EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 22 © 2018 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

96 The Bookshelf: Monsters, Sleaze and Wartime Paris! France is another world when it comes to its establishment recognising the work of illustrators; Jean Pierre Gibrat, who was awarded a knighthood in the Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres in 2014, being a case in point. Turning the pages of 'Flight of the Raven', it becomes immediately apparent that we are looking at the work of a truly exceptional talent. The story is as much an affair of the heart as it is a story about Paris under German occupation, with the Allies landing on the beaches of Normandy and a state of flux beginning to manifest itself throughout the population. Engaging as the script is, it is Gibrat's art that provides the 'wow factor'. The sequence with the two young detainees escaping their jail and embarking on a perilous rooftop journey to freedom is one of the stand-out sequences from the book. Gibrat's attention to detail and meticulous research (the reader really does feel as if he is having a 'virtual tour' of Paris) adds conviction and authority to what in lesser hands, might have been fairly light fare. For lovers of great storytelling and fabulous art, this book comes highly recommended. In fact, your shelves will be impoverished without this book. Bernie Wrightson Artifact Edition Scans from original artboards. Hardbound 144 pages. IDW £75.00 (variable) Already sold-out as soon as it was published, this Artifact Edition is dedicated to Berni Wrightson’s most fondly remembered work for Swamp Thing and other DC horror titles from the early 1970s. Being an artifact edition means that the artwork is randomly scanned from various original artboards and not necessarily from a complete story. In fact, there are only two complete stories here, most of the other images being from Wrightson’s tenure illustrating the first 10 issues of SwampThing . Aside from early examples of work Wrightson did for various DC comics, we also get dozens of covers. Oddly enough, the very first time Swamp Thing appeared, in House of Secrets , isn’t included here, perhaps due to problems of accessing the artwork. As a bonus feature we also get three fold-outs, featuring a colour illustration on one side, and a black and white one on the back. This book concentrates mainly on the horror work he did for DC comics, than at the beginning of his professional career, but don’t let that hold you back, as he was at the very top of the game there. As previously mentioned, the book is already out of print, underscoring the thought that this might become one of the most sought after Artist’s Editions. SIN-A-RAMA-Sleaze Sex Paperbacks of the Sixties Edited by B. Astrid Daley & Adam Parfrey Softbound 326 pages. Feral House $25.95 It should be mentioned that, if you’re in the least prudish, this ‘in-depth expose’ of 1960’s sleaze paperbacks, may prove too much for you. As with the pulp novels themselves, their cover art frequently left little to the imagination, enticing readers—via their graphic depictions of luscious nymphettes and wanton women—to the sinful delights within. With a book like this you might want to get straight to the ‘good stuff ’. Daley and Parfrey tease their readers however, by introducing the subject with several essays on porn publishing in the 1960s, as well as an enlightening piece by Robert Silverberg who originally moonlighted as an erotic novelist. There follow profiles of writers including Clyde Allison, artists such as Chet Collom and Eric Stanton and publisher Earl Kemp, all of whom brought the world of forbidden delights alive. Finally come the covers themselves; revealed in sections like ‘Interracial Smut’ and “Exotic Sex’ which, as with the art they feature, leave little to the imagination. The '60s may have been known as the decade of ‘free love’. However, as the cover art and informative writing in this eye-opening guide prove, it was also a period of ‘anything goes’. Cleaver Patterson Flight of the Raven By Jean Pierre Gibrat Includes a selection of sketches Softbound 144 pages IDW £22.75 All books reviewed here are available from: bookpalace.com