The Covers of Detective Short Stories


Throughout the 30s and the 40s, Detective Short Stories offered readers 12 stories for ten cents.  That seems like a pretty good deal to me!  Today, of course, issues of the magazine cost a lot more but they are still highly sought after by collectors for their covers.

Below is just a small, chronological sampling of the covers of Detective Short Stories!

August 1937 Artist Unknown

November 1937, by John Walter Scott

February 1938, Artist Unknown

July 1938, by John Walter Scott

January 1939, by John Walter Scott

June 1939, by John Walter Scott

September 1939, Artist Unknown

April 1941, by John Walter Scott

September 1941, Artist Unknown

October 1947, by Mat Kauten

I Watched King’s Faith (2013, dir. by Nicholas DiBella)


Brendan King (Crawford Wilson) is eighteen and trying to change his life.  He’s just gotten out of juvie and is living with his eighteenth set of foster parents, Mike and Vanessa Stubbs (James McDaniel and Lynn Whitfield).  Brendan wants to leave his former gang life behind but it’s hard.  Vanessa doesn’t trust Brendan and neither does Mike’s best friend, Detective Dwyer (Christopher John Martin).

Brendan wants to help out his old neighborhood by buying the building where his best friend died and turning it into a rec center.  But after Brendan makes the news for saving the life of Natalie (Kayla Compton) after she crashes his car, the members of his former gang track Mike down.  They know that Mike knows the location of a hidden stash of drugs and they start trying to draw Mike back into his old life.

King’s Faith was made with the best intentions and it had a good message about forgiveness and second chances so I wanted to like it but Crawford Wilson, while easy on the eyes, was never believable as a former drug dealer and addict.  There was nothing tough about him and he seemed out of place whenever he was interacting with the members of his former gang.  Since I couldn’t believe that he was ever in a gang, there wasn’t any suspense about whether or not he would return to them.  Kayla Compton was more convincing as the troubled Natalie and her story was actually more interesting than Brendan’s.  The movie probably would have been better if it had been about her.

The Fantastic Covers of Fantastic


by Ed Valigursky

Fantastic was a magazine that featured stories of fantasy, horror, and science fiction.  It ran from 1952 to 1980, outlasting the majority of its competition and spinning off several other “Fantastic” magazines.  Eventually, after sells started to slow down in the 70s, Fantastic merged with Amazing Stories.  Today, issues of Fantastic are highly sought after by collectors, both for their stories and their covers.

Here are a few of the fantastic covers of Fantastic!

by Ed Valigursky

by Ed Valigursky

by Edmund Emshwiller

by George Schelling

by George Schelling

by Leo Summers

by Leo Summers

by Lloyd Buckingham

by Lloyd Buckingham

by Robert Frankenberg