| Vintage Pulp | Aug 12 2022 |
Franco Picchioni is bad as in good.
Franco Picchioni's hits keep coming. Above is another cover from the respected Italian artist, this time for Georges H. Boskero's Il genio del male, number twenty-two in the crime series Il Cerchio Rosso from Edizioni MA-GA, 1965. The title translates to “evil genius.” In terms of Picchioni, we'll certainly go with genius. See more from him starting at this link.
ItalyEdizioni MA-GAIl Cerchio RossoGeorges H. BoskeroGeorges H. BosckeroGiorgio BoscheroFranco Picchionicover artliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Mar 24 2021 |
Always look your best for a crime spree.
Italian publishers Edizioni MA-GA strike again with another cover image by Franco Picchioni, this time for Jeff Kristopher's 1965 thriller 10 Lettere d'Amore. Kristopher is of course a pseudonym but we aren't able to discern for whom. We may have luck with that later, though. In any case, this is a cool image, and odd too, the way the fashionable femme fatale doesn't match her reflection. In the mirror she's leaning her head much farther to her right. We like that touch. But then we like everything Picchioni does.
| Vintage Pulp | Jan 28 2021 |
5,000 volts, amps, ohms—whatever. The point is I'm gonna blow your mind.
Volts, joules, watts, kilowatts, jigawatts—we get units of energy mixed up. But this cover is electric however you measure it. William (undoubtedly a pseudonym) Bentley's 1964 thriller Amore a 5000 volts is another example of Edizioni MA-GA's Il Cerchio Rosso series, which has produced consistently excellent cover art. This one is uinsigned, but probably by Franco Picchioni. Click the keywords below and you'll see what we mean.
Edit: the art is confirmed by Picchioni, plus we found the original.
| Vintage Pulp | Oct 29 2020 |
She's usually the goddess of love but this has been a bad week.
We meant to get right back to Italian illustrator Franco Picchioni, but in typical fashion it's taken us a few years. But today you see another of his nice creations, this time for Georges H. Boskero's Le Veneri ardenti, which translates to The Fiery Venus. It was published in 1966 by Edizioni MA-GA for its Il Cerchio Rosso series, a series of thrillers that featured some of the best Italian cover art of the period. We'll show you some of those in a bit and at the same time revisit Franco's art. In the meantime, check out what he did with a James Bond cover here.
ItalyEdizioni MA-GAIl Cerchio RossoGeorges H. BoskeroGeorges H. BosckeroGiorgio BoscheroFranco Picchionicover artliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Mar 24 2015 |
Random acts of lust and violence.
We thought we'd show you one more excellent Red Circle cover by Franco Picchioni, this time for Violenza… forza sette, written by Frank Donovan for MA-GA and published in 1970. The previous Red Circles are here. We were going to share this one later but decided we liked the art so much there was no point in saving it.
| Vintage Pulp | Mar 22 2015 |
Anything can happen in there.
Sticking with Italy today for more vintage pulp, above are three covers from the publishers Edizioni MA-GA as part of its Il Cerchio Rosso, or Red Circle collection. The art, which nicely portrays all the indispensible giallo elements of violence, fear, menace, and lust, is from Franco Picchioni, a top notch illustrator who you can see at his best here and here.
ItalyEdizioni MA-GAIl Cerchio RossoFranco PicchioniMarnie O’HaraDik StoneFrank Donovancover artgialloliterature
