Flex Mentallo

Ne neither - he makes Conan look like Schwarzenegger , who was once described as "resembling a condom stuffed with walnuts."

You got it. Brundage chose a different subject matter from that same story: Yes, I got to the title but a bit late - it is one of the best issues of Savage Sword of Conan (#5)

Is this from the story " A witch shall be born" where Conan is crucified? In which case, the guy pouring wine watches as Conan bites the neck of a harrassing vulture. then makes the mistake of releasing Conan, who eventually takes over as leader of the reavers...

This is wonderful! The level of technical accomplishment is extremely high, isnt it? It puts me in mind of the orientalist painters of the nineteenth century, of whom my favourite is John Frederick Lewis, who spent 10 years living and working in Cairo. Like many Victorian genre painters, he was admired during his lifetime but largely forgotten after his death until "rediscovered" in the 1960's. His work now sells for millions of dollars. The coffee bearer: Liliam auratum: Had he lived 70 years later, he would arguably have earned a living painting pulp covers like St John. Conversely had St John lived earlier, he might have been justly celebrated - and Norm Saunders would have been the american counterpart of Delacroix! Life in the harem: An intercepted correspondence:

Oh dear. these are simply stunning! I get up 5 hours in advance of you guys in the states, and while I often miss the best of the conversation, it does mean that I do, on some mornings, as today, find my breath simply taken away. Those Magic carpets are staggering. BZ, can you give attributions as to cover artists please? Other than Brundage that is. My only constructive observation is that if based on our respective scans, if one compares the output of Saunders and Gross before and after the war, I'd suggest that they did not put their hearts and souls into their post war work for magazines (and arguably paperbacks) as they had done for the pulps. Just going through the motions. The pulps gave their imaginations free reign. The post war magazines were comparatively formulaic.

I was hoping it might draw out a few of yours! I wonder if Pat has any paperback covers by him? Pat? That awesome Odyssey is hard to follow! What's next?

Steve - please do!!

Great Stuff Jon, I've been following with great interest! I'd also be very interested to know which are your favourite Centaur covers?

Yes, I think you guys are correct. The statue was the fourth image in my google search and credited to Gross. Now I've tracked the link back to the blog it is on and I find it is right below a pulp cover credited to Gross: http://michaelmay.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html So it must be a misattribution. (Knowing Gross was not a sculptor - at least as far as I know - I assumed - wrongly - that the statute was based on his work.) Great statue!

Their pulp work is quie similar from what I've seen. I think Saunders brushwork is a little looser than Gross. Each has quite distinctive ways of rendering the female face.

Sorry, BB. All I know is that the artwork is credited to Gross, and of course that it is Sheena. The features are typical Gross.

Like Norm Saunders, George Gross was a pulp artist before the war who gravitated to paperback then magazine covers in the post war period. Here is a mixture of covers from my collection augmented by some found on the net.

This is spectacularly cool! Sadko Sadko, a poor but spirited minstrel, wagers his head against the wealth of the Novgorod merchants that he will catch golden fish in the neighbouring Lake Ilmen. Aided by the Sea-King's daughter he wins, and embarks upon a voyage on one of the fleet of ships that have become his. Overtaken by storm, it is decided by the ship's company that one of their number must be offered as a sacrifice to the Sea-King. Lots are drawn, with the result that Sadko finds himself on a plank in mid-ocean. Entering the Sea-King's domain, he plays upon his gusli with such goodwill that the monarch and his court are soon engaged in a frenzied dance. A fierce gale ensues. St. Nicholas, intervening on behalf of seafarers above, dashes the gusli to the ground, orders Sadko home, and transforms the Sea-King's daughter, who has offered herself to the already married minstrel, into the river Volkhov, on which Novgorod now stands.

Baba Yaga The flying carpet