Pulp International - Bob+McKnight

Sep 11 2014

ALPHA BEST

Faced with this position surrender is the only option.

Here you see a pose that appears over and over in vintage paperback art—one figure looming menacingly in the foreground as a second cowers in the triangular negative space created by the first’s spread legs. This pose is so common it should have a name. We’re thinking “the alpha,” because it signifies male dominance and because of the A shape the pose makes. True, on occasion the dominator isn’t male, sometimes the unfortunate sprawled figure is depicted outside the A shaped space, and sometimes the art expresses something other than dominance, but basically the alpha (see, that just sounds right, doesn’t it?) has been used scores of times with only minor variation. You’ll notice several of these come from subsidiaries of the sleaze publisher Greenleaf Classics. It was a go-to cover style for them. We have twenty examples in all, with art by Bob Abbett, Robert Bonfils, Michel Gourdon, and others.

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Jul 2 2012

BAYOU WILDLIFE

They’re beautiful but they bite.

In honor of ’Gator Bait, which we wrote about a few days ago, we’ve gathered together a small collection of covers with art set in swamps and bayous. There are many different types of swamp denizens. You got your babes, your nymphs, your spawn, and even your occasional brat. Usually these creatures are safe to be around, but do remember that they attack if provoked. Thanks to all the original uploaders for these images.

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History Rewind

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

August 24

1954—Communist Party Outlawed

In the U.S., during the height of the Red Scare, President Dwight Eisenhower signs the Communist Control Act into law. The new legislation bans the American Communist Party, and prohibits people deemed to be communists from serving as officials in labor organizations.

1968—France Explodes Nuke

France tests a two-stage nuclear weapon, codenamed Canopus, on Fangataufa, French Polynesia.

August 23

1942—Battle of Stalingrad Begins

The Battle of Stalingrad, perhaps the most pivotal event of World War II, begins. It lasts for more than six months, spread across the brutal Russian winter, and ends with two million casualties. The Russian sacrifice reduces the powerful German army to a shell of its former self, and as a result Nazi defeat in the war becomes a simple matter of time.

1979—Alexander Gudonov Defects

Russian ballet dancer and actor Alexander Borisovich Godunov defects to the U.S. The event causes an international diplomatic crisis, but Gudonov manages to win asylum. He joins the famous American Ballet Theater, where he becomes a colleague of fellow-defector Mikhail Baryshnikov, and later earns roles in such Hollywood films as Witness and Die Hard.

August 22

1950—Althea Gibson Breaks the Color Barrier

Althea Gibson becomes the first African-American woman to compete on the World Tennis Tour, and the first to earn a Grand Slam title when she wins the French Open in 1956. Later she becomes the first African-American woman to compete in the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

1952—Devil's Island Closed

Devil's Island, the penal colony located off the coast of French Guiana, is permanently closed. The prison is later made world famous by Henri Charrière's bestselling novel Papillon, and the subsequent film starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.

1962—De Gaulle Survives Assassination Attempt

Jean Bastien-Thiry, a French air weaponry engineer, attempts to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle to prevent Algerian independence. Bastien-Thiry and others attack de Gaulle's armored limousine with machine guns, but after expending hundreds of rounds, they succeed only in puncturing two tires.

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