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Thrilling Publications

Pulp magazine publisher

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ7798206 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thrilling Publications, also known as Beacon Magazines (1936–37), Better Publications (1937–43) and Standard Magazines (1943–55), was a pulp magazine publisher run by Ned Pines, publishing such titles as Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Pines became the president of Pines Publications in 1928. Pines folded most of his magazines in 1955 but continued to lead the company until 1961.

Cover artists

Pines' cover artists included Earle K. Bergey, John Parker, George Rozen, and Rudolph Belarski.

Paperbacks

In 1942 Pines started Popular Library, a paperback publishing house, and devoted himself to that company after closing his other ventures. Popular reprinted materials from the pulps.

Characters

Bill Dawe (The Sky Devil) (by Harold F. Cruickshank)

The Black Bat

Captain Danger

Captain Future (a separate comic book character, unrelated to the pulp character, also existed)

Crimson Mask

Green Ghost (also appeared in comics)

Masked Detective

Masked Rider (purchased from Martin Goodman's Ranger Publications after the first three issues; Better Publications' numbering started with v01n01)

Olak, the White Phantom (by Harold F. Cruickshank)

The Phantom Detective

The Purple Scar

The Rio Kid

Titles

Air War

Army Navy Flying Stories

Black Book Detective

Captain Future (1940–1944; 17 issues)(the series was continued with several novels and short stories in Startling Stories)

Detective Book Magazine

Detective Novels

Everyday Astrology

Exciting Detective

Exciting Love

Exciting Football

Exciting Western

Fantastic Story Quarterly / Fantastic Story Magazine (1950-1955, 23 issues)

G-Men

The Lone Eagle

Masked Detective (1940–1943, 12 issues)

Masked Rider Western (1934–1953; 100 issues)

Mobsters

The Phantom Detective

Popular Detective

Popular Love

Popular Sports Magazine

Popular Western

RAF Aces

Range Riders Western (1938–1953; 72 issues)

Rio Kid Western

Rodeo Romances

Sky Fighters

Space Stories (1952-1953, 5 issues)

Startling Stories (1939–1955; 99 issues)(Following the cancellation of Captain Future in 1944 due to wartime paper restrictions, several CF novels appeared in this magazine immediately, and several short stories in the early 50s)

Strange Stories (1939-1941, 13 issues)

The Rio Kid Western (1939–1953; 76 issues)

Texas Rangers

Thrilling Adventures (1931–1943)

Thrilling Baseball

Thrilling Detective (1931–53; 213 issues)

Thrilling Football

Thrilling Love

Thrilling Mystery

Thrilling Ranch

Thrilling Sports

Thrilling Western

West

Thrilling Wonder Stories (1936–55, 112 issues)

Wonder Story Annual (1950-1953, 4 issues)

See also

Standard Comics - Pines' comic book company, also used the Better Publications name for some titles

Popular Library - Pines' paperback book company

References

Sources

Wooley, John and Locke, John. "A History of the Thrilling Pulps." Thrilling Detective Heroes. Adventure House, 2007.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Thrilling Publications” is pulp magazine publisher. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Thrilling, Publications and Pulp, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1936, 1937, 1943, 1928—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1928. For this dossier, Thrilling, Publications and Pulp is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “pulp magazine publisher” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7798206. VIAF identifies the subject as 251362378. The Library of Congress control number is no2012086064. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1936, 1937, 1943 and 1928.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Thrilling Publications”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thrilling Publications primary sources, Thrilling Publications archive and Thrilling research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Thrilling Publications” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.