Fans of “The Shadow,” “Doc Savage,” “Zorro” and “Tarzan” will gather May 5-7 at the sixth annual Windy City Pulp and Paperback Convention.

Pulp fiction is a genre of literature that became popular in the early parts of the 20th century. Pulp magazines were inexpensive, and consisted of fictional stories dealing with subjects ranging from science fiction to sports and romance. Pulp fiction is also an inspiration to current pop culture, and has inspired the likes of “Star Trek,” “Indiana Jones,” and “Superman.”

“Pulp magazines were pretty much the principal form of inexpensive literature in the first part of the 20th century,” said Doug Ellis, co-coordinator of the convention. “If you wanted to read something and didn’t want to spend the money on a hardcover book, you would go to the news stand and buy a pulp fiction magazine.”

This year’s convention will celebrate the 75th anniversary of “The Shadow.” To commemorate the pulp hero, film programming on Saturday night will be filled with “The Shadow” movies. Also to commemorate the anniversary, the family of Graves Gladney, the second cover artist of “The Shadow,” will be presenting a slide show featuring his artwork.

“Saturday is just a night of old ‘The Shadow’ movies. Another really fascinating film (being played) is called ‘The Phantom President.’ It’s a political fantasy about the president not having any charisma, so they have a double come in. It’s really interesting and doesn’t get much play anymore,” said Mark Trost, media relations director of the convention.

Cover artist Jim Steranko will also be exhibiting his art.

“Steranko, who painted paperback covers for the ‘80s revival of ‘The Shadow,” [is] bringing all his art work to the show, which has never been done before,” Trost said.

The convention will also include a dealer showroom housing over 100 tables with many original pulp fiction items for sale, along with comic books, artwork and other pulp-inspired works.

“There will be a lot of people who show up to buy the original magazines, which is the main reason people come to the show,” said John Gunnison, co-coordinator of the convention.

Although many of the convention goers are pulp fiction and comic book enthusiasts, anyone interested in popular culture could go and enjoy themselves.