If you're a longtime comic book fan, you undoubtedly know the name Robert Greenberger, as Greenberger was an editor at DC Comics during the 1980s and 1990s on some of the most critically acclaimed books of the era, whether as an assistant editors on books like Crisis on Infinite Crisis, Who's Who of the DC Universe or the lead editor on John Ostrander's Suicide Squad run and DC's acclaimed Star Trek adaptations (he also was the editor on Doom Patrol who brought Grant Morrison on that series). More recently, Greenberger has also been doing a series of great non-fiction books about comic book history, like The Essential Batman Encyclopedia and Justice League: 100 Greatest Moments: Highlights from the History of the World’s Greatest Superheroes.

In any event, Bob is now doing a Kickstarter for a new pulp fiction-themed prose anthology that he is editing called Thrilling Adventure Yarns.

In the collection is an actual unpublished story by Lester Dent, the guy who created Doc Savage!

I found that fascinating, so I asked Bob to fill me in on how such a thing came about. Here is what he had to say...

Will Murray knows his Golden Age of Heroes. He’s been writing about the earliest costumed champions of justice for decades. He’s profiles creators and characters and films for countless magazines. I think I first encountered his byline at Steranko’s Prevue magazine or later at Starlog.

He has gone from historian (co-authoring The Duende History of the Shadow) to literally taking over the adventures of Doc Savage and Tarzan. He’s also written stories from across the pulps and comics, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, the Hulk, Nick Fury, the Spider, The Avenger, the Green Hornet, Sherlock Holmes, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Honey West, and The Phantom.

When I began conceiving of an anthology celebrating the pulp magazines of the past, I knew I wanted Will to be a part of this. He readily agreed, which was kind of him considering we’d never met or worked together before despite operating in the same circles.

But then he made me an offer. Would I like to use an unpublished Lester Dent short story? This gave me pause. Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson, created Doc Savage, a forerunner of Superman, the original Man of Steel.

It’s a World War I short story about two American aviators and had all the right pacing and slang to ring true. This was a fabulous way to connect the past to today. All I needed was to pay the estate, for which Will is the literary agent, a fee.

And that’s what brought me to making the decision to use Kickstarter to raise funds for Thrilling Adventure Yarns, my tribute to the pulps. It’ll be out in July from my Crazy 8 Press imprint and will also feature works from Michael Jan Friedman, Paul Kupperberg, Aaron Rosenberg, Jim and Becky Beard, Russ Colchamiro, Mary Fan, Glenn Hauman, Amy Lewanski, Paige Daniels, and several more. My first stretch goal will be to add stories from Will, Peter David, and Keith R.A. DeCandido and if we get enough, I’d love to have each story illustrated just like back in the day.

Here's the cover...

Click here if you want to get in on this cool new collection of stories!