We’re finally getting back to paperback artist Gene Bilbrew, whose odd style, with its scantily clad women and their muscular butts has become collectible in recent years. We didn’t get it at first, but like a lot of art, once you’re exposed to it regularly you begin to appreciate its unique qualities. There’s clear intent in Bilbrew’s work, a deliberate attempt to approach illustration from a different angle, and we’ve grown to understand that his cartoonish, chaotic, often humorous, and often bondage themed aesthetic is purposeful. In fact, his imagery has become so intertwined with the bdsm scene that in 2019 the National Leather Association International established an award named after Bilbrew for creators of animated erotic art. While it’s not exactly a Pulitzer Prize, the point is that Bilbrew’s bizarre visions keep gaining wider acceptance. So for that reason we’ve put together another group of his paperback fronts. You can see more of them here, here, and here, and you can see a few rare oddities here, here, and here.
1901—McKinley Fatally Shot
Polish-born anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley dies September 12, and Czolgosz is later executed.