In the mid-1920s, the magazine Black Mask turned to stories favoring characters and atmosphere over intricate puzzle-plotting. Led by Dashiell Hammett, the monthly magazine inaugurated a golden age of American crime fiction. Otto Penzler talks about the stories he chose for The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps: The Best Crime Stories from the Pulps During Their Golden Age--The '20s, '30s & '40s.
Otto Penzler needs to read some history. The Depression started in the '30s, not the '20s. Comic books were tremendously popular in the '40s. Many GIs read them.
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