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Pulp Covers!

Schwadevivre

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There seems to be no specific thread for Pulp covers, perhaps this will help

Sourced from Pulp Covers website

Pulp Cover The-Best-from-Fantasy-and-Science-Fiction-Sixth-Series-1957-600x913.jpg

Pulp Cover Manhunt-Detective-December-1954.jpg
 
Seems a good place to mention top sci-fi snark site Good Show Sir has been ripped off by E!, which rather than being independent wiseacres like GSS is owned by a corporation you'd think wouldn't need to nick other site's stuff for content:
Rip-off news

Busted!
 
I've collected pulp art and illustration images (broadly defined) for years. I appreciate fine art, but I have a special affinity for illustrations that have to convey something topical or thematic.

IMHO it takes as much or more talent to grab attention and get a point across as it does to wow gallery-goers with one's own abstract or mysterious random musings.

Here's an interesting example from Norman Saunders - one of the 'pulp-iest' pulp artists of the mid-20th century (1930's and onward). He did a lot of covers for crime, suspense, and sci-fi publications. This one is a rarity for him - the standard elements of mad scientist and damsel in distress, only in this case framed as one of those skull-scene illusions.

All-Detective-Magazine-October-1933.jpg

Original Use: All Detective Magazine, October 1933​
 
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Here are the cover and the Table of Contents from the May 1953 issue of ACTION ...


The face on that cover looks very like pulp artist Frank Frazetta (see below). It doesn't look like Frazetta's art to me- he was capable of much better than that, but I wonder if it was painted by someone who shared a studio with him and used him as a model for the cover.

20200328_142230.jpg
 
The face on that cover looks very like pulp artist Frank Frazetta (see below). It doesn't look like Frazetta's art to me- he was capable of much better than that, but I wonder if it was painted by someone who shared a studio with him and used him as a model for the cover.

The cover art definitely isn't Frazetta's work.

The faces used on pulp covers were often modeled from photos of Hollywood stars and other celebrities. For example, there was a period during which every damsel in distress painted by Norman Saunders (or was it H. J. Ward?) was obviously modeled on Judy Garland.

The foreground face on the ACTION cover could be a generic "man's man" based on a celebrity or even copied from a prior cover.
 
The illustrators who produced cover art for the pulp "men's" magazines were something of a group unto themselves. It seemed as if every cover had to include at least one villain, one damsel in distress (or temptress) and one hero who looked like any actor who would have been cast as Hercules.

These illustrators cranked out a lot of covers and internal illustrations on deadlines, so it's no surprise they recycled whenever they could to save time and effort in those pre-PhotoShop days.

Here's an example from two different Mort Kunstler covers for some men's magazine (mag(s) / date(s) unknown). The same young-lady-cocking-rifle figure is used in both.

MK-Recycle-A.jpg


MK-Recycle-B.jpg
 
James Bama is a particular favourite of mine ...

I can't say I have a single clear-cut favorite, owing to the diversity and relative talents of all the illustrators who've illuminated our pop publications.

Based on relatively unique stylings and technical mastery my stock answer whenever pressed for naming a favorite is "Virgil Finlay."
 
The cover art definitely isn't Frazetta's work.

The faces used on pulp covers were often modeled from photos of Hollywood stars and other celebrities. For example, there was a period during which every damsel in distress painted by Norman Saunders (or was it H. J. Ward?) was obviously modeled on Judy Garland.

The foreground face on the ACTION cover could be a generic "man's man" based on a celebrity or even copied from a prior cover.
The face on the cover reminds me of old Hollywood actor Robert Taylor
MV5BOWQ1MjY3ZWQtNzgxOC00ODUwLTk3ZjUtY2M4NmI1YzRlY2NmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTk2MzI2Ng@@._V1_.jpg
 
... The faces used on pulp covers were often modeled from photos of Hollywood stars and other celebrities. For example, there was a period during which every damsel in distress painted by Norman Saunders (or was it H. J. Ward?) was obviously modeled on Judy Garland ...

I checked this while rummaging through my archives ... It was Saunders who seemed to model the damsel in distress after Judy Garland (at least for an extended period). H. J. Ward did something similar with a recurring model that might well have been the young Bette Davis.

Of course, they could have been using a live model who resembled the actresses. I still suspect their workload and deadlines mandated working from readily available photos.
 
I guess like many of us on here I used to read and collect War and Battle comics.
Charley's War was a popular strip, I was drawn to the landscapes and various weapons.

battle-picture-weekly-1975-issue-389-9543-p[ekm]396x500[ekm].jpg
 
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