![MICRO MANAGER](/images/headline/4688.png) If anyone can get these people whipped into shape it's her. ![](/images/postimg/micro_manager.jpg)
Above is a cool cover for Jak Delay's 1953 thriller Mission “microbienne”, a title that would translate as “microbial mission.” He wrote it for Éditions Le Trotteur and the art is by Mik, aka Jacques Thibésart, someone we've talked about extensively. We particularly like his femme fatale here. She's carrying a whip, the indispensable accessory for any modern woman, perfect for keeping male subordinates in line, and good for getting the attention of bartenders and waiters. The microbienne aspect of the story has to do with chemical warfare. The heroine Isabel Didier is tasked with retrieving French bacteriological weapons stolen by East German spies. As usual in these types of tales, Isabel is a real hotty and that's basically her main advantage dealing with various hapless commies. Or put another way, the Cold War warms up quickly thanks to Isabel. Mission “microbienne” could be the first in a series. We aren't sure. But maybe we'll check into that and report back. In the meantime, more Mik covers here and here.
![GIRL MEETS CORPSE](/images/headline/2980.png) What do you call forty dead men? A good start. ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_01.jpg)
Two years ago we shared five covers of women standing over men they had just killed and mentioned that there were many examples in vintage cover art of that particular theme. Today we’ve decided to revisit the idea in order to reiterate just how often women in pulp are the movers and shakers—and shooters and stabbers and clubbers and poisoners and scissorers. Now if they do this about a billion more times they’ll really be making a difference that counts. French publishers, interestingly, were unusually fond of this theme—so egalitarian of them. That’s why many of the covers here are from France, including one—for which we admit we bent the rules of the collection a bit, because the victim isn’t dead quite yet—of a woman actually machine gunning some hapless dude. But what a great cover. We also have a couple of Spanish killer femmes, and a Dutch example or two. Because we wanted to be comprehensive, the collection is large and some of the fronts are quite famous, but a good portion are also probably new to you. Art is by the usual suspects—Robert Maguire, Barye Phillips, Alex Piñon, Robert Bonfils, Robert McGinnis, Rudolph Belarski, et al. Enjoy.
![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_02.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_03.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_04.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_05.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_06.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_42.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_43.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_07.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_08.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_09.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_10.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_13.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_11.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_12.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_14.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_15.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_16.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_17.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_18.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_19.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_21.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_22.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_23.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_24.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_25.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_26.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_27.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_28.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_29.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_30.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_41.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_31.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_32.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_33.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_34.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_36.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_38.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/girl_meets_corpse_39.jpg)
![BOGART 2.0](/images/headline/1817.png) Darling, you’re just a hot mess! Come with me. I’ve got just the thing. ![](/images/postimg/bogart_2.0.jpg)
Is that Humphrey Bogart? It could be if he’d ever received a makeover. You know, spray-on tan, some blonde highlights. A head-to-toe cure de jouvence, as the French would say. Crack waxing, the whole nine. Not that we know anything about it. Anyway, whether this is Bogart 2.0 or not on the cover (which is uncredited, but very possibly was painted by that slippery devil Jacques Thibésart), we really like it. It’s from Éditions Le Globe and Éditions Le Trotteur for the collection Espions et Agents Secrets. Which is to say it’s a spy novel written by Jak Delay in 1953. After a week, it’s time to move on from France. We will have more French pulp later.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
2003—Hope Dies
Film legend Bob Hope dies of pneumonia two months after celebrating his 100th birthday. 1945—Churchill Given the Sack
In spite of admiring Winston Churchill as a great wartime leader, Britons elect
Clement Attlee the nation's new prime minister in a sweeping victory for the Labour Party over the Conservatives. 1952—Evita Peron Dies
Eva Duarte de Peron, aka Evita, wife of the president of the Argentine Republic, dies from cancer at age 33. Evita had brought the working classes into a position of political power never witnessed before, but was hated by the nation's powerful military class. She is lain to rest in Milan, Italy in a secret grave under a nun's name, but is eventually returned to Argentina for reburial beside her husband in 1974. 1943—Mussolini Calls It Quits
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini steps down as head of the armed forces and the government. It soon becomes clear that Il Duce did not relinquish power voluntarily, but was forced to resign after former Fascist colleagues turned against him. He is later installed by Germany as leader of the Italian Social Republic in the north of the country, but is killed by partisans in 1945.
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