Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsPulp Modern Returns with a Vengeance.
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2017
Money Green and blood red, Pulp Modern remains crisp. Like a toned cougar fresh out of a spin class; as soon as you flip open that sexy faux suede jacket—before you even dig in, you can see this pulp has aged like fine wine. First let’s talk art direction—volume 2, number one features a simple but iconic cover image, but what’s so striking about it, is its rich use of vivid color. I know what you’re thinking—get to the stories, it’s all about the writing. And it is of course, but that said—presentation is everything, and thanks to Richard Krauss, it’s got a gorgeous cover. Editor Alec Cizak claims gone are the experiments—but I disagree. The new Pulp Modern hosts an arsenal of experimental innovations: images accompanying each story; a question prompt above each title, answered by the story; even the advent of cartoons, courtesy of Bob Vojtko. Maybe they’re not so experimental, since they prove to work seamlessly throughout the collection. Story-wise these 13 tales run the gambit, when it comes to genres: Horror, Sci-Fi, Crime, Westerns. This issue has it all. Standouts for me were, first up: “Maddy Lee Reviews the Movie They Made About Her and Buck”(Tim P. Walker), a darker side of a Bonnie and Clyde duo, that takes you on a wild ride at gunpoint, taking sharp turns you never saw coming. Followed up next by “Now is Not a Good Time to Die”(Mark David Adam), which heightens layers of increasing suspense up until its twist ending. A very tightly written piece with true Hitchcockian suspense. In fact, the only thing I didn’t like about this piece was the title. “La Cross” (Stephen D. Rogers), winks satirical smugness at the vampire genre, while mixing it with clever observational humor. The near-future sci-fi piece, “Death Sentence” (Marc E. Fitch) had a fantastic and engrossing narrative voice, and “All Sales Final”(Mario E. Martinez) is a tightly written future story about bioengineering with distinct echoes of Philip K Dick. This issue is a collector’s item. Get it now, or at least before A.C. retires it, and it ends up selling on ebay for $1,000 a pop.
