EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 30 © 2020 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

96 More Men’s Adventure Illustrations, Erotic Art, and Supermodels Mort Künstler: The Godfather of Illustrated Pulp Fiction Edited by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle Hardcover 136 pages New Texture $39.99 (US), £29.99 (UK) Manara Sublimer le Réel Edited by Claudio Curci Hardcover 512 pages Glénat €49.00 (via Amazon.fr) Eva: Men’s Adventure Supermodel Edited by Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle Hardcover 188 pages New Texture $45.99 (US), £36.99 (UK) Probably one of themost prolific illus‐ trators from the men’s adventure magazines, Mort Künstler (featured in illustrators issue 17, and in this issue, too) has finally an art‐ book devoted to his work on that genre. After an art show on his men’s adventure magazine work held at the Heckscher Mu‐ seumof Art inNewYork last year, this book centres on Künstler’s artwork for these ‘sweat’ magazines, and is edited by a con‐ noisseur of the genre, Robert Deis, along with his co-editor, Wyatt Doyle. As the 1950s progressed, television and photography were starting to change the panorama of illustration, and Künstler knew he had to do something that couldn’t be done by either medium. That was how he created a series of dramatic composi‐ tions which were so visually exciting, richly detailed, and realistically rendered, that it pretty much made him one of the most in- demand illustrators of the era. He later switched to fine art gallery shows, and achieved great success with his Civil War and other historical paintings. If you enjoyed this issue, you will find in this book further work Künstler did for the men’s adventure magazines during the second half of the past century. A real visual feast by the Godfather of Illustrated Pulp Fiction! OK, I know this book is in French, but really, 98% is made up of images and 2% is short introductions to each section, so what you get is mainly a visual treat. Manara was already the main feature in illustrators issue 25, and this book is a collection of his 50-year career so far (if you take into account that his first professional work in the comics field dates from1969; this book being from2019). MiloManara doesn’t need any introduc‐ tion, for he is probably the best known comic book artist in the world today—and I’m not kidding. Well-known all over the world, from Italy to the USA fromAfrica to Russia and Asia, I can’t think of any other artist that is so immediately recognised. So I guess you knowwhat’s in store here. Although this book concentrates mainly on work he did for the French market (it’s the country were he sells the greatest amount of books), it also contains a round- up of all his work, from early tryouts to his best known comic strips, illustrations, Marvel superhero comic covers, collabora‐ tions with both Hugo Pratt and Fellini, the Brigitte Bardot watercolours, advertising art, and even movie storyboards he did for an aborted reboot of ‘Barbarella’, and for an animation movie based on the ‘Odyssey’ (and even the regretful Frenchmovie adap‐ tation of his classic ‘Click’ comic). It’s a treat for lovers of not only erotica, but the work of a true Maestro of good girl art and enticing comic strips. After going through this issue many might ask, “who were the models who posed for these pictures?” Although the name of Steve Holland was mentioned a couple of times, one of the girl models used by some of these illustrators was Eva Lynd. Part-time actress, and a real count‐ ess by birth, Swedish-born Eva Lynd (real name Eva Inga Margareta von Fielitz) would also work as a model while living in New York. A natural blonde with a sexy allure, made her a perennial favourite among the artists looking for a female character to spice up their illustrations. Whether wielding a gun or tied-down, Eva was the girl being tortured by Nazis or firing at the enemy in many of the men’s adventure magazine covers. Not only an art book, this is also the story of a model who posed for the pictures found in these magazines (usually painted by Norm Eastman or Al Rossi, two of the illustrators who used her themost). But Eva was more than a model, as she also acted in movies and appeared inTV shows. Youwill also find many of the covers and interior illustrations from the men’s adventure magazines where she appeared, some of which you can see in this issue. Around-up of eye-candy and girl-action await you inside.