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Curators' Picks: January 15 Pulp, Paperback Sci-Fi & Fantasy Showcase Auction
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Sarahjane's Picks
Sarahjane Blum | Director of Illustration Art
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With the popularity of all things late ’90s/early 2000s enjoying a resurgence, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more discussion of Gidget, the chihuahua who for a time served as the mascot for Taco Bell—and who is captured here looking completely unfazed by her presence in the outer reaches of a galaxy far, far away. Created by Greg Hildebrandt as part of his work for a complex tie-in advertising campaign titled Defeat the Dark Side, which linked KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell with the theatrical release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, this piece delights me with its unexpected warmth and time-capsule charm every time I see it.
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Leo & Diane Dillon worked together for decades, creating some of the most evocative and fascinating book art to emerge in the mid-to-late 20th century. Continually challenging themselves to explore new techniques and interpret assignments in unexpected ways, their cover art often served as an entry point into the works within, inviting readers to engage deeply. With their cover for Harlan Ellison’s second collection of television criticism, The Other Glass Teat, they ominously suggest television’s power to infantilize and hypnotize.
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Les Edwards’s ability to capture gritty, vivid conflict that is otherworldly without becoming cartoonish is unmatched, and his partnership with Games Workshop helped define some of the most enduring imagery of Warhammer, as seen in this piece. Confrontation 40k was first published as the cover of an issue of White Dwarf magazine and has since become a touchstone of Oldhammer art.
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Meagen's Picks
Meagen McMillan | Senior Consignment Director, Illustration Art
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Best known for his Magic: The Gathering card art, Kukalis typically balances the playful with the poignant—but Ten Points for Style leans hard into comedy. Early ’90s preppy hair and a pristine white jacket clash gloriously with punk-rock, champagne-sipping creatures, and the result is delightfully ridiculous. Then there’s the dreamboat quietly pickpocketing someone, just in case you thought it was all surface-level charm. Is Ten Points for Style scoring the outfit, the theft, or the attitude? You’ll have to read it to find out.
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Lee Brown Coye is one of my all-time favorite artists, and this piece is a wonderful example of why. Here, his masterful line work and sharp eye for character feel like a clear and affectionate homage to another favorite, Edward Gorey. The contrasting patterns, the parade of absurd yet strangely relatable figures, and even the title—The Man Who Never Grew Young—would sit perfectly beside The Doubtful Guest on a bookshelf. This classic funeral scene feels both gently comedic and utterly inevitable; the viewer can almost hear Coye sighing, "as all funerals are."
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Ezriel's Picks
Ezriel Wilson | Cataloguer, Illustration Art
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I’m always a big fan of the paperback cover art selections in our sales, and this cover for I Married a Dead Man
by Larry Schwinger is point-blank fantastic. Crime writer Cornell Woolrich originally published the tale in 1948 under the pseudonym William Irish, and Schwinger’s work was created for the 1983 reissue of the pulp noir novel. It immediately pulls you back in time, with the bright red Lucky Strike bullseye centered prominently, placing emphasis on luck, concealment, and the power of persuasion. Schwinger’s mysterious blonde woman, rendered in a heavy coat and hat, attempts to conceal her true identity while caught in the spotlight, a wedding band glinting on her finger as she clutches a bag. My favorite detail is the visual echo between the woman’s features and the smiling face in the torn poster. I love the way Schwinger arranges the story’s context clues so
precisely against the sharply rendered background. Strike luck with this one today.
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In this sale, prominent science-fiction and fantasy artist Mark Harrison’s cover for the 2000s novel Dirge caught my attention not only for its vibrant colors and active scene, but also for Harrison’s ability to generate heightened energy through a tilted plane of space. In Dirge,
the central figure crawls away as the planet Treetrunk is overtaken in the background. My real fascination lies with the fantastical clouds rising behind the figure, which make the massive, alien ship–filled sky feel far larger than the rest of the scene. Well known for his ability to create otherworldly environments, Harrison has produced over 480 works for a wide range of covers and dust jackets. Add this compelling Mark Harrison book cover artwork to your collection today.
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Terry Oakes’s 1986 mixed-media work for the UK paperback edition of Michael McDowell’s Southern Gothic horror saga Blackwater 5: The Fortune
is hauntingly good. The piece makes me want to put on my favorite Lana Del Rey song and linger among the Spanish moss. Known for his imaginative and vivid scenes, Oakes excels at hyper-detailed compositions that give every element—creature, character, or landscape—a sense of animation and life. Here, the scene is framed by dense bayou brush, with strong, contrasting beams of light breaking through the trees. The atmosphere feels heavy, controlled by water droplets clinging to the greenery, falling through the gaping mouth of an alligator, and surrounding a female figure moving through the water toward the viewer. The dark depths are impossible to resist.
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Meagen McMillan
Senior Consignment Director,
Illustration Art
MeagenM@HA.com
(214) 409-1546
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Ezriel Wilson
Cataloguer,
Decorative Arts
EzrielW@HA.com
(214) 409-1112
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