Today in pulp... my Top 20 DAW book covers from the early years of this legendary imprint.
I'm only looking at the first 10 years of DAW (1972-82), but believe me there's plenty to choose from! #SundayThoughts
I'll choose two DAW covers from each year between 1972 & 1982, which I think set the bar for pulp sci-fi cover design. It will be quite an eclectic mix.
I'm not ranking my Top 20 DAW covers, just suggesting they're amongst the best of DAW's first 10 years in terms of capturing the feel of the 70s and early 80s. Feel free to disagree...
DAW book covers #Top20: The Return Of The Time Machine, by Egon Freidell (1972). Karel Thole's triptych is both elegant and evocative.
DAW book covers #Top20: The Wandering Variables, by Louis Trimble (1972). Frank Kelly Freas sums up the playful, curious nature of DAW #SF.
DAW book covers #Top20: The Tin Angel, by Ron Goulart (1973). Jack Gaughan nails it - funny, bizarre and effective.
DAW book covers #Top20: The Pritcher Mass, by Gordon R Dickson (1973). I just love the floating ferret head - art by Frank Kelly Freas.
DAW book covers #Top20: Flux, by Ron Goulart (1974). Jack Gaughan again, with a counterculture #hipster droid.
DAW book covers #Top20: Stress Pattern, by Neil Barrett Jr (1974). Josh Kirby with a bold and silly cover that could have been used for Dune.
DAW book covers #Top20: Swan Song, by Brian M Stableford (1975). Frank Kelly Freas drapes the stars over everything - quite lovely.
DAW book covers #Top20: The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series lll, edited by Richard Davis (1975). Michael Whelan's creepy eye-hand!
DAW book covers #Top20: Don't Bite The Sun, by Tanith Lee (1976). Brian Froud's artwork is spot-on for this book.
DAW book covers #Top20: The Sailor On The Seas Of Fate, by Michael Moorcock (1976). Michael Whelan's very buff Elric!
DAW book covers #Top20: Legends From The End Of Time, by Michael Moorcock (1977). I really like Bob Pepper's collage-style cover here.
DAW book covers #Top20: The Siege Of Wonder, by Mark S Geston (1977). H R Van Dongen brings a touch of Northern Renaissance to this cover.
DAW book covers #Top20: Calling Dr Patchwork, by Ron Goulart (1978). Josh Kirby's cover is simple, silly and very charming.
DAW book covers #Top20: To Keep The Ship, by A Bertram Chandler (1978). Another marvellous silly #SF cover, this time by H R Van Dongen.
DAW book covers #Top20: The Palace Of Love, by Jack Vance (1979). Gino D'Achille showing he doesn't know how bikini tops work!
DAW book covers #Top20: Lord Of The Spiders or Blades Of Mars, by Michael Moorcock (1979). Richard Hescox's spider is very creepy!
DAW book covers #Top20: Kill The Dead, by Tanith Lee (1980). Don Maitz's cover is well balanced with just the right hint of goth.
DAW book covers #Top20: Lin Carter Presents The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 6 (1980). A very simple but fun cover by Josh Kirby.
DAW book covers #Top20: Marune: Alastor 933, by Jack Vance (1981). David B Mattingly has great fun with the composition here.
DAW book covers #Top20: The Robot In The Closet, by Ron Goulart (1981). I love Josh Kirby's bulging eyed robo-pirate!
DAW book covers #Top20: The Dimensioneers, by Doris Piserchia (1982). Frank Kelly Freas returns to DAW with an elegant cloud cover.
DAW book covers #Top20: Karl Edward Wagner presents The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series X (1982). Michael Whelan steals the show again...
And that's it for my #Top20 DAW book covers ('72-'82). I hope you saw something you liked!
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Over the years a number of people have asked me if I have a favourite pulp film. Well I do. It's this one.
This is the story of Alphaville...
Alphaville: une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965) was Jean-Luc Godard’s ninth feature film. A heady mix of spy noir, science fiction and the Nouvelle Vague at its heart is a poetic conflict between a hard-boiled secret agent and a supercomputer’s brave new world.
British writer Peter Cheyney had created the fictitious American investigator Lemmy Caution in 1936. As well as appearing in 10 novels Caution featured in over a dozen post-war French films, mostly played by singer Eddie Constantine whom Godard was keen to work with.
Al Hartley may have been famous for his work on Archie Comics, but in the 1970s he was drawn to a very different scene: God.
Today in pulp I look back at Hartley's work for Spire Christian Comics - a publisher that set out to spread the groovy gospel...
Spire Christian Comics was an offshoot of Spire Books, a mass-market religious paperback line launched in 1963 by the Fleming H. Revell company. The point of Spire Books was to get religious novels into secular stores, so a move into comic books in 1972 seemed a logical choice.
The idea was to create comic book versions of popular Spire Books like The Cross and the Switchblade; David Wilkinson's autobiographical tale of being a pastor in 1960s New York. It had already been turned into a film, but who could make it into a comic?
It was a phenomenon, spawning a franchise that has lasted over fifty years. It's also a story with many surprising influences.
Today in pulp I look back at a sociological science-fiction classic, released today in 1968: Planet Of The Apes!
Pierre Boulle is probably best known for his 1952 novel Bridge On The River Kwai, based on his wartime experiences in Indochina. So it was possibly a surprise when 11 years later he authored a science fiction novel.
However Boulle had been a Free French secret agent during the war. He was captured in 1943 by Vichy forces in Vietnam and sentenced to hard labour. This experience of capture would shape his novel La Planète Des Singes.
Today I'm looking back at the work of British graphic designer Abram Games!
Abram Games was born in Whitechapel, London in 1914. His father, Joseph, was a photographer who taught him the art of colouring by airbrush.
Games attended Hackney Downs School before dropping out of Saint Martin’s School of Art after two terms. His design skills were mainly self-taught by working as his father’s assistant.
Today I'm looking back at the career of English painter, book illustrator and war artist Edward Ardizzone!
Edward Ardizzone was born in Vietnam in 1900 to Anglo-French parents. Aged 5 he moved to England, settling in Suffolk.
Whilst working as an office clerk in London Ardizzone began to take lessons at the Westminster School of Art in his spare time. In 1926 he gave up his office job to concentrate on becoming a professional artist.