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Comic Book Art Gallery

Hulsey, Wil - GUILTY! - 1959 (Feature Publications)

Hulsey, Wil - GUILTY! - 1959 (Feature Publications)

Regular price $5,295.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $5,295.00 USD
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BOARD: 16 1/2 x 24 1/8

Oil on 1/8" Illustration Board

NOTE: This painting will ship in the custom frame you see in the photo included here. It is NOT an old, cheap frame. It is contemporary but made to look old, by purposely cracking the dried white paint!

This is the original painting published as the cover to the January 1959 issue of GUILTY! digest, and it was also reprinted as the cover for the March 1963 issue. I love the hardboiled Crime Fiction genre, for its depictions of mystery, suspense, jealousy, revenge, and yes, murder! But while the genre more often than not depicts women as the victims in peril, there are far fewer examples that depict the women as the person in power, otherwise known as 'femme fatales' and those are the ones I love most! In this example, I love that the viewer literally gets to peep through the keyhole to witness this scene of utter carnage, but we can only see enough to know that the woman is okay and a male figure is laying next to her. Is he dead? If so, was it premeditated, or self defense? The mystery and suspense here is palpable!

GUILTY! and its companion digest TRAPPED, both specialized in publishing cover art primarily depicting femme fatales, and many of the covers were painted by Wil Hulsey, or other mostly top tier illustrators. Original cover paintings from GUILTY! are incredibly rare, and this is one of only two I've ever seen surface!

Wil Hulsey is a legend, famed for his Men's Adventure magazine covers, especially the notorious "Weasels Ripped My Flesh!" cover for the September 1956 issue of Man’s Life which you can see here for reference, and countless other covers featuring different animals violently attacking humans!

NOTE: The digests and magazine are shown for informational purposes only and are not included with the purchase of the painting.
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