I think you misinterpreted the cover art for The Sky Detectives; that flyer ain't bailing out, he's repairing the engine in mid-flight.
You also need to look into the cover art for G-8 and His Battling Aces.
Good God! They have one cover where a monstrous man is not only daring to dogfight with G-8 and his Battling Aces, he's getting his air-to-air victory by RAMMING one of G-8's Battling Aces, and not only is he ramming his biplane into one of G-8's Battling Aces, he's simultaneously leaping from his cockpit to get at the G-8 pilot to throttle him.
I admire that level of dedication in achieving victory.
I think the G-8 series were aimed at a younger male audience than what you have here, but please do take a look. That's some great cover art.
I remember reading about the G-8 stories at some point. I have a huge collection of these paperback and pulp covers, but I decided not to try cramming them all in one article. The cover you describe sounds insane!
My comment about bailing out was regarding the cover of Wings, not Sky Detectives.
Thanks for the recommendations. I’ll have to find those G-8 stories somewhere.
Not gonna lie, I would absolutely be up for these styles (or at least elements of them) making a comeback. There's something so DYNAMIC about them in comparison with the big-title-static-object-"the xx of xx" vibe we get so often nowadays - both of these should have a time and place, my bookshelves need chaos.
"If you want to take readers along on a thrilling adventure, show them you mean business with a cover that promises such. But for the sake of all that’s holy, deliver on those promises."
Amen!!-- and I really enjoyed the collection!! 👍💪😅
If you dig- and miss- the vibe showcased in a lot of these covers, id recommend checking out The Art Of Pulp Fiction by Ed Hulse. Pricey, but a great collection of some of the best in the business back when beautiful painted covers for paperbacks were the norm.
I forgive the majority of ugly-ass indie covers. It’s the difficulty when you ask writers to be all in one authors/marketing team/social media influencers/PR teams. A lot of writers In the 40s would have also had cookie-cutter or gnarly covers if they didn’t have a team partnering them with excellent artists like the above.
True that. Authors have never had to wear so many hats as now. And with most of us not being accomplished graphic designers, we sometimes just get it wrong. Most of us are running a publishing business on a shoestring budget so the nearly-universal knee-jerk advice to “hire a professional” is ignorant.
All that said, you are the exception. Most customers don’t care one iota about our difficulties and will absolutely reject a book out-of-hand if there’s something about the cover they judge to be sub-par—like the commenter on my last post who sort of inspired this one.
Quite often, these judgments are subjective, too. It’s a buyer’s market. There’s a glut of books out there and many are rejected for the pettiest of reasons.
The "I Watched Them Eat Me Alive" cover is gruesome and also, pretty funny. Hehe. I'd definitely like to read that one and see how the hero gets out of that...if he does. The "Outlaw Brand" is about as great as I've seen in a pulpy Western cover. I'm going to have to read that one and of course, he gets extra points for the name PARKER Bonner. Hehe. "A Dame Called Murder" is probably my favorite since I'm a big film noir fan. It really makes me think of Double Indemnity. But I will say that that "Bluewater Bullion" is such a cool cover. I think those old helmets are so cool. What a great list. Awesome post.
Honestly I just think we are in an era where covers suck, trad much more than indie--All neon colors and busy themes.
Cover style fads come and go based on tbe latest groupthink, always have. Its augury: one sells big, so people adopt it thinking its the new secret sauce (it isnt, but tell that to the bird).
Cover art is designed for who is spending money in that market. The same group that these were marketing to in the past are now largely spend that money on video games and/or porn. They are going after other buyer now, so different types of art.
I think you misinterpreted the cover art for The Sky Detectives; that flyer ain't bailing out, he's repairing the engine in mid-flight.
You also need to look into the cover art for G-8 and His Battling Aces.
Good God! They have one cover where a monstrous man is not only daring to dogfight with G-8 and his Battling Aces, he's getting his air-to-air victory by RAMMING one of G-8's Battling Aces, and not only is he ramming his biplane into one of G-8's Battling Aces, he's simultaneously leaping from his cockpit to get at the G-8 pilot to throttle him.
I admire that level of dedication in achieving victory.
I think the G-8 series were aimed at a younger male audience than what you have here, but please do take a look. That's some great cover art.
I remember reading about the G-8 stories at some point. I have a huge collection of these paperback and pulp covers, but I decided not to try cramming them all in one article. The cover you describe sounds insane!
My comment about bailing out was regarding the cover of Wings, not Sky Detectives.
Thanks for the recommendations. I’ll have to find those G-8 stories somewhere.
Sorry, I misinterpreted your remarks. I took the placement of the remark as oriented toward the picture below, not above.
Please do dig out the G-8 stuff. Cover art is amazing stuff. I look forward to future essays on this.
Gorgeous covers! 😍😍😍
Especially that one specific cover, eh?
It's not coincidence that Frazetta is disproportionately represented here. He was a master!
Also, I am impressed at the typography of several of these. Especially that "Adventure" one!
Frazetta was a BEAST. I've bought a few books just because of his kickass art alone.
BTW, his granddaughter has a Youtube channel called "Frazetta Girls," with some interesting content.
Not gonna lie, I would absolutely be up for these styles (or at least elements of them) making a comeback. There's something so DYNAMIC about them in comparison with the big-title-static-object-"the xx of xx" vibe we get so often nowadays - both of these should have a time and place, my bookshelves need chaos.
Along with the men's fiction renaissance, I would love to see a renaissance in cover art to compliment it.
>This scene probably doesn’t play a big part in the plot. Maybe the scenario doesn’t even occur. But it assures the reader there are thrills awaiting.
Hell, this tradition has been carried into anime opening sequences. And ya know what, showing some promise of what's to come is good enough.
"If you want to take readers along on a thrilling adventure, show them you mean business with a cover that promises such. But for the sake of all that’s holy, deliver on those promises."
Amen!!-- and I really enjoyed the collection!! 👍💪😅
If you dig- and miss- the vibe showcased in a lot of these covers, id recommend checking out The Art Of Pulp Fiction by Ed Hulse. Pricey, but a great collection of some of the best in the business back when beautiful painted covers for paperbacks were the norm.
I forgive the majority of ugly-ass indie covers. It’s the difficulty when you ask writers to be all in one authors/marketing team/social media influencers/PR teams. A lot of writers In the 40s would have also had cookie-cutter or gnarly covers if they didn’t have a team partnering them with excellent artists like the above.
True that. Authors have never had to wear so many hats as now. And with most of us not being accomplished graphic designers, we sometimes just get it wrong. Most of us are running a publishing business on a shoestring budget so the nearly-universal knee-jerk advice to “hire a professional” is ignorant.
All that said, you are the exception. Most customers don’t care one iota about our difficulties and will absolutely reject a book out-of-hand if there’s something about the cover they judge to be sub-par—like the commenter on my last post who sort of inspired this one.
Quite often, these judgments are subjective, too. It’s a buyer’s market. There’s a glut of books out there and many are rejected for the pettiest of reasons.
Captain Blood! Such a valiant and badass character!
I love the addition of all the Frank Frazetta covers.
He was the penultimate fantasy artist IMO.
Absolutely. As a teenager I had several of his posters on my walls. My favorite was from the “Frost Giant’s Daughter”. Snow Giants.
The "I Watched Them Eat Me Alive" cover is gruesome and also, pretty funny. Hehe. I'd definitely like to read that one and see how the hero gets out of that...if he does. The "Outlaw Brand" is about as great as I've seen in a pulpy Western cover. I'm going to have to read that one and of course, he gets extra points for the name PARKER Bonner. Hehe. "A Dame Called Murder" is probably my favorite since I'm a big film noir fan. It really makes me think of Double Indemnity. But I will say that that "Bluewater Bullion" is such a cool cover. I think those old helmets are so cool. What a great list. Awesome post.
Thanks, Parker. There are so many cool covers, I’ll just have to share more in the future.
If that cover alone doesn't make the reader an H Beam Piper fan, then they are a lost cause.
Hoowah. I think it made me one. Nevermind that adage about not judging a book by its cover.
Honestly I just think we are in an era where covers suck, trad much more than indie--All neon colors and busy themes.
Cover style fads come and go based on tbe latest groupthink, always have. Its augury: one sells big, so people adopt it thinking its the new secret sauce (it isnt, but tell that to the bird).
I do like the throwback style covers!
Digging the Molly Hatchet album cover art. This is an excellent collection of book covers.
Check out the Frank Frazetta museum in Pennsylvania
I loved covers like these when I was younger. At the time they screamed adventure!
Same here.
The Moon Men cover is so fn dope.
Agreed!
Cover art is designed for who is spending money in that market. The same group that these were marketing to in the past are now largely spend that money on video games and/or porn. They are going after other buyer now, so different types of art.
What other buyer are “they” going after? “They” being both tradpub and indies?