Saturday 31 January 2015

Digest Art meets Phantom Books Australia !

Phantom books were printed in Australia from 1951 right up to 1959, they were Crime, Pulp, Sleaze and Murder mystery novels. The artwork was of better quality than the Star covers and some issues are highly prized when found in great condition.

Here I have listed Twins that I own only but there are many more twins that I am still searching for .

FALCON DIGEST / PHANTOM TWINS !

 Same cover , but I prefer the Phantom cover as it is not over powered by the title like the Falcon original !
Woman Hunter has been re-drawn with inspiration from the Falcon original !

Both copies of 'Evil Sleep' are highly prized and collectable, a key drug novel by Evan Hunter !

 Pretty good re-drawing of Howell Dodds 'The Long Night' on this Bryce Walton book 'Hate Killer'

  
Case of the Cancelled Redhead gets some truly great treatment here, The Falcon edition left is pure magic and the Phantom Book runs it a pretty close second !

Two Dagger's of Flesh are better than one ........the fantastic Rudy Nappi art from the Falcon original (left) is copied with very little success on it's Aussie twin.

ECSTASY / PHANTOM TWIN !
When you get to the night you might get some desire so here we have it twice and in both covers the fella looks very very happy!

EXOTIC DIGEST / PHANTOM TWIN !


In America she was a "Tramp" but in Australia just a "Deadly Lover"

ORIGINAL DIGEST / PHANTOM TWIN !
Two gangs, two smoking babes, one a 'Moll' the other just a 'Girl'! great art by Rudy Nappi.

 Two great books with the same cover only the title gets changed!


MERIT DIGEST/ PHANTOM TWIN !

Merit digest book gets the Phantom twin treatment and the Australian holds up pretty well against the USA original/

RAINBOW DIGEST / PHANTOM TWIN !

Same Kiss one for death the other of Fire ! in this case the Australian twin has been badly drawn !

The Rainbow edition the Vice- Cop is bare chested but on the Phantom Johnny Murdock has covered himself up with a pristine new white T-shirt ........must have got a bit chilly !

Bedroom in Hell gets the twin treatment but you'll notice the Phantom edition she seems to be showing a little bit more cleavage than the Rainbow copy!



Other Phantom twins to be found are ;

Farewell To Passion (Original) - How Dead My Love (Phantom)
Sleep With The Devil (Original)
Body & Passion (Original) - Dear Deadly Past (Phantom)









Wednesday 28 January 2015

Digest art meets Star Books Australia !

Star Books were published in Australia from 1953 to 1955 and ran from numbers #201 - 310 then they changed to Star Mystery books from #311-334. They were a digest size book (and published up to 6 issues per month) and used covers and reprinted stories from Cameo, Falcon, Rainbow, Venus, Original and many more . All the art appears to be redrawn (sometimes pretty poorly)

FALCON DIGEST / STAR BOOK TWIN.

Sins of The Flesh ( with art by George Gross) shows a closer aspect of the couple .

Falcon again (Above) and this time it's Whip-Hand with a pretty decent art job on the Australian edition.

Lay Down And Die ....twice ! great art by Howell Dodd gets a re drawing and overall is not to bad .

A 'Sweet Savage' Falcon Book # 38 by Norman A. Daniels becomes a 'Beloved Enemy' by Kermit Welles by Star Books # 252

Slave Girl twin by Tom Roan has been copied pretty much down to the last straw . Falcon Book # 31 and Star Book # 220

RAINBOW DIGEST / STAR TWIN.

Rainbow twin 'Walk The Evil Street' # 111 which was re- titled in Australia as 'Sinister Street' # 216. 

Double Joy Ride joy by Roger Treat ! The George Gross art work on the Rainbow Book # 119 cover has been given a terrible reworking on the Star Book # 218 .

This original Howell Dodd 'Rainbow Book' art has been sympathetically reproduced on this early Star Book!

More Howell Dodd greatness with the Rainbow Books 'Thrill Girl' into the Australian 'So Easy To Love' but she did change her dress between each portrait (which was nice)
 
VENUS DIGEST / STAR TWINS.

She is still on parole ! but a gal needs to change outfits when the parole officer checks up on her !

On the cover art above (by Rudy Nappi) the Girl has had her hair dyed from Red to Blonde and has changed Doctor and now has a society quack to tend all her medical needs !

This Venus book (Art by Raymond Johnson) has been re-titled and re-worked so that she has magically got a new job in the nursing profession, which is nice !

Another Venus twin and again with a change in colour for her clothes. Both books by Peggy Gaddis .

Other Venus re-workings are 'Crossroads Of Desire'

CROYDON DIGEST / STAR TWINS.

This cover art by Lou Marchetti has been dramatically changed from the Croydon book (above) but you can really see where the inspiration came from within the art on the Star Book cover !

Original art again by Lou Marchetti. Here the dress has changed color and she obviously didn't feel much desire in the haunted woods so moved to the waterfront where she didn't feel so strange !

QUARTER DIGEST / STAR TWIN.

The only Quarter Book that I can find that was duplicated as a Star Book and as a re draw they did a great job . Not sure how the same art can be used on 'Three Men and a Mistress' then used on 'Satan's Gal ' !!!

ORIGINAL DIGEST / STAR TWIN.


 Street Of The Blues (Above) with great art by Herb Tauss. In this 'Star' adaptation only her skirt has changed colour from brown to red .                                                                                                                                                '
Star next took a chance on 'Gambler's Girl' with fantastic art by Rudy Nappi. The re draw is not to bad really and the Gambling girl remains a safe bet !

Original titled 'Baby Peddler' gets a new title 'Desperate Lives' in Australia and artwork from the superb 'Al Rossi' original on the left.

Two forever Evils and both looking great, two blondes and two pervy old guys!

CAMEO DIGEST / STAR TWINS

And as if by magic she turns from Nurse to smoking red hot redhead ! original art by Samuel Cherry .

With this Cameo / Star twin (above) the whole artwork (by George Gross) has been re-painted, quite subtle changes but the inspiration is unmistakable if not done very well !

Cameo & Star at the Crossroads with these two twins by Amos Hatter . Artist is unknown but has been redrawn with love .

Two Affairs for the price of one! Cameo # 308 and Star Book # 207 get copied well and even a bit saucier on the Aussie book as they have revealed a bit more ladies bottom on their cover .......nice !!!

Double amounts of Tight Skirts but the sultry brunette is now a red hot blonde! go figure! maybe the artist in Australia could only paint blondes! either way Rudolph Belarski wont be very happy to his original great art!

INTIMATE NOVELS / STAR BOOK TWIN.

Don't you believe that a Mail-Order Passion can turn into a Mail-Order Romance? well here you go!
FIESTA DIGEST / STAR BOOK TWIN.

Only one Fiesta Novel got re-printed in Australia 'Unwanted Wife' art by Warren King !

LES ROMANS AMERICAINS / STAR TWIN.

And finally here is the French cover twinned with Star in 'See No Evil'.




Check out this great and informative website for great scans on Star & Phantom books.
http://www.ausreprints.com/content/main/?group=17116




Saturday 24 January 2015

Digest art meets The Beacons !

The Beacon Book company had a very long run from the late 50's through the 60's, these Beacon Books are strictly paperback and are not really my field of expertise but thought I would show the Digest covers that I own and their Beacon twin counterparts. Beacon used a lot of original art during the run but on occasion they reverted to older art to sell their product and as we know the racier the cover art the more books that sold !

FALCON DIGEST / BEACON TWINS

Right lets start with some great Falcon Book art given the Beacon treatment !




RAINBOW DIGEST / BEACON TWINS

Here you can see she has gone from painting her nails on the Rainbow book cover to having a drink !


'The Twist' by Falcon and 'Shame' by Beacon art has been reversed (below)

And again 'The Twist' gets twisted on Beacon on 'Four Women' (Bottom right corner below)

UNI DIGEST / BEACON TWINS











 Keyhole added to Beacon cover and the gents eye patch has magically gone (must have gone to Spec savers above)
And here again, another 'Keyhole' style art added to Beacon 'Keyhole Peeper' (above)


Below the Slave Ship Captain has been sexed up for the Beacon edition and the slave girl has lost her top but luckily the post has saved her blushes !

QUARTER DIGEST / BEACON TWIN

I own just a single copy from Quarter that has been twinned by Beacon and here it is !

INTIMATE DIGEST / BEACON TWINS









She has gone from a Widow to a Divorcee from Intimate to Beacon (above)!





STALLION DIGEST / BEACON TWIN

You know your woman's gonna cheat when you get replaced by a chair (below)

Below you can see the Ship's Doctor seems to have lost his bag and his arms are in different positions, even the port hole has been covered up !


FIESTA DIGEST / BEACON TWIN



Well that's it, these are all the Digests I own that match with Beacon covers, but there are plenty more out there, you can spot them if you look hard enough, I will keep collecting the Digests and keep matching them with the later Beacons.