POPULAR
SKULLTURE (Kitchen
Sink Books/ Dark Horse, 2014; Hardcover)
Not
so much a collected edition or a graphic novel but rather an artbook
of classic pulp and comic book covers of the 1930s through the
mid-1950s, Popular Skullture is a joy to behold. I love those
classic pulp covers with their sensationalist painted artwork. There
are collections of the complete runs of covers but they are super
limited and super pricey. There are also full blown replicas of these
pulps available, ads and all, but they are around 35 bucks each...and
there are hundreds of them. I am not man enough to go down that
collecting rabbit hole. Popular Skullture may just whet your
whistle enough for your to do so, though.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.
The
OCD zone-
This is one of those GN-TPB size books, industry jargon for a book
that is smaller than a standard collected edition.
Linework
and Color restoration: These are high resolution scans. The
quality of the source material varies, so you can get some fairly
worn cover scans here.
Paper
stock: Thick glossy coated stock.
Binding:
While this book has sewn binding it is very tight, requiring both
hands to keep it open. It is a small book so this is not an issue for
me.
Hardback
cover notes:
Thick paperboard casewrap which feels like a vintage book. I like it.
HAUNT
OF HORROR (Marvel, 2009;
Softcover)
Collects
Haunt
of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe
# 1-3 and Haunt
of Horror: Lovecraft
#1-3 (cover dates July, 2006- October, 2008)
Writers:
Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Rich Margopoulos, and Richard Corben
Artist:
Richard Corben
It
would be hard to screw up material by Lovecraft and Poe, especially
when you have Richard Corben handling the artwork. Good stuff that is
unfortunately now out of print.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.
The
OCD zone-
Paper
stock: Thin coated stock.
Binding:
Perfect bound trade paperback.
Cardstock
cover notes:
Thick waxlike lamination.
Kris, did you pick up the recent Dark Horse Corben/Poe collection SPIRITS OF THE DEAD? I haven't read it yet (Of course not!), but it's a phenomenal-looking hardcover.
ReplyDeleteI have not picked it up yet. It is on my wishlist waiting to be bought someday.
DeleteI'd never heard of Popular Skullture before -- sounds great. I'll be picking it up!
ReplyDeleteI've got the Marvel Premiere hardcover of Corben's Poe series, but not any of the collections with his Lovecraft adaptations. I've never exactly been head-over-heels for Lovecraft; actually, I much prefer comic-book adaptations of his work (e.g. Bernie Wrightson and, I would suspect, Corben as well).