They Challenged the Giants part 3

 

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

They Challenged the Giants part 2

 

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

They Challenged the Giants of the Skies

This week we have a brief strip relating the real-life challenges faced by the R.A.F. when the Zeppelin raids began during World War I. The artwork (although not the cover above) is by Jorge Luis Moliterni, better known in his native Argentina as a Western artist (Watami) and in the US as George Moliterni, who worked for DC  Comics; in the UK his work was almost exclusively related to World War II subjects, including issues of War and Battle picture libraries, although he also drew occasionally for girls' comics. Bizarrely, I always thought of Moliterni as an artist of adventure strips because I first saw his work in Top Secret Picture Library.

Moliterni died young, although there seems to be some question about his age which unfortunately the internet doesn't resolve. My notes give his dates as d.1979 but I have also seen notes online which say he died in 1978; and, just to confuse matters even further, I've also seen his year of birth given as either 1933 or 1939. I'm pretty sure he died on 18 April 1979 but does anyone have some definitive dates for him?

 

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Paperback Cover Cavalcade 15: Her

Anonymous has been responsible for an awful lot of books. There was a spate of books published under the name 'Anonymous' in the early 1980s, heralding a boom in mainstream pornography that lasted into the 2000s. And by mainstream, I do mean available widely through bookshops, W. H. Smiths and remainder shops rather than under the counter.

The earliest of these reprinted an American series of novels, the first of which had originally appeared in 1970. Here in the UK, it took until 1982, bar a hardcover edition of Her from Calder & Boyars in 1972, for the series to take off. Around that same time we were seeing Anais Nin's books (Delta of Venus, Little Birds in 1979-80) being published and New English Library and Star Books had just — in 1981 — published two classics of Victorian/Edwardian pornography, The Pearl (NEL) and A Man with a Maid (Star); even Grania Beckford's two novels (Touch the Fire and Catch the Fire (aka Virtues and Vices), published 1980-81 in the UK) have Gothic settings, the latter directly linked to the works of Jane Austen. Sexual language that was acceptable to the law following the failed prosecution of Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1961 but found sterner critics in the buyers for W. H. Smiths was suddenly widely acceptable.

Language was, according to the anonymous author of Her, the reason for writing the book. In his introduction, Anonymous says:

It seems to me that, in these recent years since the censorship bars have been lowered, the language of love, following Gersham's Law, has been debased into a coarse coinage, with neither tenderness nor love—nor, indeed, any true emotion.
__It has been my ardent desire to new-mint these words, this language, by writing them in the context in which they are most often spoken. For this, the earthy language of love, is the best and truest tongue in the world. There has been, in literature, a separation between the word and the deed. I have tried, in Her, to unite them again.

By the time Anonymous published Me some years later, he believed that "I have fulfilled the principals of the manifesto; and I believe that the readers of these novels have, by virtue of their very numbers, accepted with equal honesty of believe these enunciated principals." With that in mind, Anonymous planned to disappear, having penned five novels (Her, Him, Us, You and Me), although further novels continued to appear. Not that he needed to as the first two had, by 1985, sold around 3½ million copies.

The author behind the novels remained a secret that even the publisher, Bantam Books, knew. The manuscripts were supplied by attorney Maurice C. Greenbaum, who managed to keep their source private even from Bantam's editors, Allan Barnard, who worked on Her, Him and Us before retiring, and his successor, Peter Guzzardi.

It was only when author Borden Deal died that his authorship of the novels was revealed. Deal had written his own obituary in which he admitted to writing the books but Bantam made no attempt to repackage the books when he died in January 1985. The Anonymous brand was itself partly the reason why the books had initially sold so well, with Bantam's Director of Publicity Stuart Applebaum revealing: "The initial packaging was part of the appeal to the mass public . . . We wanted people to feel they were reading something very private. Part of that appeal was in the Anonymous name."

The books began to lose their appeal during the latter half of the 1970s: "Since the Anonymous books were at their zenith a lot of competition has evolved from different kinds of erotica," said Applebaum. "The advent of cable television and home video tapes with explicit material has made the market very competitive. Previously it was confined only to books."

This last statement sounds plausible for the USA, but it is interesting to note that here in the UK the big boom in explicit pornographic novels began in the late 1980s — not long after Applebaum was admitting "They have not been enormously popular in the last few years" — and peaked in the mid-1990s. The boom in mainstream pornography was almost certainly due to the far heavier censorship that continued to exist in the UK with regards to videos/DVDs and satellite broadcasts. While the VCR revolution meant widespread home viewing for porn fans in the USA in the early 1980s, the BBFC controlled the distribution of explicit movies by issuing them with R18 certificates which allowed them to only be shown in licensed members-only clubs; as a home video market emerged (the BBFC taking on the task of certifying videos in 1985), R18 films were allowed to be sold in licensed sex shops. R18 films are still prohibited from broadcast.

The decline in the porn paperback market reflected the growth of the internet. In 1998 the UK had some 8 million users, 12m in 1999, 15.8m in 2000, 19.8m in 2001 and 33.5m in 2002. By 2008, the figure was heading towards 50m, by which time the paperback porn boom had long ended.

HER (New York, L. Stuart, 7 Aug 1970; London, Calder & Boyars, 1972).
Arrow 0099-27400-0, 1982
---- [2nd imp.] 1982; [3rd imp.] 1982
---- [4th imp.] 1983, 294pp, £1.75. Cover: photo

HIM (New York, Bantam, 3 Apr 1973).
Arrow 0099-27390-X, 1982.

US (New York, Bantam, 1973).
Arrow 0099-30800-2, 1983.

YOU (New York, Bantam, 5 Mar 1975)
Arrow 0099-30000-1, 1982
---- [2nd imp.] 1984; [3rd imp.] 1985; [4th imp.] 1986;
---- [5th imp.] 1987, 294pp, £2.95. Cover: photo

ME (New York, Bantam, 1976)
Arrow 0099-27380-2, 1982, 273pp, £1.50. Cover: photo
---- [2nd imp.] 1982
---- [3rd imp.] 1983, 273pp, £1.75. Cover: photo

THEM (New York, Bantam, 17 Jul 1978)
Arrow 0099-27410-8, 1982.

I (New York, Bantam, 3 Nov 1980)
Arrow 0099-31020-1, 1983, 174pp, £1.50. Cover: photo
---- [2nd imp.] 1983.

TWO (New York, Bantam, 4 Oct 1982)
Arrow 0099-31680-3, 1983, 178pp, £1.60. Cover: photo
---- [2nd imp.] 1983.

WOMAN (New York, Bantam, 7 Feb 1983)
Arrow 0099-31940-3, 1983.

Moby Dick part 7

 

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Moby Dick part 6

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Comic Cuts - 15 June 2012

A rather short column this week. I've been exploring one or two new ways of printing things this week and, although I don't have anything definitive to report, there should be some interesting new projects to announce shortly as I explore the possibilities of producing some posters.

I'm setting up the pre-ordering page for Peter Jackson's London is Stranger Than Fiction, which should be launched shortly. [PLEASE NOTE: The page did appear Friday but there's a problem that needs to be fixed ... the pre-order page will return shortly.] Pre-orders for the Sexton Blake Annual 1940 have been coming in steadily, although not in the numbers I'd hoped for — I'm guessing that the announcement missed everyone's pay day by a week and we're approaching the summer holiday season. With that in mind, I'm thinking of keeping the pre-order offer open until the end of the month, which means another payday should have rolled around. I hope you'll take the opportunity to pick up the books. You probably haven't noticed, but postage prices at Bear Alley Books remain the same despite the Royal Mail putting their prices up in April.

Talking of avoiding postage, I managed to put an article up on Kindle. It didn't quite go to plan as I was hoping to make it a free article to help promote the launch of the Sexton Blake Annual. As it turned out, I found myself stuck on a page that demanded a price be put on the "book", so I put the minimum possible. The article is available internationally, although only in English: UK, USA, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

At least the price isn't too great... and I notice that one person has had a look at it since it went live on the 9th. One reader a week... so it could be six years before I see any money out of Kindle as it will take that long before I reach the minimum for them to write out a cheque.

Still, from the tiniest acorns... I'm working on a couple of books that might add a few pence (or cents) to the pot.

A quick word of thanks to Martin Baines who answered a late night call to arms and very kindly coloured up a black & white image I had. Martin knows what he's doing — he colours Garth for the Daily Mirror amongst other things. You can see lots of examples of his work here.

The next Kindle books from Bear Alley Books should be Hercules, Esq. and The Homicide Club by Gwyn Evans. These should also be available as paperbacks at the same time. The first is almost ready to go; the latter still needs a lot of work but I've been distracted by other things.

One distraction was a trip down to the dentist last week. Thankfully it was just a filling that had come out and it was replaced for free as it was still under warranty. Less pleasant was a dose of food poisoning on Wednesday night which... actually, I'm not going to go into any details at all. It wasn't pleasant.

It does, however, explain why I've not had a chance to put together any scans this week. So, rather more random than the usual random scans, here are a couple of books I picked up last weekend on the trawl around the charity shops. The first two are thrillers with cover art by Chris Moore, who was the go to guy for this kind of thing, although I prefer his science fiction artwork.

The third book was a filler I picked up for the Hammond Innes cover gallery (part 1, part 2). No idea who the artist is. Of the three, I'll probably read the Joe Poyer at the earliest chance I get and it involves the Nazis wartime efforts to develop the V-10 and launch a space mission with Wernher von Braun as one of the leading characters. 

Moby Dick concludes on Sunday and we should then slip comfortably into another short strip — just a four-parter that will take us up to next week's Comic Cuts column. The week after that will be Recent Releases and Upcoming Releases update week, so I'll probably fill-in with some pictures from World of Wonder. This Sunday will also see the next part of Paperback Cover Cavalcade, continuing my recently instigated occasional series on smutty books with a feature about Her and her siblings.

Moby Dick part 5

 

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Moby Dick part 4

 

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Moby Dick part 3

 

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Moby Dick part 2

 

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Moby Dick part 1

This adaptation of Moby Dick features some spectacular art by Look and Learn regular Bill Baker, returning him to the ocean setting he had previously used to superb effect in The Sea Wolf. At only 14 pages, this is actually a fairly short adaptation, as most books were converted to around a dozen or so episodes. Also of note is the fact that this was the second time Moby Dick was adapted in Look and Learn, this 1977 version having been preceded by a 6-part adaptation in 1974, reprinted from Ranger (1966). I'll try to dig that version out at some point as it has some very nice Franco Caprioli artwork.

In the meantime, here's Bill Baker's Moby Dick...

 

(* Artwork © Look and Learn Ltd. Reprinted by permission.)

Paperback Cover Cavalcade 14: I, a Woman

Siv Holm and her siblings were regulars in British bookshops during the late 1960s and early 1970s. I suspect I first stumbled upon Siv in the early- to mid-1970s when I discovered Chelmsford's second hand market, which ran on Thursdays. There were a couple of bookstalls that sold second hand books and it was here, for 10p and 20p a time, that I picked up all the New English Library novels that have since become so collectable — the Richard Allen Skinhead novels, the biker novels of Peter Cave, Alex R. Stuart, et al, Petra Christian's Hitch Hiker, etc.

A lot of these I kept as they seemed more innocuous somehow than the sequence of reprints that began with I, a Woman by the pseudonymous Siv Holm. A translation of a genuine Danish book rather than something masquerading as a translation. The original was published in 1965 as Jeg—en kvinde in Copenhagen and was filmed in 1965. Whilst digging around for information I spotted Roger Ebert's 1967 review which says the film "exhibits the maturity of a 13-year-old cranking the handle of the penny-peepshow at a county fair. It was apparently made for the sole purpose of exhibiting the not extraordinary body of Essy Person, a young Swedish actress who resembles a cross between a skinny Sophia Loren and an ill-tempered Pekingese." As I was probably a 13-year-old at the time I read the book, I can safely assert that I'd probably have preferred the film to the book. There's not a lot of sex in the book and an awful lot of hand-wringing. The film opened in the USA in October 1966 and prompted Dell Books to publish a translation the following year.

It seems that Siv Holm was the pen-name of Agnete Thomsen (a.k.a. Nina Thomsen), but a search of the web doesn't reveal anything about the author, although that may simply be because I'm unable to find the right search terms, since any information would be in Danish. As far as I can tell, the book was originally published in two volumes in 1961 and 1963 and reprinted by Stig Vendelkaers in 1965.

I, a Man (Jeg—en mand) was published originally in 1962 and, again, reprinted by Stig Vendelkaers in 1965. The book was credited to Sverre Holm, this time the pen-name of Georg Gjedde.

Stig Vendelkaers forlag then turned the book into a series with the publication of Jeg—en elsker by Stiig Holm (also credited as Ivan Strange; 1965) and Jeg—en sømand by Otto Mogens (1966). 1966 also saw the publication of Jeg—en utro kvinde by Connie Bergquist, although I'm not sure whether this was part of the sequence. (Could it possibly be the original of I, a Prostitute, which I have been unable to track down?)

I suspect the name Holm was retained for all of the translations to keep them all together on the booksellers' shelves. I'm pretty sure some of the books were not originally credited to the authors the translations appeared under, e.g. eg—en pige by Tine Sckmedes became I, a Teenager by Tine Holm, which I have seen reviewed as having "more in common with Judy Blume than the other notorious "I" titles of the era"

I, a Woman by Siv Holm (translation of Jeg—en kvinde, Copenhagen, 1961; translated by J. W. Brown, Dell, 1967)
Mayflower 3493, 1967, 220pp.
---- [2nd imp.] 1967; [3rd imp.] 1968; [4th imp.] 1969; [5th imp.] 1969; [6th imp.] 1969; [7th imp.] 1970; [8th imp.] 1972; [9th imp.] 1973; [10th imp.] 1973;
---- [11th imp.] 1977, 220pp, 60p. Cover: photo

I, a Lover by Stiig Holm (translation of Jeg—en elsker, Copenhagen, Stig Vendelkaers forlag, 1965; New York, Dell, 1968)
New English Library 0459-00229-2, 1969, 127pp.

I, a Woman part 2 by Siv Holm (translation of Jeg—en kvinde 2, Copenhagen, 1963; New York, Dell, Mar 1969)
New English Library 0450-00429-5, 1970, 125pp, 5/-. Cover: Photo

I, a Sailor by Morgen Holm (translation of Jeg—en sømand by Otto Mogens, Copenhagen, Stig Vendelkaers forlag, 1966; New York, Dell, Aug 1969)
Mayflower 0583-11792-9, 1970
---- [2nd imp.] 1971; [3rd imp.] 1971; [4th imp.] 1972
---- [5th imp.] 1973, 203pp, 40p. Cover: photo

I, a Teenager by Tine Holm (translation of Jeg—en pige by Tine Sckmedes, Copenhagen, Stig Vendelkaers forlag, 1967; New York, Dell, Nov 1970)
Mayflower 0583-11924-7, 1971, 126pp.
---- [xth imp.] 1973.

I, a Prostitute by Nina Holm (translation, Copenhagen, Stig Vendelkaers forlag, 1967; Dell, 1971)
Mayflower, 1972, 207pp, 35p. Cover: photo
---- [2nd imp.] 1972; [3rd imp.] 1972.

I, Susanne by Susanne Holm (translation of Jeg—en elskerinde, Stig Vendelkaers forlag, 1967; Dell, 1972)
Mayflower 0583-12298-1, 1974, 125pp.

I, a Man by Sverre Holm (translation of  Jeg—en mand, Copenhagen, Stig Vendelkaers forlag, 2 vols., 1965)
Mayflower, 0583-13041-0, 1978, 223pp.

Paperback Cover Cavalcade 13: Jan de Hartog

Jan de Hartog was born in Haarlem, Holland, and ran away to sea at the age of ten. When Holland was occupied by the Nazis, de Hartog wrote and published his first major novel, Holland's Glory, which became a bestselling symbol of the Dutch Resistance, and was banned by the Germans in 1942. In 1943 de Hartog made his way to London and became the correspondent for the Dutch merchant marine. In 1957 he decided to become a permanent resident of the United States. He is a highly successful writer of international repute. His novels include The Distant Shore, The Spiral Road, The Inspector, The Captain, The Peaceable Kingdom and, most recently, The Trail of the Serpent and Star of Peace. Jan de Hartog and his wife live in New Jersey.

Star of Peace
Granada 0586-06573-3, 1986, 431pp, £2.95. Cover by Geoff Hunt

The Trail of the Serpent
Granada 0586-06574-1, 1986, 224pp, £1.95. Cover by Geoff Hunt