Popular Post jimjum12 Posted June 9 Popular Post Share Posted June 9 (edited) On 6/9/2024 at 11:16 AM, Sarg said: Anything after 1940 is on shaky ground. Virtually anything that could authentically be labeled classic dates from the late 1920s to late 1930s. That would depend on your definition of classic. Placing the cut off at the late 30's eliminates, what are to me, some of the finest efforts in the genre. The Sci-Fi segment was just kicking into high gear in the late 30's. If we're considering only historical classics, then perhaps that may be more in line with what is often termed a "key". I've always considered a classic cover to be simply a cover image of exceptional notoriety. The SS 4 with the rainbow bridge, for example, is a heinous omission of the classic status. No first appearance or anything, just a cover that made it to more black light posters than many others. Within Pulps and the very, very, many covers that are simply jaw dropping, bone sizzling masterpieces of the provocative and profane, narrowing the criteria to historical significance or formative years only, is possibly unfair and disingenuous. GOD BLESS ... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) Edited June 9 by jimjum12 Hibou, Point Five, Surfing Alien and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted June 9 Author Share Posted June 9 @jimjum12: Don't get me wrong, I LOVE 50's SF pulp covers. I have a full set of 50's Planet Stories and probably over half the 50's issues of Starting Stories and Famous Fantastic Mysteries. I was just specifically questioning one year of one title having 3 of 6 issues get the classic designation. Darwination, jimjum12 and Surfing Alien 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post OtherEric Posted June 9 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 9 On 6/9/2024 at 8:16 AM, Sarg said: Anything after 1940 is on shaky ground. Virtually anything that could authentically be labeled classic dates from the late 1920s to late 1930s. Here I must respectful disagree. There are definitely lots of classic pulp covers through the 40's and 50's as well. Surfing Alien, Robot Man, frozentundraguy and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Darwination Posted June 9 Popular Post Share Posted June 9 I'm not giving early pulps more weight regarding classic status. At this point, they are all getting on 70 to 120 years old, so seniority be damned. You could make an argument, I suppose, that some of the classically trained artists were more at their peak early on, but I'm not buying it. "Firsts" and such make for keys, but I really, really hate first appearance type of focus in comics collecting. So some character gets in the last panel, and now this comic is defacto chased by generations of fanboys? Please. Also, I'd prefer some of the moronic Overstreet type notations get skipped. I can see it's a bondage cover, just call it classic (if it is indeed classic). "Flamethrower Cover?" FFS jimjum12, waaaghboss, Cushing Fan and 3 others 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 On 6/9/2024 at 8:52 AM, OtherEric said: Here I must respectful disagree. There are definitely lots of classic pulp covers through the 40's and 50's as well. I fully concur. Classic is classic. Problem is, with so many pulps coming out of the woodwork lately, there are so much many of us have never seen. Seems like there as many or more classic pulp covers than comic covers. They just have to be seen to be deemed as such. OtherEric, Hibou, jimjum12 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 On 6/9/2024 at 9:00 AM, Darwination said: I'm not giving early pulps more weight regarding classic status. At this point, they are all getting on 70 to 120 years old, so seniority be damned. You could make an argument, I suppose, that some of the classically trained artists were more at their peak early on, but I'm not buying it. "Firsts" and such make for keys, but I really, really hate first appearance type of focus in comics collecting. So some character gets in the last panel, and now this comic is defacto chased by generations of fanboys? Please. Also, I'd prefer some of the moronic Overstreet type notations get skipped. I can see it's a bondage cover, just call it classic (if it is indeed classic). "Flamethrower Cover?" FFS I really like Holiday covers. Seem to be a lot less than comics. Unfortunately, most do not share my obsecession. Some real classic pulp holiday covers. OtherEric, Darwination, Surfing Alien and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post jimjum12 Posted June 9 Popular Post Share Posted June 9 (edited) On 6/9/2024 at 11:48 AM, OtherEric said: @jimjum12: Don't get me wrong, I LOVE 50's SF pulp covers. I have a full set of 50's Planet Stories and probably over half the 50's issues of Starting Stories and Famous Fantastic Mysteries. I was just specifically questioning one year of one title having 3 of 6 issues get the classic designation. I'm just throwing out an opinion. For example, I grudgingly agree with Action 1 as a classic cover, although I feel it is one of the lousiest "classic covers" of all. I think it gets a pass for content, rather than the merit of the cover itself. I do not consider elaborate cave drawings to be a masterpiece in the same vein as Mona Lisa or Persistence Of Memory despite their archaic and formative nature. I love this thread. Classic Cover flags should receive a more transparent and interactive vetting process, to avoid the hyper enthusiasm that may accompany an emerging "thing". Bear in mind, that no one really gives a flaming rat's arse what I think, and I am painfully and realistically aware of that. I truly think that only the PB genre would be more difficult to assign a comprehensive consensus of which covers are truly classic. Edited June 10 by jimjum12 Robot Man, Darwination, comicjack and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cushing Fan Posted June 10 Popular Post Share Posted June 10 A couple more CGC designated classes pulp covers. Pat Calhoun, Point Five, OtherEric and 7 others 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Surfing Alien Posted June 10 Popular Post Share Posted June 10 On 6/9/2024 at 12:05 PM, jimjum12 said: Bear in mind, that no one really gives a flaming rat's arse what I think, and I am painfully and realistically aware of that. Aww, we're all in this together Jimbo, you know all our opinions are like TP targets in the end I've felt like opining on this topic (I agree there's waaay too many "classics" being daubed around) but mostly to the extent that only the long time pulp collectors have any grasp on what the small pulp community considered classic for many years. I'd take the opinion of Tim, or Doug Ellis over any comic guys. I'm a Marvel comic kid who grew up in the 70's comic scene so all the pulps I considered "classic" were the ones Steranko pictured in his "Bloody Pulps" section of his "History of Comics" Many of those are classic, but the point is there were very few places (Steranko being one of them) that comic fans even casually got infected by great pulp art to be exposed enough to be privy to what the long standing pulp circle of collectors considered collectively. OtherEric, jimjum12, Robot Man and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Surfing Alien Posted June 10 Popular Post Share Posted June 10 A few pages of "Steranko" l Cushing Fan, Pat Calhoun, Hibou and 3 others 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cushing Fan Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Two more covers... Point Five, Pat Calhoun, waaaghboss and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwination Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 (edited) On 6/9/2024 at 8:36 PM, Cushing Fan said: A couple more CGC designated classes pulp covers. No Yes No (and I've never even seen this cover applauded or reprinted as a fine example unless I'm mistaken) Maybe. DFW is tough. Not many DFW covers have gotten ample consideration, maybe because there's so many of them. There's some great ones, though, and it's a very underappreciated pulp on many levels. Yes. Maybe a slightly controversial take, as there are some traditionalists that I doubt would give classic status to any FFM covers. Because it's a reprint pulp? Because it's so late? I dunno, but I think there are a *number* of classic FFMs. On 6/9/2024 at 10:33 PM, Cushing Fan said: Two more covers... I like both but No and No. I swear I'm on the lenient side of all this, too Edited June 10 by Darwination waaaghboss and Cushing Fan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waaaghboss Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 I wonder if they just thumbed through the bookery guide and any entry with a notation about the cover they glued tge classic cover moniker on. I'm actually curious where they got their classic cover list from, because some like the amazings just make zero sense. PopKulture, buttock, Sarg and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bookery Posted June 10 Popular Post Share Posted June 10 On 6/10/2024 at 1:50 AM, waaaghboss said: I wonder if they just thumbed through the bookery guide and any entry with a notation about the cover they glued tge classic cover moniker on. I'm actually curious where they got their classic cover list from, because some like the amazings just make zero sense. At first I was wondering about that too... however, the June '48 Amazing above isn't even broken out of the run in my guide. I do think there is a tendency (and maybe I was guilty of it in the guide too... I'd have to review all of the entries) to place anything with a skeleton cover as "classic". But there are probably hundreds of them in pulpdom. I do think the FFM above qualifies... green skeleton, green shroud, jawless and with those bizarre egg-yolk eyes... there's really nothing else like it, and by one of the best artists in the business to boot. The DFW is also a particularly fine example of this "sub-genre" of cover art, so I don't have a problem with that designation either. But there is also a tendency to call anything with a nude or semi-nude on the cover as "classic", and I don't agree with that. In fact, I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I think many of the Brundage covers are over-rated as "classic" covers. Maybe 2 or 3 might make my cut (I don't even particularly like the bat-woman cover, but would concede its status just because of how often it has been reprinted). buttock, jimjum12, Hibou and 8 others 9 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBedrock Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 On 6/7/2024 at 6:36 PM, Darwination said: I'll drop a terribly unpopular opinion here. Schomburg is *incredibly* overrated. The ridiculous Timely war scene covers the fanboys fawn over? Who you callin' a fanboy? jimjum12, Robot Man, Surfing Alien and 1 other 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bookery Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 (edited) On 6/10/2024 at 12:43 PM, MrBedrock said: Who you callin' a fanboy? Him. (Lesser-known Batman villain). Edited June 10 by Bookery OtherEric, jimjum12 and Darwination 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBedrock Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Classic covered nipple cover... Darwination, jimjum12 and Pat Calhoun 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBedrock Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Semi-classic Tarzan covers... Pat Calhoun, Darwination, asimovpulps and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattTheDuck Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 On 6/10/2024 at 9:57 AM, Bookery said: Him. (Lesser-known Batman villain). Strengths: can create low, medium or high mild breeze. Metal cage. Weaknesses: Safety regulations. Extension cord. jimjum12, Bookery, Cushing Fan and 1 other 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post jimjum12 Posted June 10 Popular Post Share Posted June 10 On 6/10/2024 at 1:06 PM, MrBedrock said: Semi-classic Tarzan covers... I read something by someone who seemed to fancy themselves an influencer, who made the comment that NO one liked Tarzan anymore. I don't mean any disrespect, well, maybe a teeny bit, but there are still plenty of us who like things other than Wolverine and Ninja Turtles. A Tarzan movie was added to the franchise as recently as 2021, and while it wasn't Prometheus, I certainly enjoyed it. The ERB source material is still published and was riveting when I plowed through it as a preteen and teen. I've been seriously considering picking up an Argosy or Blue Book with a Greystoke cover, and to this day, will still fire up a Weissmuller/O'Sullivan masterpiece from the heyday of Hollywood. Quick way to transport back to a lazy Saturday in the 60's GOD BLESS ... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) Darwination, waaaghboss, MrBedrock and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...