G-8 and His Battle Aces

It was one of the first four magazines launched by Popular Publications when it began operations in 1930, and first appeared for just over two years under the title Battle Aces.

The magazine originally appeared monthly, but changed to bimonthly during World War II, ceasing publication in 1944.

It was the first magazine to specialize in fiction about flying, and pulp historian Robert Sampson suggests that Charles Lindbergh's recent flight across the Atlantic was part of the reason for public interest in aviation.

[2][3] In 1930 Popular Publications was started by Harry Steeger and Harold Goldsmith; they launched four pulp magazines that year, one of which was Battle Aces,[2] with the first issue dated October 1930.

[4] It published stories about war in the air: in a contemporary writers' magazine, Steeger declared the requirements for submissions were "scorching action, close plot, and dramatic situations.

[6] Battle Aces ceased publication in December 1932,[4] but Steeger had noticed the success of The Shadow (as had other publishers) and decided to launch his own single-character pulps,[7] including The Spider, about another crime-fighter.

[7] The magazine changed to bimonthly publication in early 1941 and ceased in 1944, with the last issue dated June of that year.

[7] Later, Hogan's widow, Betty Nevin, recalled that the fantastic elements were probably included to ensure enough variety in the plots to support a long series.

[9] There are many similarities between the series and the plots of stories by Donald E. Keyhoe about Captain Philip Strange, which appeared in the rival magazine Flying Aces; Hulse comments that "it is very difficult to believe that Robert J. Hogan wasn't directed to plagiarize the series for his G-8 and His Battle Aces novels", though Hulse adds that Hogan's work is not as strong as Keyhoe's.

[9] The cover art was almost always by Blakeslee, whose work is described by pulp art expert George Hocutt as "a delight to critical readers" because of its accuracy; according to Hocutt, Blakeslee's depictions of the fantastic elements in the G-8 plots always included faithful representations of the original World War I fighter planes.

[1] Although Hulse writes that Steeger edited Battle Aces, the bibliographer Phil Stephensen-Payne records Eugene A. Clancy as the editor.