‘Illustration’ magazine

If you are interested in learning more about a wide range of pulp cover artists, a magazine that should be checked out is Illustration, published by the Illustrated Press.

Coming out quarterly, this high-quality magazine is a glossy 8.5- by 11-inch, square bound magazine (though some early issues were saddle stitched) that is usually 80 pages long, sometimes shorter (with the earlier issues), sometimes longer. Each issue will have one to four articles. Published since 2001, it recently came out with #77.

Over its run, it has highlighted several pulp artists with articles and artwork, as well as some related artists (paperbacks, men’s adventure magazines, etc). Further, Illustrated Press has put out high-quality books on several artists, some pulp-related that came out of the articles that ran there. I have reviews on some of these, but will point them out as well. They will re-issue older issues that sell out, and when they do so, the reprinted ones will often have different artwork on the cover.

Because of this I don’t get every issue, but try to get the ones that most interest me. So here I’ll highlight the ones that have pulp-related content. Sadly, several of these I don’t have.

#2 (Winter 2001) Here we get the first of David Saunders‘ articles on pulp artists, starting with a cover article on his father, Norman Saunders (1907-89). This provides a great biography of him, and an overview of his career, which shows his work for pulps, slicks, and men’s adventure magazines, and his work for various trading cards (Mars Attacks and Wacky Packs). This led to a book from Illustrated Press, which I’ll be reviewing soon. Another article of interest here is one by Dr. David Winiewicz on Frank Frazetta.

#3 (Summer 2001) It features a cover article on Robert Maguire (1921-05) by Gary Lovisi. He is mainly known for his crime-noir paperback covers by all the major publishers, but he got his start doing covers for Trojan’s “pocket pulps” in 1950.

#5 (January 2002) Not purely pulp, we get an article on Roy G. Krenkel (1918-83), who would do paperback covers of pulp works like Edgar Rice Burroughs from David Burton and Russ Cochran. We get a lot of examples of this work. And there is another article on Frazetta by Winiewicz.

#8 (October 2003) Another article by David Saunders, this time on Ernest Chiriacka, who did a lot of pulp covers, mainly western and detective. There is an interview with him and a complete checklist of his pulp covers.

#9 (2004) We get a cover article on Enoch Bolles (1883-1976) by Jack Raglin. Best known for his pin-up artwork, Bolles did some 300 covers for “girlie” pulps.

#10 (2004) Rafael DeSoto gets a cover article on his life and career by David Saunders. DeSoto would take over the cover artwork on The Spider. This article would be expanded into a book, which is still available. See my upcoming review on this.

#11 (2004) No pulp artists this time, but the interest, at least for me, is an article on Robert Bonfils who did cover artwork for paperbacks from Regency, in particular the pulp-reprint works for their Corinth line (The Phantom Detective, Secret Agent X, Operator #5, Dusty Ayres, and Doctor Death).

#12 (2005) R.G. Harris gets a cover article. He is known for his western pulp work and taking over Doc Savage covers from Walter Baumhofer from November 36 through December 37.

#13 (Spring 2005) Artist Lee Brown Coye (1907-81) is featured in an article, by Luis Ortiz, on his life and work, which started in the pulps and then extended to book covers for Arkham House and others. Ortiz wrote a biography of Coye in 2005: Arts Unknown: The Life and Art of Lee Brown Coye.

#14 (Summer 2005). We have a cover article on John W. Scott (1907-1987) by David Saunders. Like many, Scott did the gamut of westerns, detective, action/adventure, weird menace (mainly for Red Circle), and all three covers for Ka-Zar. And like others, he moved to men’s adventure magazines and slicks. What is different were the religious murals he did, mainly for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

#16 (Spring 2006) This one has a cover article by Brian M. Kane on the making of his book James Bama: American Realist, an excellent book on James Bama‘s career that includes all his Doc Savage covers. I have posted a review of that book.

#18 (Winter 2006) David Saunders has another cover article, this time on the incredible science-fiction and fantasy pulp art of Allen Anderson, who did most of the cover for Planet Stories. This led to a book, which is now out of print.

#22 (Spring 2008) We get a cover article by David Saunders on the work of pulp artist Frederick Blakeslee (1898-1973), best known for his incredible aviation covers. We learn that Blakeslee got hired at a young age at the Curtis Aeroplane Co., one of the major aircraft manufacturers at the time. He became a draftsman, then got an education at the Pratt Institute as a draftsman and commercial artist, crossing paths with other pulp artists. Soon he was an instructor at the school and, in 1929, was doing interior artwork for the pulps, as well as some book covers. By the early 1930s, he was doing his aviation covers for a variety of pulps, especially for Popular Publications. He would also do a lot of railroad covers and this lead to working for Delano Studios doing for decorative plates with railroad engines. All told he did 423 covers, including 306 of every cover for Battle Birds, Captain Combat, Dare-Devil Aces, Dusty Ayres, and G-8.

#25 (Winter 2009) Gloria Stoll Karn (1923-2022), who was one of the few women who worked in the pulps, doing over 100 covers, is cover featured in an article by David Saunders.

#26 (Spring 2009) Graves Gladney (1907-76), famous for his depictions of The Shadow in the 1940s, is highlighted in a cover article by Tom Roberts and David Saunders. We learn Gladney was doing pulp covers for a variety of pulps from all the major publishers. He has some interesting things to say about Harry Steeger over at Popular Publications. For The Shadow, he took over from George Rozen and signed an exclusive contract with Street & Smith, doing a cover for The Shadow every two weeks, and in the week in between another S&S cover. He did 70 covers for The Shadow between October 1938 and September 1941, and an overall 275 pulp covers. He would quit pulp work in 1941 when he joined the army during WWII, and afterward went into teaching and other art work.

#27 (Summer 2009). This issue gives us a long cover article from David Saunders profiles Rudoph Belarski (1900-83). I was most familiar with his air-war pulp covers, but he did a lot more. We get to see this from magazines like Argosy, Detective Fiction, Thrilling Adventures, and more, including The Phantom Detective and The Black Bat. He did covers for slick magazines and also paperback covers, especially for Popular Library. As always, we get a bibliography for Belarski, but sadly no list of pulp covers.

#29 (Spring 2010) We get one big cover article from David Saunders on H.J. Ward (1909-45). Probably best known for his spicy-pulp covers, his work was more widespread than most are aware. He did defining work on the The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, Jim Anthony, and more. It’s sad that his life was cut short. This was later expanded into a full book from Illustration Press, so watch for my upcoming review of it.

#31 (Fall 2010) John Fleming Gould, one of the most prolific illustrators of black-and-white art for the pulps, is featured in an article by Will Murray.

#32 (Winter 2010) We get a cover article, by Charles Waterhouse, on Herbert Morton Stoops, famous for his numerous covers for Blue Book magazine. I thought it interesting the artwork they picked for the cover was used for the reprint of H. Bedford-Jones‘ Ships and Men series.  There is also an article on the artists who worked on the Three Investigator series, several of whom did work in the pulps.

#34 (Summer 2011) The art of Tom Lovell (1909-97) is cover featured in an article by Daniel Zimmer. He first began his career in the pulps doing covers for various pulps as well as interior work for The Shadow, then progressed into the slicks, and finally ended his career as on of the finest artists of the Old West. This led to their book which is now out of print.

#35 (Fall 2011) The pulp art of Joe Szokoli (1913-81) is cover featured by David Saunders. He is best known for his spicy mystery pulp covers. And because his style was similar to H.J. Ward, he “updated” some of Ward’s pieces, allowing them to be reused.

#44 (April 2014) The entire issue is devoted to the pulp and slick magazine art of Walter M. Baumhofer (1904-87) by David Saunders. We get a detailed biography of the artist’s life, which covers every facet of Baumhofer’s long career, from his pulp covers for Doc Savage and others to his slick magazine illustrations. There is even info on who he had modeled for his Doc covers. This led to an excellent book, now out of print. See my upcoming review on it.

#46 (2014) In the cover article, Robert Garcia talks about his new book on Virgil Finlay, who did incredible black-and-white and color artwork for the sf and horror pulps and books. The book, The Collectors’ Book of Virgil Finlay, was done as a Kickstarter that year, but it doesn’t appear that extra copies are available.

#49 (September 2015) David Saunders has another cover article, this time on the lurid and spectacular art of John Newton Howitt (1885-1958), best known for his pulp covers for such titles as Terror Tales and Horror Stories, as well as Operator #5, The Spider, and more. Like other artists, he was classically trained and went into pulp covers due to the Depression, starting work for Popular Publications around 1930 as the market for covers with the slick magazines dried up. He was too old to serve in WWII. He would end his pulp career in 1945 and his slick career in 1946, but would continue doing artwork in retirement. I think he did every cover of The Spider from the second issue to sometime in 1937 when Rafael DeSoto took over, and I think all but the first Operator #5 cover.

#51 (2015) This time we get an article on artist C.B. Mayshark by David Saunders. Mayshark is best known for his covers and interior art for Sky Birds, Flying Aces, and other air pulps.

#54 (2016) We get a cover feature on Frank R. Paul (1884-1963), the father of science fiction illustration, by David Saunders. I have a book or two of Paul’s work and remember his covers in my sf reference books, often bizarre spacecraft or creatures and bright colors. The cover used was for one of E.E. “Doc” Smith‘s Skylark novels, but was the same issue that serialized Buck Rogers, so people think it’s a Buck Rogers cover.

#57 (2017) We get two pulp-related artists this time. From Susan Klavar is an article on Earl Mayan, who did some pulp cover and interior work. Next, from David Saunders is an article on Peter Stevens, who did both slick magazine and pulp covers.

#59 (February 2018) Another cover article by David Saunders, this time on Harold W. McCauley (1913-77). He is probably best known for his “Mac Girls” as seen on the covers of Ziff-Davis sf pulps such as Imagination, Amazing Stories, etc. But he was also working on commercial art, starting off working under the man who created the first “Quaker Oats Man” piece. And he also did the covers for the erotic paperback publisher Nightstand Books.

#66 (November 2019) This issue has a cover feature on the work of Geoge Gross by David Saunders. We learn that Gross’s family ran a business doing commercial art, and George was doing pulp covers as a sideline. This then led to doing men’s adventure magazine covers. Later he did paperback covers, and I think this is how many of us know him: for his covers of The Avenger, the short-lived Operator #5 series from Freeway, which had some unpublished works, and later Nick Carter. These all used model Steve Holland. While we get some of the art reprinted (The Avenger and Nick Carter), we get very little about this period this in the article, which is a major disappointment for me.

#72 (2021) From David Saunders is an article on C.C. Beall, who did both pulp and slick magazine covers in the 1940s and ’50s.

#73 (August 2021) This issue has a cover article on Peter Driben (1903-68) by Daniel Zimmer. Driben did a lot of “good girl” artwork on various girlie pulps, and the article includes a large selection of artwork. And there is an article by Michael Stradford on his work exploring Steve Holland, the artist’s model who you’ve seen on the covers of Doc Savage paperback covers as well as many others, as well as men’s adventure magazines. I’ve posted on his two books previously.

#76 (2022) Again from David Saunders is a cover feature the work of pulp illustrator Earle Bergey (1901-52), who did many pulp covers, but especially sf covers for Thrilling Publications (Startling Stories, Captain Future, Thrilling Wonder Stories, etc).

You can subscribe to the magazine, but it’s the same price as getting the issues individually. Some bookstores carry them. You can order back issues from them, but some sell out. They do reissue old issues, and they are marked as such. Their books sell out. All the pulp-related ones are sold out except the Rafael DeSoto issue.