GIL COHEN - Inside Out

 

GIL COHEN

Inside/Out

Archive Collection

Edited by Robert Deis & Wyatt Doyle

The Men’s Adventure Library # new texture

135 pgs

 

We first met pulp artist Gil Cohen back in 1968. Then again we didn’t know it at the time. Sound strange? Let’s back track a little bit. We’d returned from Vietnam in the early summer of 1968 after completing our Army enlistment. Once a civilian again, we quickly reverted to our old comic collecting hobby with the intent of someday becoming a pro comic book writer. Now somewhere within the rest of 1968 and the start of 1969, we discovered a new paperback company on the drugstore spinner racks called Gold Eagle. They were offering a new action series called “The Executioner” by writer Don Pendleton. The first volume gave us the history of a Vietnam vet named Mack Bolan who came home to bury his family; a tragedy brought about by a Boston Mafia family. Upon discovering the local police would do nothing to bring the guilty to justice, Bolan took it upon himself to mete it. He became the deadly vigilante known as the Executioner. 

The second paperback in the series came out within weeks of the first and then a third and then a fourth etc. etc. etc. After having devoured that first adventure, we made a point of buying all of them. Soon we were collecting these paperbacks like our Marvel and DC comics. Of course, being a comic fan, we instantly realized Pendleton, in creating Bolan had picked up the mantle of the old 30s and 40s pulp heroes ala the Shadow and the Spider and hundreds of others. Basically, Gold Eagle was giving us “new” pulps, whether folks recognized them as such or not. Within months of the appearance of “The Executioner,” they gave us “Created the Destroyer” by Warren Murphy and Richard Saphir. Another bona fide pulp character, Remo Williams, taking on America’s enemies with the help of an old Korean Martial Artist known as the Master of Sinanju. It was all heady stuff and we loved it. 

We also appreciated the truly stunning and evocative covers, especially those done for “The Executioner” books. They were the work of a veteran pulp artist named Gil Cohen, who, after the old pulps had died out, managed to stay active by doing covers for paperbacks and both covers and illustrations for the then still vibrant Men’s Adventure Magazines (MAMS). Of course, we were sadly ignorant of all this back then; way too busy with getting our comic scripts written, and with a prayer, sold. Eventually all that did happen and by the 1980s were working steadily in the comics field. 

Jump ahead a few more decades. Yours truly, having attended a convention devoted to the collecting of old pulp magazines, convinced pro artist Rob Davis on the insane idea of starting a publishing company to produce new novels and anthologies featuring many of the old, long forgotten pulp heroes that had since become public domain. Thus was born Airship 27 Production. Once up and rolling, we eventually expanded our media footprint by launching a podcast on You Tube where we would promote whatever new titles we had coming out. During one of those episodes, yours truly elaborated a wee bit on how the comics and paperbacks of our modern era were truly the heirs of the old Golden Age pulps. Within a few days of airing that show, we received a rather eye-opening e-mail of criticism by Bob Deis arguing that pulps hadn’t simply jumped from the 40s to the 60s paperback and comic book world. He explained how MAMS were in fact the true descendants of those old adventure magazines and had kept alive their tradition well into the early 1980s, being offered on newsstands right alongside all those comics and paperbacks. 

Of course, he was right and we’d been given a most welcome education. During our next episode, we read Bob’s letter to our followers. Within months of that initial contact, Bob began sending truly amazing books from his new imprint, Men’s Adventure Library # new texture press created by he and his partner Wyatt Doyle. Within those pages, your reviewer soon discovered incredible stories of action and adventure as penned by some of America’s finest writers during the 50s and 60s. Again, veteran pulp scribes who gone to the MAMS after the pulps faded into history. Deis and Doyle didn’t only reprint the stories; they also reprinted the magnificent covers and mind-blowing interior illustrations. Another classic holdover from the original pulp titles. Knowing of our personal love of graphic art, Bob continued to send me more of these wonderful books and so at long last we met Gil Cohen, among many other truly gifted artists. Oh yeah, here was the guy who first introduced us to Mack Bolan. For this reviewer, it all was coming full circle. 

Today Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle are true cultural historians working diligently to keep the history of the MAMS alive for future generations to appreciate. This new volume, spotlighting Gil Cohen’s long career, is nothing short of stunning and breathtaking. If, like this reviewer you are a true fan of graphic art, this book belongs in your library now. It is a glimpsed into a time when true artists wielded their pencils and pens with so much love, their legacy lives on these undying pages. Cohen was one of the best of the best.

MAQ # 14

 

MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY Issue # 14

The Bigfoot Issue!

Edited by Robert Deis & Bill Cunningham

Subtropic Productions, LLC.

151 pgs

 

Editors Bod Deis and Bill Cunningham are at it again in this truly wonderful, wonky and fun edition of their series highlighting the gems of past Men’s Adventure Magazines (MAMS). In this issue, these intrepid cultural historians take on one of the most popular urban myths of the past decades, the supposed “missing link” in the evolution of man known throughout the world by such names as the Yet, Sasquatch and Bigfoot. Each article, story and interview collected within the pages of this colorful issue are both fun and oddly intriguing. Even for a skeptic such as this reviewer. 

Of all the pieces, our favorite is easily the in-depth look into role the myth was revealed in a popular sci-fi TV series of the sixties called “The Six-Million Dollar Man,” starring Lee Majors. His encounter with a Bigfoot in forest wilds proved to be one of the most exciting and well received episodes ever produced. Enough so that the creature, portrayed by the late pro-wrestler Andre Giant, would return for several sequel story lines, all to the delight of the viewers. Reusing comic artist Earl Norem’s was also a smart move. 

Comic pro Stephen Bissette was a bit long-in-the-tooth discussing all the movies on this theme. Though we are sure cinefiles will appreciate that greatly. We enjoyed his interview with fellow writer Steve Niles. As for stories, “I Sighted the Yeti Monster That Terrorized Illinois” was a hoot. We’d never heard of this so-called Big-Muddy Bigfoot before. Proven, as ever, each issue of this series always has something for everyone. You really should give it a try.

THE BLACK SEAM

 

THE BLACK SEAM

A George “Magpie” Collins Mystery

By Len Driscoll

Glowing Eyes Media

110 pages

 

In this second Magpie Collins novel, the post-World War II gumshoe is hired by a psychiatrist named Eleanor Whitman who is being blackmailed. Whitman, in treating the son of a wealthy mining tycoon, Charles Ashford, is employing experimental techniques that might be considered both unorthodox and illegal. Her patient, young Robert Ashford had been dealing with severe post-traumatic syndrome after a mining operation he was supervising collapsed and killed five men. Enough so that he committed suicide unable to live with his part in the tragedy. 

Collins, in the course of his investigation, learns that Robert, while under Whitman’s care, had begun to suspect the actual cave-in had been orchestrated by his own father to silence those miners complaining about the lack of safety features in particular tunnels. To that end, Ashford senior, concerned his son’s accusation might become public, coerced Whitman to alter the lad’s mental health and derail his suspicions. 

It’s a tangled web woven by a soulless man unwilling to relinquish his power and prestige, even at the cost of his own son’s life. Once again, Collins wonderfully displays the Australian settings to perfection, dramatizing the frontier atmosphere of the outlying hills away from metropolitan cities such as Sydney. The story is suspenseful, well plotted with some truly memorable characters. At the heart of which is Magpie’s own obsession with truth and justice daring to challenge the powerful regardless of the cost. Once again Len Driscoll has given us a really good tale well worth your attention and support.