Saturday, January 06, 2007
Christmas Reading:
Just getting into some of the books that I got for Christmas. My current nightstand favorite is Pulp Art by Robert Lesser. The artwork is lavish and the text is sharp and astutely penetrating (in light of the subject matter of the cover images let me state that no pun was initially intended).
I came to the Pulps in the mid 60s through the reprints of The Shadow, Fu Manchu, Doc Savage (the great James Bama covers of the repackaged 60s paperbacks are still the pride of my paperback shelf), Tarzan, John Carter of Mars and H.P. Lovecraft. I love the writing and the art. It is so alive.
My mentor, Tex Blaisdell, started a Pulp humor magazine in the late 30s or early 40s in New York City that had such shockingly sexy covers that the second printing was pulled from the news-stands by the police. (the first printing sold out in hours). Unknown to Tex his little flowering publishing empire was being backed as a tax write off and was killed off for being too successful.
The summer movies that drive pop culture today were born in the Pulps as were the comics that I cut my teeth on. Lesser does an amazing job. Pulp Art is $14.60 at Amazon. It is well worth it for any follower of visual storytelling.
Pulp Art - Robert Lesser
A Single image tells a complete story. True masterworks of the storytelling art. Lesser makes the very strong point that the Pulp covers are the highest form of true Amarican art because it is the art on the people not the art of the elite.
Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy) ¶ 9:06 AM
Just getting into some of the books that I got for Christmas. My current nightstand favorite is Pulp Art by Robert Lesser. The artwork is lavish and the text is sharp and astutely penetrating (in light of the subject matter of the cover images let me state that no pun was initially intended).
I came to the Pulps in the mid 60s through the reprints of The Shadow, Fu Manchu, Doc Savage (the great James Bama covers of the repackaged 60s paperbacks are still the pride of my paperback shelf), Tarzan, John Carter of Mars and H.P. Lovecraft. I love the writing and the art. It is so alive.
My mentor, Tex Blaisdell, started a Pulp humor magazine in the late 30s or early 40s in New York City that had such shockingly sexy covers that the second printing was pulled from the news-stands by the police. (the first printing sold out in hours). Unknown to Tex his little flowering publishing empire was being backed as a tax write off and was killed off for being too successful.
The summer movies that drive pop culture today were born in the Pulps as were the comics that I cut my teeth on. Lesser does an amazing job. Pulp Art is $14.60 at Amazon. It is well worth it for any follower of visual storytelling.
Pulp Art - Robert Lesser
A Single image tells a complete story. True masterworks of the storytelling art. Lesser makes the very strong point that the Pulp covers are the highest form of true Amarican art because it is the art on the people not the art of the elite.
Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy) ¶ 9:06 AM
