A month or so ago a picture from one of the Barbarella comic books came across my feed and it was graphic design catnip. There was an unexpected clarity from something I would have expected to be garish at best. I’ve learned that there is a legacy that she has left that is more respectful and appreciative than I would have thought. I mean, how can I be blamed…
On Mastodon (as I had done on Twitter), I follow various pulp accounts that post old books and magazines (and less frequently, albums) that have covers of some interest, often grouped together in a theme. Vintage computer ads, Harlequin romance, ridiculous robots from 50s sci-fi, pin-ups, magazine illustration from mid-century, etc. Site’s like Pulp Covers and Pulp Artists are also good sources for such wonderful nonsense and from those I found the cover artists for many of the pulp sci-fi books I’ve read. The Mastodon accounts are a good way to break up your feed with something visually interesting, kindof like a pop culture museum exhibit.
Continue reading The availability of a vintage pulp magazineContinuing my Great Literature series begun with Red Sonja and Conan, I’ve started reading the Barb Wire saga.
She’s a part of the Dark Horse Universe. We forget (or even don’t know) about it because of the supremacy of the DC and Marvel mythologies; like Greek and Roman, in no particular order, since so many of the super strength, super fast, invisible, other-dimension-origined, et al. are merely different manifestations of the same gods. Dark Horse fits into this framework but on a smaller scale and with some indie differences. For example: there is the odd character Concrete who is a man with his body replaced–for some reason–with a minimal-featured stone body, and who has to learn to live in his new circumstances. It’s more middle-aged Bildungsroman than superhero. Dark Horse’s polished indieness is appealing in a different manner than the experimentation of less established indie publishers. Solid yet daring.
Continue reading The Barb Wire canonUpdated 27 May 2020 with Conan collections
I’m not sure where but I’d seen covers of old superhero comics recently and, though I read mostly sci-fi comics growing up, it made me nostalgic for some classic 60s/70s pulp art cheese. Enter, somewhat unrelated, Comixology. I had resisted them in the same but greater way that I resist ebooks: physicality is important and especially so with art. However, also as with ebooks, for much of what I purchase physicality is not needed because some of the books are more… ephemeral? In other words: some are worthy of taking up space on a shelf and others not so much.
Continue reading Red Sonja comics, Volumes 1-3