The Wordsmith by R.G. Taylor

My first real encounter with the pulps as a whole movement was collecting and reading issues of the comic book Wordsmith by R.G. Taylor sometime back in the 1990s. I had read more than a few pulp authors at that point, H.P. Lovecraft, Louis L'amour, Ed McBain just to name a few, but always saw them as a Horror Writer, A Western Writer and a Crime Writer and not so much a part of the larger world of pulp fiction. Sure, in reading their work and about them I did come to know and understand that they were mostly just guys trying to make a living writing, but it wasn't until The Wordsmith that I really understood that it was more about writing rather than writing genre fiction.

Wordsmith followed the life and career of a young writer as he hacked away at the pulps, writing for each and every genre the pulps had to offer. One issue might feature the wordsmith writing a boxing pulp and the next a war pulp. There was even a issue where he traitorously flirted with those new fangled comic books. The over all story arc followed the writer growing in his craft, dealing with the issues of becoming an adult, marriage, family etc and finally crossing over into the 'legitimate' writers world.

I have long since given away by issues of the series (passing them along to another worthy reader as it were. I have fond memories of series, and always intended to pick up the trade collections (there were two), but never got around to it. I think that it is one that really could use a revival these days with the renewed interest in pulp writing and writers.

You can check out some of R.G. Taylor's art Here
Mile High Comics has back issues for sale and cover images Here