No, this cover for William Fuller’s 1954 thriller Goat Island is not a duplicate of yesterday’s. It’s a similar piece painted by the great same artist—George Gross. On both fronts you have the dark-haired femme fatale, the open white shirt, the seated position, the nearby tree, the shack in the distance, and a general backwoods mood. If you must copy, copy yourself. In terms of content the book falls into the category of South Florida detective yarns, a sub-genre scores of writers have found profitable over the decades. It’s the second book featuring Fuller’s franchise detective Brad Dolan. In 1957 Ace Books republished it with the art redone by John Vernon, which you see below. Yes, they’re different. Look closely. Vernon’s signature appears at the extreme bottom right, whereas Gross’s is absent at top. Duplicating covers was common during the mid-century paperback era but we’ve rarely seen an artist as accomplished as Vernon given the task. Both covers are good, but Gross gets the nod of quality for only copying himself.
