![Captain Future, Wizard of Science](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Captain_Future%2C_Wizard_of_Science.jpg)
''Captain Future'' was a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
launched in 1940 by
Better Publications
Standard Comics was a comic book imprint of American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and paperback books (under the Popular Library name). Standard in t ...
, and edited initially by
Mort Weisinger
Mortimer Weisinger (; April 25, 1915 – May 7, 1978) was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' ''Superman'' during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features a ...
. It featured the adventures of
Captain Future
Captain Future is a pulp science fiction hero — a space-traveling scientist and adventurer —originally published in his namesake pulp magazine from 1940 to 1944. The character was created by editors Mort Weisinger and Leo Margulies. The maj ...
, a super-scientist whose real name was Curt Newton, in every issue. All but two of the novels in the magazine were written by
Edmond Hamilton
Edmond Moore Hamilton (October 21, 1904 – February 1, 1977) was an American writer of science fiction during the mid-twentieth century.
Early life
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania. So ...
; the other two were by
Joseph Samachson
Joseph Samachson (October 13, 1906 – June 2, 1980) was an American scientist and writer, primarily of science fiction and comic books.
Biography
Joseph Samachson was born on October 13, 1906 in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Russian Jewish pa ...
. The magazine also published other stories that had nothing to do with the title character, including
Fredric Brown
Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972) was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer.D. J. McReynolds, "The Short Fiction of Fredric Brown" in Frank N. Magill, (ed.) ''Survey of Science Fiction Literature'', Vol. 4 ...
's first science fiction sale, "Not Yet the End". ''Captain Future'' published unabashed
space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and soci ...
, and was, in the words of science fiction historian
Mike Ashley, "perhaps the most juvenile"
of the science fiction pulps to appear in the early years of World War II. Wartime paper shortages eventually led to the magazine's cancellation: the last issue was dated Spring 1944.
Publication history and contents
Although
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
(sf) had been published before the 1920s, it did not begin to coalesce into a separately marketed genre until the appearance in 1926 of ''
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...
'', a
pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
published by
Hugo Gernsback
Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American editor and magazine publisher, whose publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publ ...
. By the end of the 1930s, the field was booming.
Better Publications
Standard Comics was a comic book imprint of American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and paperback books (under the Popular Library name). Standard in t ...
, a pulp magazine publisher which had acquired ''
Thrilling Wonder Stories
''Wonder Stories'' was an early American science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, ''Amazing Stor ...
'' in 1936, launched three new magazines as part of this boom. The first two were ''
Startling Stories
''Startling Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1955 by publisher Ned Pines' Standard Magazines. It was initially edited by Mort Weisinger, who was also the editor of ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'', S ...
'', which appeared in January 1939, and ''
Strange Stories
''Strange Stories'' was a pulp magazine which ran for thirteen issues from 1939 to 1941. It was edited by Mort Weisinger, who was not credited. Contributors included Robert Bloch, Eric Frank Russell, C. L. Moore, August Derleth, and ...
'', which began the following month; both were edited by
Mort Weisinger
Mortimer Weisinger (; April 25, 1915 – May 7, 1978) was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' ''Superman'' during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features a ...
, who was also the editor of ''Thrilling Wonder Stories.''
[Ashley (2000), pp. 250–255.] Edmond Hamilton
Edmond Moore Hamilton (October 21, 1904 – February 1, 1977) was an American writer of science fiction during the mid-twentieth century.
Early life
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania. So ...
, an established science fiction writer, met with
Leo Margulies
Leo Margulies (June 22, 1900 – December 26, 1975) was an American editor and publisher of science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines and paperback books.
Biography
Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, but was raised in ...
, Better Publication's editorial director, in early 1939, and they subsequently planned the launch of a new magazine with the lead character of Curt Newton, a super-scientist who lived on the moon and went by the name "
Captain Future
Captain Future is a pulp science fiction hero — a space-traveling scientist and adventurer —originally published in his namesake pulp magazine from 1940 to 1944. The character was created by editors Mort Weisinger and Leo Margulies. The maj ...
".
The original idea for the character may have come from Weisinger. Margulies announced the new magazine at the
first World Science Fiction Convention, held in New York in July 1939, and the first issue, edited by Weisinger, appeared in January of the following year.
[Moskowitz (1974), p. 109.] Captain Future's companions in the series included an enormously strong robot named Grag, an android named Otho, and the brain of Simon Wright, Newton's mentor. Joan Randall, Newton's girlfriend, was also a regular character. Better Publications followed up the magazine launch with a companion comic, ''Startling Comics'', which appeared in May 1940; Captain Future was the protagonist of the lead story. Weisinger left in 1941 to edit comics following the adventures of
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
, and was replaced by
Oscar J. Friend.
''Captain Future'' was a hero pulp: these were pulps which were built around a central character, with every issue containing a lead story featuring that character. Every issue of ''Captain Future'' contained a novel about Curt Newton. Hamilton was willing to write the lead novel for every issue, but was concerned that he might be
drafted, so Margulies made arrangements for other writers to contribute the lead stories. Hamilton escaped the draft, but Margulies had already made arrangements for other writers to work on the series, and so two of the seventeen lead novels in the magazine were written by
Joseph Samachson
Joseph Samachson (October 13, 1906 – June 2, 1980) was an American scientist and writer, primarily of science fiction and comic books.
Biography
Joseph Samachson was born on October 13, 1906 in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Russian Jewish pa ...
, instead of by Hamilton. The house name "Brett Sterling" was invented to conceal the identity of the new writer; it was used for both of Samachson's contributions, as well as some of Hamilton's.
Hamilton also wrote regular features that provided background material on the stories: "Worlds of Tomorrow" provided information about the planets featured in the stories, and "The Futuremen" covered Newton's companions.
In addition to the novels about Curt Newton, ''Captain Future'' published both new and reprinted science fiction stories that were unconnected with the lead character.
Fredric Brown
Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972) was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer.D. J. McReynolds, "The Short Fiction of Fredric Brown" in Frank N. Magill, (ed.) ''Survey of Science Fiction Literature'', Vol. 4 ...
's first sf sale, "Not Yet the End", appeared in the Winter 1941 issue; and Weisinger reprinted
David H. Keller
David Henry Keller (December 23, 1880 – July 13, 1966) was an American writer who worked for pulp magazines in the mid-twentieth century, in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. He was also a psychiatrist and physician to shell- ...
's ''The Human Termites'' and
Laurence Manning
Laurence Manning (July 20, 1899 – April 10, 1972) was a Canadian science fiction author.
Manning was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, and attended Kings College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As did his two older brothers, Manning signed up to ...
's ''
The Man Who Awoke'', both abridged, in the first few issues of the magazine; these had originally appeared in 1929 and 1933, respectively, and were from back issues of ''Wonder Stories'', which Better Publications had acquired the rights to in 1936. The magazine was unashamedly focused on straightforward space opera: a typical plot saw Captain Future and his friends save the solar system, or perhaps the entire universe, from a villain.
Sf historian
Mike Ashley describes the magazine as "perhaps the most juvenile" of the World War II crop of science fiction pulps.
[Ashley (1978), p. 57.] Wartime paper shortages killed the magazine in mid-1944, but more Captain Future novels saw print in ''Startling Stories'', some over the next two years, with more following in 1950 and 1951.
In Sweden, the weekly pulp magazine ''
Jules Verne Magasinet'', launched in 1940, reprinted all the Captain Future stories, along with much other American pulp fiction, and as a result Sweden developed a group of fans of Captain Future.
Bibliographic details
''Captain Future'' was pulp format, 128 pages, and was priced at 15 cents; the first seven issues were edited by Mort Weisinger, and the remaining ten by Oscar J. Friend. There were three issues to a volume. The schedule was quarterly, with one omission: there was no Fall 1943 issue. The publisher was Better Publications, with offices in Chicago and New York, for all issues.
[Ashley & Ewald (1985), p. 155−157.] The magazine was subtitled "Wizard of Science" for the first four issues; after that the subtitle was "Man of Tomorrow," a name that had already been used by the Superman franchise for their hero.
Thirteen Captain Future novels were reprinted as paperbacks at the end of the 1960s, all by
Popular Library
Popular Library was a New York paperback book company established in 1942 by Leo Margulies and Ned Pines, who at the time were major pulp magazine and newspaper publishers. The company's logo of a pine tree was a tribute to Pines, and another P ...
. Ten of these, all printed in 1969, were originally printed in ''Captain Future ''as follows:
[Currey (1979), pp. 217–219.]
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Complete indexat
Internet Speculative Fiction Database
The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on genres considered speculative fiction, including science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and horror fiction. The ISFDB ...
{{Authority control
Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States
Pulp magazines
Magazines established in 1940
Magazines disestablished in 1944
Science fiction magazines established in the 1940s
Magazines published in Illinois
Magazines published in New York (state)