What the First Ballantine Printings Looked Like

These two covers, by Gervasio Gallardo, are what Ballantine's original covers were like. These were the 1971 printings of stories and poems.

On Fungi from Yuggoth, the octopuslike thing with a green Hallowe'en masklike face ain't scary. He doesn't look much like a fun guy either (fungi = fun guy, get it? yuk-yuk).
I bet the bug-eyed wingless flying guys were supposed to be Night-Gaunts. But we all know that Lovecraft's Night-Gaunts had leatery, batlike wings, the way he described them.
Of course, I guess one could argue that they didn't use those wings while flying ...

Where Did They Get Such Weird Images?

Here are a couple of more covers from Ballantine's 1970s paperbacks of H.P. Lovecraft's tales.

These are actually Volumes 1 and 2 of Tales from the Cthulhu Mythos, tales wherein other writers took up the burden of the HPL worldview.

The cover artist is listed as John Holmes.

Surely not THAT John Holmes (the dirty movie guy)!

Later printings features art by Russ Titelman, but these by Holmes are the creepiest by far, to me anyway.

Remembering Eitch-Pe-Ell

OK. You're 16 years old and just got your driver's license. You're a book nerd who already read four grades above your "supposed-to-be" reading level, until they ran out of grades above you. You've always liked monsters and Twilight-Zoney stuff.

You go into the bookstore and see paperbacks with covers like these.

Wow! You've found a modern-day (you think) Edgar Allan Poe!

Pretty psychedelic, huh?

These are from the Lancer Books paperback editions of Lovecraft stories.

You can tell the Colours volume reflects the story "The Whisperer in Darkness" inside, and I think it's a pretty sure bet that the Dunwich Horror cover is supposed to reflect Wilbur Whately or his brother.

The next few postings will feature covers from the Ballantine Lovecraft paperbacks.

The Last of the Superman Vitamins Cards

Dang it, I never got ALL 12 of the "set" of promo cards featuring DC headliners that were included in Superman Vitamins.

These are the last two I have. Of the two cards missing, surely Mama Luthor's boy Lex was one of them!

Note that Selina Kyle has reformed and workes as a security consultant. Only in the wild and wacky world of comic books would someone hire a known multiple-offender felon to watch over your interests!

No hard felines! (arr arr arr)