Century-old pulp magazines become hot collectibles at 25th annual Windy City Convention

During last weekend’s locally run and very crowded three-day Pulp Con in Lombard, customers and dealers were not only buying historic treasures but talking about the sudden increase and popularity in the marketplace value for pulps. One just sold for a quarter of a million dollars.

Known as the country’s premier pulp event, the 25th annual Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention (Pulp Con) held at the Lombard Westin’s ballroom was full of vintage, hard to find (i.e. Doc Savage, The Shadow, Weird Tales, Tarzan) pulps, paperbacks, comics, original artwork, movie memorabilia and magazines with explosive cover artwork.

Rare items abounded as dealers and customers from around the U.S., Australia, Switzerland and England attended.

“Pulps have played a major role in the pop culture of America’s 20th century,” Doug Ellis, of Chicago, one of the founders of Pulp Con, said, while helping a customer.

This year, attendees were celebrating the 130th anniversary of pulp magazines. Not only through shopping but with panel discussions, movies and two auctions of rare pulps that raked in thousands of dollars.

Pulp books were made early in the last century from the cheapest paper, known as “pulp.” Mass produced and cheap, pulp books began to hit the newsstands with eye-catching colorful covers in the early 1900s and remained popular through the 1950s. In 1896, the first pulp titled “The Argosy” appeared.

Published by Frank A. Munsey, he was the first to replace slick paper for wood pulp, providing readers with pages, some over 100, of stories for just 10 cents. Pulps took off, providing fast-paced fiction for millions of readers a month.

These included stories by such celebrated authors as Sax Rohmer, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, August Derleth, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Lester Dent, and Robert E. Howard featuring sci-fi, horror, crime, westerns, and romance.

“One would see these incredibly colorful covers on the stands, pay a dime, roll them up and put them in your back pocket, read them at lunch or later and share with your friends and family. In addition to American, there were U.K. and Spanish pulps too,” said Deb Fulton of Mt. Prospect, one of the longtime organizers of the event. “Unfortunately, with the advent of World War I and World War II there was a shortage of paper, so pulp production slowed.

“A little-known fact is the longest running pulp was ‘Ranch Romance’,” Fulton said. “But yes, the heyday of the pulps was in the 1930s. Years later, with the advent of paperbacks and comic books, which became extremely popular, pulps were pushed aside.”

Now, pulps and their cover artwork, even recent work, can sell for thousands of dollars. For instance, a James Bama Doc Savage paperback cover artwork is being auctioned now by Heritage Auctions with a starting bid at $30,000 “and up.”

“It was amazing that in 2024, the October 1912 issue of The All-Story magazine featuring the first appearance of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs, of Chicago, sold for $264,000,” Ellis said. “It is the highest price paid at auction for a single pulp magazine, considered to be one of the most important pulp magazines in pop culture history.”

Ellis is also the author of the popular “Art of the Pulps” book published in 2016.

According to reports other top-selling pulps include: The Shadow #1 (April 1931), sold for $156,000 in May 2021; Weird Tales (March 1923), sold for $36,000 in May 2021; and Doc Savage #1 (March 1933), sold for $39,600 in June 2024. Recently, an original pulp cover by Margaret Brundage sold for $71,875.

The Pulp Con auction, usually held Friday and Saturday, features about 200 hard-to-find pulps and related items which can sell from $30 to over $3,000 each.

What has changed recently affecting the value of pulps can be described as “the slab” or rating and certification for a fee through companies like CGC (Certified Guarantee Company). They initially started rating sports cards and comics in early 2000.

The All-Story magazine featuring Tarzan was rated in good/very good condition by CGC. Rating can be costly and once the product -anywhere from pulps to sports cards to comics — are rated and encased in plastic it is not recommended to reopen them. If the plastic is opened one must go through the rating process and fees all over again for a new slab to be placed on.

In 2024 CGC announced they would begin grading pulps saying: ‘despite the end of an era in pulps in the 1950s, pulps left behind a legacy that continues to permeate American culture today. Like comic books, pulps were ephemeral, and yet collectors sought them out, saving them from destruction and memorializing their stories and authors in countless reprints and books that elevated pulps to a historical and literary art form.’

“What I don’t like about this type of grading and ‘slabbing’ is you can’t read it or look at the index. What’s the fun in that?” one Pulp Con dealer said. He noted more people that weekend were buying ungraded pulps and more, as most know their value.

“It is a new phenomenon. One that’s good and bad. You can easily ship them anywhere without damaging them. But many don’t like this because you can’t read them,” Fulton said. “But it is adding a new element to the collecting and investing in the pulp arena and auction houses are enthusiastic about it.

“As you turn around, you’ll see about 10 tables against the wall full of graded pulps,” Fulton said. “They seem to be selling.” A customer waiting to purchase several graded comics from Fulton said they will go well in his collection.

The other longtime organizers of Pulp Con are John and Maureen Gunnison, based locally. They also sell pulps, comics and T-shirts at the convention.

A longtime attendee fulling his bag with Doc Savage and The Shadow pulps said he spent about $500 but was excited that Maureen let him hold a $20,000 Doc Savage pulp.

“They have even more expensive pulps for sale in great shape,” this Mt. Prospect resident said. “A bit out of my price range, but like in other years, they will sell. The Gunnisons always have great products.”

While Pulps have turned into popular movies like Doc Savage, The Shadow and Tarzan they live on in new stories in books by celebrated author Will Murray of Quincy, Massachusetts, who attends Pulp Con every year. For several years, he has been writing books continuing the adventures of Doc Savage, Tarzan, King Kong, The Spider and Sherlock Holmes. His company is called “Adventures in Bronze.”

“I’m keeping these characters alive through my books. They are a big part of Americana,” Murray said as he autographed his “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes #5” book for a fan.

Known as one of the top authorities of pulp fiction, Murray has written novels, nonfictions and short fiction featuring classic characters such as Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Sherlock Holmes, the Phantom, the Green Hornet, Zorro, Honey West, Cthulhu, Dr. Herbert West and numerous others.

One of his latest books is “The Spider-The Hangman from Hell.” Murray’s success lies in his ability to write in the style of the original authors.

“One sees a growing number of collectors, writers, fans, and investors at this show every year and it seems to be getting even more crowded,” one attendee said. “It’s a lot of fun and you never know what you’ll find — an Agatha Christie story, articles written by Amelia Earhart, pristine copies of 19th-century Harpers Weekly, or a first edition of King Kong.”

Pulps continue to grow in popularity with a larger, worldwide audience, especially with the advent of on-line purchasing and social media.

“We have seen more educators, especially professors in pop culture who attend the shows as it helps them prepare their courses on this important part of America’s 250th history,” Fulton said. “Next year should be even better.”

The next Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention will be held again at Lombard Westin the first week of April 2027. As proof of the pulp’s increasing popularity, this Spring Heritage will hold a pulp auction.