Joseph Szokoli

[dem bones]

" .... Majestic Studios, the art shop begun by Adolphe Barreaux in the late 1920s .... hooked up with Spicy pulp publisher Frank Armer and began knocking out interior illustrations to match the Spicy prose stories .... it can be tough to try and figure out which artist did what piece of art. Of course, since much — if not all of it was coming from an art shop, a lot of the drawings could have been collaborations of one sort or other."
— John Wooley, Dirty Pictures #3. Malibu, June 1991.

One member of the Barreaux stable to regularly sign his work was Joseph Szokoli (1913-1981), a 'Spicy' diehard who stuck with the Culture pulps from their raunchy 'thirties beginnings through their 'forties 'Speed' decline. As with Max Plaisted's work, I can't make up my mind whether I actually like or dislike Szokoli's illo's, though the painted covers attributed to him are attractive.

Robert Leslie Bellem - 30 Seconds: (Spicy Mystery, July 1937)



Justin Case - She From Beyond: (Spicy Mystery, July 1936)



Carl Moore - Death on the Half Shell: (Spicy Detective, Nov 1936)



James A. Lawson - The Werewolf's Bride: (Spicy Mystery, Jan. 1937)

Super Detective, October 1949, March 1947. Covers modified from originals on Hip Comic.com, to whom many thanks.