This is one of my earliest acquisitions. When purchased, it was in near-mint condition and the print colors were so bright that it looked like it had just come off the press and might smear if you touched them. (I have suggested on more than one occasion that someone should research the dyes used, as they have preserved so well they ought to be used today – unless of course they turned out to be highly toxic, which wouldn’t surprise me.) At some point during a move or storage it took a small amount of water damage (that pisses me off every time I see it now) but, such is the life of a collector. (Don’t ask me about the book worm I brought home with a purchase from California….)
Dynamic was a “Goodman Group” pulp (an extensive line of various subjects, westerns, mystery, weird), also sometimes imprinted with a “Red Circle” logo. This makes it a stablemate of Marvel Science Fiction (Tales/Stories), Uncanny Tales and Uncanny Stories (not related to our contemporary Uncanny magazine. Neither of the latter two titles is in the collection.)
The cover is by Frank R. Paul, and his position at the time as the leading illustrator of science fiction is mentioned in a note on the table of contents (a new magazine ought to have a cover by the leading artist. Interesting to note that this is at least 13 years after Paul first began illustrating SF subjects.). It illustrates Stanton Coblentz’s cover story Lord of Tranerica. (I note that it is a bit of an odd-ball in terms of SF magazine cover illustrations as the “flow” of the piece leads the eye away from the title, rather than towards it.)
Author names in the TOC make for a pretty solid list for the time – in addition to Coblentz it features stories by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, Robert Moore Williams, Nelson Bond and Hubert Mavity, who, it turns out, is also Nelson S. Bond. (Hubert?: “What’s your name?” “Hubert.” “No, I’m not Burt. I’m asking what your name is.” “Hubert.” “NO! I’m not Burt…”)
Despite the draw of Paul, Bond, Eshbach, Williams and Coblentz, Dynamic only produced one other issue. Uncanny Stories, Uncanny Tales were also both short-lived, while Marvel managed a few mores, with multiple title changes as has already been related. And, of course, both played a part in Marvel Comic’s pre-history.
I’m pretty sure (if memory serves, and it doesn’t always) that this is another pulp I purchased from the legendary Robert “Bob” Madle, a member of First Fandom who recently passed at over 100 years of age. I’m quite proud to have known Bob and am eternally grateful to him for being a Trufan and a true mensch, someone willing to take an enormous amount of his time behind the table to mentor and educate a young fan in both the arcane practices of the collector and of what it means to be a Fan. It is through Bob and a handful of others – Asimov, Ackerman, Del Rey, Pohl – that I received my Fannish education directly from its founders. Much has changed (some of it regretfully), but the core remains and it is a privilege to have such a direct connection to the history of the community that supports the SF genre.
You can read the entirety of both issues of Dynamic Science Stories here.
I also have to confess that for some time I confused Coblentz’ “Tranerica” with the “Trigan Empire” graphic story, which I have a first edition of as well, (gifted to me by Bob Walters, an excellent artist in his own right), though not in the V1N1 collection.
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