Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Paperback 60: Naked Ebony / Dan Cushman (Gold Medal 158)

Paperback 60: Gold Medal 158 (PBO, 1951)

Title: Naked Ebony
Author: Dan Cushman
Cover artist: Barye Phillips

Yours for: SOLD 5/22/08


"Hey, baby, be careful! This is my good pirate shirt!"

Best things about this cover:

  • These people are neither "naked" nor "ebony." Total rip-off.
  • I do love a woman-with-gun cover painting. Here, the gun is a kind of nipple-extension. In other cover paintings, it will stand in for ... other things. You'll see.
  • Could he be any closer to her? I'm not convinced her eyes can even focus on him when he's that close.
  • Is he going to hit her? Kiss her? Is he showing her his stigmata? Pulling a coin from behind her ear? The possibilities are endless, and every one of them justifies her shooting him.
  • Please notice the greatness of the fully painted cover. Edge-to-edge coverage - a complete painting where the graphic element is the real attention-grabber. This art-centered style of cover is why I started collecting in the first place.

Best things about this back cover:

  • Not the punctuation, that's for sure.
  • "Chari" - how do you pronounce that?
  • "Package of hell!" - somebody was still cutting his melodramatic teeth when he laid down that gem. Yikes.

RP

2 comments:

wendy said...

*Jungle-wise* Jim Crawford? Oh that is hysterical. This was in the days, I assume, when you weren't shot down the instant you set foot in the Congo but rather, if jungle-wise, might be able to complete your appointed task.

"The possibilities are endless, and every one of them justifies her shooting him." FYI, I did a spit take when I read that.

Michael5000 said...

Jungle-wise, Jim really knew his stuff.

Package-wise, he was a bit naive.