Friday, October 28, 2016

A Final Seasonal Post: My Favorite HPL Mythos Covers

WARNING: DONE ON TABLET IN BAR WATCHING LUMINOUS MRS. V'S BAND, SO IT'S TOTALLY UNEDITED

One of the main themes here this year has been the awfulness of contemporary book covers versus the awesomeness of old covers. That hasn't really been a thing with HPL Mythos covers. While, I love the old Arkham House covers, they're not the only good ones. So, here goes. Happy Halloween!

These are the Arkham House covers I grew up with. My local library (where I worked during all four years of high school), was blessed with two amazing librarians who always got the best books. Finding these, in the back left corner if I remember correctly, was mind-blowing. 

The first three are by Lee Brown Coye. An artist left adrift by the advent of abstract impressionism, he sees to have found his true muse when he started illustrating for August Derleth.

The fourth one is by one of my favorite cartoonists (and a terrific author to boot), Gahan Wilson. He did the now-banned HPL bust for the World Fantasy Award. If you don't know his stuff you should correct that.


These covers are by Murray Tinkelman. I'm not sure what especially attracts me to these. Perhaps, it's the delicate penciling, maybe it's just the monster. Probably the monsters. The thing tying these covers to the Brown ones and the following ones, is they are clearly the product of an artist's hand. As much as I hate photoshopped covers, I love these




Finally, this trio of UK covers by Tim White. Graphic, gory, and wild. I only had the middle one, which I only bought to have some HPL to read between classes one day. 


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