Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is The Pulp Tarot by Todd Alcott, published by The Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild in 2023.
5 Points About This Deck
- Box: The box looks like a well-worn paperback and opens from the top – I think it’s fabulous.
- Theme: Pulp illustration is the theme – bold, dramatic, and eye-catching, with a fun (yet non-nostalgic) 50’s feel. It really appeals to me
- Readability: if you’re comfortable with the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, you’ll have no problem with The Pulp Tarot. Though the images actively pay homage to the RWS, this deck definitely stands on its own with fabulous stories to tell in each card.
- Gender: Alcott specifically mentions in the instruction guide that whether there’s men or women pictured in the images, they’re meant to relate to all of us. It’s fun to see though, how this deck breaks a little with tradition and includes some women in roles that are usually pictured as men … some examples – The Fool, The Chariot, the person in the 9 of Cups and the 9 of Wands, and more.
- Card Design: Alcott describes the images as basically collages. He used multiple images to create each card, but manipulated them in photoshop to make them look as if the whole card was drawn by one artist.
I really like The Pulp Tarot. It’s kind of a kitschy theme, but don’t let that give you the impression it’s not serious. It tells a Tarot tale with the best of them.
One of the first things I did when I opened this deck was to ask it, “What do you like to talk about most?”
I pulled three cards and got The Tower, the Page of Cups, and the 5 of Pentacles.
My take on that is that it likes talking about big shocks, new love, and financial questions. I’ll keep that in mind.