Tuesday 18 November 2008

Clown in Doodsnood

Here's another of those lazy posts with very little comment, just a whole bunch of images.

In the past we've had a look at fin-de-siècle Czech magazine pulp. How about some mid-century German and Dutch pulp?

These three are genuinely cool covers:





The last two are credited to a W. van der Zwaan, about whom I can find no more information.

Some of the rest of these are pretty groovy, too. You can't help but notice Mickey Spillane and Carter Brown obviously look much the same in anyone's language.














I know it's a low form of wit to make fun of the sound of other languages, but Poppenstel van de Dood and Clown in Doodsnood have a real charm about them. They sound much too friendly to be thrillers.

UPDATE: Dutch commenter IJSBrand helpfully notes that "Clown in doodsnood means 'Clown in death anguish' ... Poppenspel van de dood, I grant you, is a silly book title. I mean, 'Puppet show of death'?"

3 comments:

ijsbrand said...

Clown in doodsnood means
'Clown in death anguish'.

Poppenspel van de dood, I grant you, is a silly book title. I mean, 'Puppet show of death'?

Not only the covers have a distinctly dated look, the Dutch that's used on them has frozen in time as well. The titles were meant to look hardboiled, and instead look a bit childish. Though there are much worse examples than you are showing.

Ian Koviak said...

the 2 ABC publications are absolutely wonderful in every way. What a complete departure in look and feel...

nice finds.

JRSM said...

IJSBRand: Thanks for the translations, which I have added to the post.

Ian: They're great, aren't they? Credit to a W. van der Zwaan, about whom I can find no more information.