Still More Love for “Deadly Dames”

This morning brings a very fine review, by Australian novelist/pop culture critic Andrew Nette, of The Art of Ron Lesser Volume 1: Deadly Dames and Sexy Sirens, a book to which I contributed an extensive interview with the artist; it was published this last May. Of that gorgeously illustrated tribute, principally edited by Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, Nette writes:

The Art of Ron Lesser Vol 1: Deadly Dames and Sexy Sirens looks at the career of one of the giants of postwar pulp illustration and a man who is still alive and painting. The paperback covers he did for the Gold Medal editions of John D MacDonald’s novels and Dell’s Johnny Liddell series, are probably his best known work. But he contributed many other paperback covers, as well as movie posters and magazines. The Art of Ron Lesser Vol 1: Deadly Dames and Sexy Sirens not only beatifically showcases some of Lesser’s stunning artwork, it executes a deep dive into the mechanics of his career and the economic and cultural forces that influenced it. There is a detailed interview with Lesser conducted by Pierce. The book also sheds some much welcome light ... on the people who were vital to the appeal of pulp paperback cover art but who have until recently been erased from its history, the cover models, including Lesser’s wife, Claudia Lesser, and Elaine Reynolds and Lisa Karen.

Also critiqued in Nette’s piece are a couple of other 2023 releases: The Trials of Hank Janson, by Steve Holland and Adam Rowe’s “simply sumptuous Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s.

Click here to enjoy all of Nette’s observations.

READ MORE: “The Lovely Ladies of Lesser’s Life,” by J. Kingston Pierce (Killer Covers).