First up, one by Barye Phillips. Yes, that’s Gardner Fox the Golden and Silver Age comics writer/
Second, Charles Binger with a very Richard Powers-looking cover.
Third, art uncredited.
Fourth, also uncredited.
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The Shade became an A-lister thanks to his appearances in James Robinson’s Starman series. From there he springboarded into the CW’s excellent Stargirl as a supporting character for two seasons.
It’s surprising to look back and see what a minor player he once was. One appearance in the Golden Age. Then an appearance in the classic story “Flash of Two Worlds,” which introduced the idea the Justice Society and Justice League co-existed on different Earths. There he got to fight alongside the Thinker, Jay Garrick’s arch-foe (seven appearances) and the Fiddler (four). All he could do was blot out light — a useful skill, sure, but not much.
And then the Shade returned.
This was the story that established the Shade could access dimensions of darkness, elevating him beyond a C-lister. Without this story changing his trajectory, he’d be a bar-trivia answer.
What I’m really posting about, though, is the Carmine Infantino cover. I think it’s great. Then smirking, lean figure of the Shade. Jay, trapped. Barry unable to beat his foe. When I saw it as a kid, although I didn’t have the money to spare, I was hooked. Thrilled years later when I acquired it.
The Shade’s career shows even a C-lister has potential. The cover shows — well, while I generally disregard “things were better back in the day” I think the covers were.
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First one by the great Virgil Finlay
Two by Howard Brown
And one by Hans Waldemar Wessolowski, AKA “Wesso”
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First, fantasy by Gervasio Gallardo (review of the book here).
Science fiction by Ed Emshwiller.
Murder mystery by Mitchell Hooks
And social realism (how realistic? I have no idea) by Bob Maguire. Yes that’s the same Fredric Wertham famous for his anti-comics crusading.
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I posted this 1955 Lu Kimmel cover back in June. It occurred to me last week that I had more to say about it.
First, of course, we have the Sex Sells aspect — just how much is the protagonist seeing? Then there’s his body language: obviously focused on her but clutching the satchel defensively (though the Amazon synopsis makes me think it’s a safety deposit box). She’s sending an invitation; he’s not sure it’s a good idea.
The cover copy gives it context. It tells us he’s a thief and a womanizer, not some innocent. That suggests to me he was walking out with his prize when he discovered he wasn’t alone in the house. Maybe not, but it does inject some added drama into the scene. I don’t see lines like that on covers any more but there’s something to be said for them.
We don’t know anything about the woman from the cover art. However any woman whose posing in front of a man like that qualifies as a bad girl by 1955 standards. Typically in a paperback thriller she’ll be part of the conflict — love vs money, wanting a woman he shouldn’t have, etc. I don’t have the urge to hunt for more information but if I saw it cheap in a used bookstore, I might pick it up.
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Two trilogies from Ballantine Books, two sets of triple covers. First, The Lord of the Rings by Barbara Remington.
These covers go back to when LOTR was still seen as a one-of-a-kind thing. Epic fantasy didn’t exist as a genre; there was Tolkien and people knocking off Tolkien, that was it. They are very much what I think of as the covers. Remington says she hadn’t had a chance to read the books when she drew the art or she’d have drawn them differently.
Second, the three Gormenghast novels by Mervyn Peake, with covers by Bob Pepper.
Here’s a better look at the image without the titles.
If you think that looks weird, well so are the books: Titus Groan, Gormenghast — apparently I never blogged about V3, Titus Alone Peake’s wife put together a fourth volume from his notes and the novella Boy in Darkness falls between V1 and V2.
Part of the inspiration for this post was someone on FB saying that after reading LOTR they’d picked up the Peake books as another fantasy trilogy — that must mean a lot like LOTR, right? It must have been a jarring transition.
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One by Harry Schaare showing a typical work session at a typical office, as imagined in pop culture decades ago. For secretary stereotypes I recommend Lynn Peril’s Swimming in the Steno Pool.
Here’s a Barye Phillips cover going less for sex, more for thrills.
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This weird one is by Robert Foster.
A more conventional but less intriguing SF cover by Alex Schomburg
I’m a Clifford Simak fan so I don’t need a cover to sell me on his work — but I do like this cover. I don’t know the artist though it looks to me like Leo and Diane Dillon.
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First this Lu Kimmel Sex Sells cover from 1955.
This 1929 Weird Tales cover by Hugh Rankin is another Sex Sells cover. Less sexy, though, despite the woman wearing less clothes.
On this uncredited pulp cover, the woman is only in the text. Seriously though, who thought “J. Edgar Hoover vs. Machine-Gun Kelly’s widow” was a gripping idea?
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The one below, by Peter Stevens.
It does convey this is a story of exotic Arabia, with harems, sultans, turbans and swords. But what is the dude doing? Leading an attack on the women? Pointing at where to kidnap them? Or just going “Yeah, chicks!” And why is the seated woman doing what appears to be jazz hands?
And why does the swordsman keep one of his weapons tucked into a belt right over his groin?
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