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sThere was a time in the 1970s when Frank Frazetta retreated as the preeminent painter of fantasy paperback book covers but before the rise of Ken Kelly, Boris Vallejo, and Rowena. This was a time of Frazetta imitators. Among those were Spanish artists brought in by Warren Magazines. One of those was Enrique Torres. He […]
The psychedelic era of rock music had a distinctive look for album covers. That artistic style spilled over into mass paperback book covers. One could argue that Charles Moll was the most psychedelic artist for sword and sorcery fiction paperbacks. There is nothing out there on Charles Moll. He painted covers for paperback books in […]
Roy Krenkel (1918-1983) is an artist primarily associated with Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks. He attended Burne Hogarth’s classes at the School of Visual Arts. He did work with Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta for EC Comics in the early 1950s. Krenkel also drew interior art in the waning days of the pulp magazine for Marvel […]
Jim Steranko (born 1938) had a brief career as a painter for sword and sorcery paperbacks in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He came out of the comic book milieu like Frank Frazetta and Gray Morrow. Steranko had started work with Marvel Comics in 1966. In 1969, he had a falling out with Stan […]
Sandford (Sandy) Kossin (born 1926) is a general illustrator producing many paperback covers and movie posters from the 1950s through the 1970s. He painted some science fiction paperbacks from the late 1950s to the late 1970s. For a brief time, he was the house artist for Signet/New American Library line of sword and sorcery novels […]
I reviewed the first Swords of Steel anthology earlier this year. A second volume came out in 2016. Swords of Steel III had a release of Friday, May 19th. Dave Ritzlin sent me a file of the book to review. Good timing for me. Seems like life is full of putting out fires constantly leaving […]
Dwight Graydon Morrow (1934-2001) better known as Gray Morrow was a major contender for a few years in the realm of sword and sorcery illustration. Born in Indianapolis, attending the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, he moved to New York City in 1954. He became friends with Wally Wood, Angelo Torres, and Al Williamson. He […]
The impact of dynamic covers painted by Frank Frazetta for the Conan paperbacks from Lancer Books in 1966 had a ripple effect in paperback books. Those abstract Richard Powers’ painting that had dominated science fiction paperbacks gave way to something more dynamic. Every paperback house was looking for their own Frank Frazetta. Avon Books seemed […]
Forgotten Sword and Sorcery Artists: Michael Leonard
Sunday , 30, April 2017 Uncategorized 4 CommentsWhen you think of 1960s covers to paperback sword and sorcery books, Frank Frazetta and Jeff Jones immediately come to mind. Those were the titans, especially Frazetta. It took Jeff Jones a few years to really hit his stride. There was another artist who painted covers for sword and sorcery fiction in the late 1960s: […]
Last year, I speculated if military fantasy had enough good writers to make it a viable sub-genre. Operation Arcana is another Baen Books anthology offering of military fantasy. Baen Books published the trade paperback in March 2015. The mass market paperback came out in September 2016 at $7.99. John Joseph Adams is the editor. The […]
Rogues is the latest of the George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois edited cross genre anthologies. Bantam Books is the publisher now instead of Tor. Hardcover, 806 pages, $30.00, twenty stories and an introduction by Martin. The cover is the same sort of minimalist style with the title in big letters as with Warriors. […]
A few years back, I was excited when I heard there was an anthology entitled Warriors edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. It came out in March 2010 from Tor, hardback, 736 pages, $27.99. In the introduction, George R. R. Martin wrote about his youth in New Jersey and buying paperback books […]