Monday, March 30, 2009

Verb Tense

Shouldn't that read "Draw the Curtain Closed?" Or just "Draw the Curtain." You don't need the "close," it's implied in "draw." Apparently someone thought the title had a better rhythm this way, but it's redundant and probably wrong. The guys who bought this cared a whole lot about grammar, I'm sure.

Anyway, he's dressed, she's completely naked, there's a Luger on the bed, his hand's in his front pocket, what's going on here. My guess is that his gun was too quick.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

An Armful of Cheating Woman

You can't improve on perfection.

Flaming Story

No relation to Smokey Stover, is my guess.

"A vivid and angry novel that exposes the corruption and decadence," blah blah blah. Whatever Signet needed to do to create the impression that this really isn't a dirty book. Those GI's in the upper right corner aren't fooled for a minute.

How Bad Was She?

A suspense thriller. Why of course. This is a fine illustration. Well-executed, composed, good use of chiarascuro. Also, she's pretty much naked, the dress being mostly a suggestion for the sake of decorum.
Okay, it appears we're edging into areas of questionable taste, according to the synopsis. Also, why is the young man named after a sandwich?

Tap Pants Confidential

With, no doubt, many more big printings to follow.

An Innocent Time

You couldn't make this up if you tried.

Salaciousness Overload

After so many tawdry scenarios delineated on the covers of aging drugstore softcore, it's a pleasure to visit the clean, crisp, white-cotton world of the Studio Nurse, which I'm sure is completely realistic in its depiction of the exciting milieu inside a bustling Hollywood studio.

Producer Mike Lancaster! Producer Mike Lancaster's ulcer! Handsome Mace Hunter, test pilot! Naval Lieutenant Dirk Patou! And at the center of this swirl of manly men, Golden-Haired Lori Todd!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Back to Our Roots

Space spheres and violent volcanoes, what more could a boy growing up in the suburbs in the 1960s want?

Ace Double, Natch


A popular style from the sixties, two books bound together in a single edition that met in the middle. You had to flip it over to read the other one.

If worship provided more opportunities to include sexy topless blondes in the liturgy, religion might not be so boring.

Kelly Freas


Died 2005, considered a great science fiction illustrator, though I have to wonder just what it was he was thinking with this strange concoction of lurking Grays, a Christmas-y farmhouse in the snow and a clearly demented biker guy giving the whole scene the hairy eyeball.