The Black Mask was a monthly Pulp magazine published by Pro-Distributors Publishing based in New York, USA.
It ran from April 1920 to July 1951 for a total of 340 issues.
April 1920 - April 1927 as The Black Mask
May 1927 - July 1950 as Black Mask
September 1950 - May 1951 as Black Mask Detective and finally:
July 1951 as Black Mask Detective Magazine
It then merged with Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Black Mask initially started life as a general pulp running various types of fiction from Adventure to Romance to Westerns. However, it was the appointment of Joseph T. Shaw as editor in November 1926 that saw Black Mask transformed into what is now generally regarded as the finest detective pulp magazine ever published.
It became the single most influential detective magazine, introducing the 'Hard-Boiled' detective to the mystery genre, and inspiring film noir movements in film and television.
It counts amongst its authors such heavyweights of the genre as, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and John D. MacDonald and many others.
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