The Many Adventures of Johnny Dekker


Johnny Dekker was a private investigator who starred in 13 pulp paperbacks in the late 40s.  Though the paperbacks were published in Britain, they were written in the “American style” and one thing that is obvious from looking at the covers is that Johnny was good with a gun and always had a femme fatale nearby.

Though he wasn’t credited on the covers, the Johnny Dekker novels were written by British comic book artist, Mick Anglo.  Anglo was unique in that he not only wrote the paperbacks but he also drew the covers as well.  Here, courtesy of the imagination of Mick Anglo, are some of the many adventures of Johnny Dekker.  My personal favorite is Nuts To Nylon:

The Covers of Gun Molls Magazine


Prepare to take a trip back to the roaring twenties and the days of prohibition with 8 dangerous covers of Gun Molls Magaine!  

For 19 months, from 1930 to 1931, Gun Molls Magazine gave its readers stories about crime and gangster romance.  Most of the covers were done (and, in a rarity for the pulp era, signed) by illustrator Chris Scharre and featured women either in danger or making trouble on their own.  Though most of the issues of Gun Molls Magazine have been lost, a few have survived.

Here are 8 of the surviving covers of Gun Molls Magazine:

The Covers of Two-Fisted Detective Stories


Two-Fisted Detective Stories was a “true crime” magazine that was published for only two years, from 1959 to 1960.  There were a total of ten issues, which all featured the usual violent and sex-filled material that these magazines were famous for.  Though Two-Fisted Detective may not have lasted long, it is still remembered for its memorably lurid covers.  As you can see below, almost all of these covers had a few elements — cleavage, betrayal, money, and weapons — in common.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to discover any of the artists who did these covers.  Maybe someone who can answer that question will come across this post.

Here are eight covers from Two-Fisted Detective Stories:

July 1959

January 1960

June 1960

August 1960

September 1960

October 1960

November 1960

December 1960

My personal favorites are the girl power covers of July 1959, June 1960, September 1960, and November 1960.

Take A Break With The Pulps


For some, this week is the start of Spring Break!  For those wondering how to spend their break, the pulps have a few suggestions.  As the covers below show, a week on the beach doesn’t just mean binge drinking and partying.  It also means excitement, mystery, romance, and maybe even a hurricane!

Unknown Artist

Unknown Artist

Unknown Artist

Unknown Artist

by Bernard Safran

by Bill Edwards

Artist Unknown

by Robert McGinnis

by Robert McGinnis

Artist Unknown

by Zoe Mozert

by Barye Philips

This 4th Of July, Make The World Safe For Democracy With These Patriotic Super Heroes!


This 4th of July, while celebrating America’s birthday, don’t forget that there was a time when superheroes not only starred in movies but also made the world safe for democracy!  From World War II, here is a gallery of patriotic super heroes fighting for the freedoms that we enjoy today!

Not even the most powerful of heroes could do it alone.  For that reason, when they weren’t beating the enemy in their own backyard, they were encouraging their readers to support the armed forces by buying war bonds.

Over the course of World War II, 85 million Americans purchased war bonds totaling an estimated $185 billion.

Finally, what other way to end this patriotic post than with a musical tribute to the Star-Spangled Man With A Plan?

And to all the real, flesh-and-blood heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice to save the world from tyranny, thank you.

Happy International Dinosaur Day!


Today, we observe International Dinosaur Day!

The first recorded discover of dinosaur fossils occurred in 1820 and, since then, dinosaur remains have been found on all seven continents.  According to CheckiDay: “Richard Owen, an English anatomist, came up with the word “Dinosauria” in 1842. The word comes from the Greek word “deinos,” meaning terrible or fearfully great, and “sauros,” meaning reptile or lizard. He applied the term to three animals that fossilized bones had been found of over the previous few decades.”

The best way to observe today is to go down to a museum and take a look at the fantastic creatures who inhabited this planet before human beings came along.  But if you can’t get to a museum today, check out these magazine and paperback covers below.  Not surprisingly, dinosaurs were very popular with the pulps.  Here’s just a few of them:

by Alex Schomburg

by CC Senf

by Earle Bergey

by Hans Wessolowski

by Thomas Beecham

by Earle Bergey

by Ed Emshwiller

4 Shots From 4 Films: Savage Messiah, All The Vermeers in New York, The Stendhal Syndrome, Mr. Turner


4 Shots from 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots from 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

In honor of Slow Art Day, here are…

4 Shots From 4 Films

Savage Messiah (1972, dir by Ken Russell)

All The Vermeers in New York (1990, dir by Jon Jost)

The Stendhal Syndrome (1996, dir by Dario Argento)

Mr. Turner (2014, dir by Mike Leigh)

Music Video of the Day: Dust My Shoulders Off by Jane Zhang (2016, dir by Outerspace Leo)


Today is Slow Art Day, which is a day in which we are encouraged to celebrate art by going to a museum  taking our time to truly appreciate what we’re seeing.  This also seems like the perfect day to select Jane Zhang’s Dust My Shoulders Off for our music video of the day!

The video features Zhang at a museum, literally becoming a part of 11 different paintings.  Over the course of the video, the following paintings are recreated:

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper

Self Portrait by Vincent Van Gogh

The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet

Meisje met de parel by Johannes Vermeer

Christina’s World by Andrew Wyeth

Un dimanche après-midi à l’Île de la Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat

The Scream by Edvard Munch

The Temptation of St. Anthony by Salvador Dalí

Ascending and Descending by M.C. Escher

The Son of Man by René Magritte 

Enjoy!

Check Out These Avengers: Infinity War Character Posters!


With the release of Avengers: Infinity War right around the corner, Marvel has released a whole new collection of character posters!  Just in case you were wondering who, from the MCU, is going to show up in Infinity War, here’s a partial reminder!

(By the way, the answer  would appear to be just about everyone who has ever appeared in an MCU film!)

Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr)

Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)

Thor (Chris Hemsworth)

War Machine (Don Cheadle)

Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)

Captain America (Chris Evans)

White Wolf (Sebastian Stan)

Falcon (Anthony Mackie)

Star-Lord (Chris Pratt)

Rocket and Groot (Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel)

Gamora (Zoe Saldana)

Nebula (Karen Gillan)

Drax (Dave Bautista)

Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen)

Vision (Paul Bettany)

Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman)

Spider-Man (Tom Holland)

Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch)

Wong (Benedict Wong)

Mantis (Pom Klementieff)

Okoye (Danai Gurira)

Shuri (Letitia Wright)