Some
personal highlights, chosen because... they're there
Cover
gallery
The
S.B.L., its regular cast and its "saga" aspects had a
solid following in the days before television viewing had taken
such a hold on Britain's leisure time. Stories which filled in
aspects of the characters' pasts were popular, and even the quality
of the individual authors seemed to be appreciated in some
quarters.
But
to keep the mass sales moving, the covers had to advertise the
contents in the most appealing way, and that meant little
deviation in subject matter from what Viv Stanshall called
"G-men, gals, guts 'n' guns," the staples of the pulp
crime thriller genre.
Within
these constraints the cover artists rang the stylistic changes
fairly widely. These four run the gamut from Romance to S.F. via
glam-noir and Euro-actioner.
"Behind
the gentle murmur of bees in the rose bushes... were ugly
rumours of triple murder!" Art by de Seta
"...and
a beautiful girl walked blithely to meet her killer!"
Art by Bodolfo Gasbarri
"Paris
and the French Riviera in the spring - and a man with a macabre
sense of humour... " Art by Miralles
"Panic
spread when the news got out. There was no escape from the
invisble enemy called atomic radiation!" No
art credit.
