed with gate-keeping comics, characters, and canon, often fail to overlook the purpose of the art and the story that they so fervently protect.

The hypocrisy of Miguel and those like him is that they are not only antithetical to what Spider-Man is, but what comics are. Comics, especially superhero comics, are fan-made creations. Perhaps they didn’t start that way, some started with two Jewish kids from New York. Eventually, those comics reached a wider audience. Kids from all over the nation were flocking weekly to their local pharmacies to pick up the brand new issue of Amazing Spider-Man. And those kids fell in love. And what they read as children inspired them to go on to write for those companies.

It was fairly common in the comic book industry (especially during the Silver and Bronze age (60’s-80’s)) to have writers hopping around from [character] title to title. People added things and took things away, Steve Ditko himself transformed Spider-Man from the goofy awkward high schooler to something darker and more angst-ridden. But to this day, the quick talking Spider-Man and his awkward counterpart, Peter Parker, prevails. Canon is never truly fixed in comics, much like fan fiction, creators add what they want to see and if that idea or concept or “canon” becomes the most popular or the most utilized, it cements itself into the canon of the character.

Retro-active canon in comics is still something you can see in characters like Batman, Superman, Cyborg, Wolverine, Spider-Man. Rewriting the same story over and over and over again is common. Rewriting it until something sticks and is accepted is the norm: some [comic] runs stand out and others flop. Comics are influenced by other media as well: actor portrayals affect the way the character is drawn and even the way they are characterized. Christopher Reeves changed the way that Clark Kent was drawn. There are artists that still pull his film portrayal of Clark Kent as a reference for their depictions. You can’t control canon, even as much as publishing companies and comic dude bros (and also apparently, fictional futuristic Spider-Men), want to. Canon is changed and shaped and defined by so many other factors than just what is written down. Canon in comics is malleable and ever-changing, sometimes contradicting itself. Comic canon is a wild mythology that changes with the writers and the fans and the time and place in which it’s written.

Miguel’s insistence that Miles is an anomaly, that he wasn’t supposed to be Spider-Man, is wrong, outside of him being the antagonist. He focuses on the fact that Miles was bitten by a spider from a different universe, therefore, if Miles hadn’t been bitten by someone else's spider, the Peter Parker from Earth-1610 (Mile’s Universe) would’ve survived and Miles wouldn't have been Spider-Man (as we find out, Miles is supposed to be Prowler). He singles out Miles as different, as anomaly, something that was true within comics for many years after the very first Black Spider-Man (Miles Morales) debuted. But the truth of the matter is that Spider-Man isn’t supposed to be anyone, he’s just… a guy: a friendly neighborhood guy. Just a kid from Brooklyn. A nerdy, dorky kid from Brooklyn, who got pushed around at school and happened to get bit by a radioactive spider. Miguel himself wasn’t even bitten by a spider. Half his DNA is spider DNA due to comic book zaniness and pseudo-science. By that sheer factor alone, Miguel wasn’t supposed to be Spider-Man either. Peter Parker isn’t supposed to be Spider-Man. Miles Morales isn't supposed to be Spider-Man. Gwen Stacy being alive is an anomaly in most universes! All of the Spider-Men shown in Across the Spider-Verse consistently break Miguel’s logic that someone else is supposed to be Spider-Man. Peter B. Parker has a daughter—something that doesn’t often happen. Jess Drew is based on a scrapped version of Spider-Woman from ‘74.

What makes the Spider people Spider-Men is that they choose each and every day to take on the great responsibility that comes with the great power that they have. Anyone can wear the mask. You just have to be brave enough to put it on. In a multiverse of infinite possibilities, anyone can be Spider-Man. The first movie, in retrospect, understands this thematic element that Miguel O’Hara simply cannot seem to grasp. As Miles says, “Anyone can wear the mask. You can wear the mask. If you didn’t know that before, I hope you do now.”

And in the words of the man himself:

“It wasn’t done purposefully. It was done accidentally. But I think it was the best thing we did: making it so he could be anyone under that costume.” ---Stan Lee

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