We use a lot of pulp images for Monster of the Day. Here’s a nifty tome at a bargain price that covers a lot of that ground. The book is currently available on Amazon for a bit over $20, which is roughly half off the list price. When I got my copy I was surprised how hefty, oversized and just utterly gorgeous the book was. The paper stock is nice and thick and the cornacopia of images are just beautiful. In any case, it feels like a real bargain for that price point.
The text is great, with a paragraph for every individual image as well as very nice chapters on larger topics. You’ve got to love a book that dedicates some pages to William “One Shot” Beaudine.
It’s not flawless, though. It jumps around from pulp covers to film posters to comics and paperback covers, which is fine. However, because of their apparent wish to showcase as many covers and posters as possible, the image can be smaller than one might wish, quite often in the two by three inch range. It’s a personal taste, but I would have been happier with fewer images reproduced in a larger size. That’s a small beer complaint, though, and many might feel the opposite. And hey, you can probably find any one image in a greater size on the Interwebs.
There are several books in this series, but this is the only one available at so inexpensive a price. Also one of those great cheap things you can pick up as an emergency gift for a birthday or Christmas.
