Press Release
Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse Comics announces the publication of Popular Skullture: The Skull Motif in Pulps, Paperbacks and Comics by Monte Beauchamp.
Handsomely designed, this compact art book pays tribute to skull imagery on the covers of comic books, pulp magazines and paperbacks from the 1930s,’40s and ‘50s. For example, on a 1943 cover of the legendary pulp Amazing Stories, a menacing skull hovers in front of a beautiful woman in a peach-colored gown whose hands are outstretched. The title “Priestess of the Floating Skull” radiates from the glowing enchantress and skull, creating an immediate mystery. This cover and more than 150 others make this collection an irresistible page-turner.
Popular Skullture also includes condensed histories of comic-book, pulp magazine and paperback industries by award-winning art director and graphic designer Beauchamp. Former New York Times Book Review art director Steven Heller wrote the book’s foreword that contextualizes the skull as a symbol throughout history.
Beauchamp’s previous book, Masterful Marks: Cartoonists Who Changed the World by Simon & Schuster, was honored by The Boston Globe as one of the best books of 2014.
About the book
Popular Skullture: The Skull Motif in Pulps, Paperbacks, and Comics by Monte Beauchamp
Publisher: Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse Comics Publication Date: November 18, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Price: $19.99
Page Count: 176
ISBN-13: 978-1616555610
About Kitchen Sink Books
Co-founded by cartoonist and underground comics publishing pioneer Denis Kitchen and award-winning graphic designer John Lind, Kitchen Sink Books is an imprint of Dark Horse Comics. Its other titles include the multi-Harvey Award-winning The Best of Comix Book and the new re-release of Harvey Kurtzman’s Jungle Book.