L.B. Cole’s Wild Science Fiction Blue Bolt Covers, Up for Auction

Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Blue Bolt, l.b. cole, pre-code horror

L.B. Cole’s science fiction and horror covers on Star Publication’s Blue Bolt run are a spectacular example of his cover work.

With the heat turning up on the comic book industry in 1948, Curtis Publishing, who published comics via their Novelty Press imprint, had found themselves getting caught up in the controversy over the industry during that period.  Best known as the publisher of the Saturday Evening Post and Ladies Home Journal, Curtis decided to throw in the towel on comic books by 1949, selling their titles and inventory to Star Publications, a company formed by L.B. Cole and lawyer Gerhard Kramer.  Star Publications continued Curtis titles including 4Most, Dick Cole, Frisky Fables, and most famously Blue Bolt.

It took Cole a few months to figure out how he wanted to handle repackaging this material this material, and you can see the evolution of his process from Blue Bolt #102 onward through the next few months.  As he entered the peak period, he would often create covers that were simply evocative of the feeling of the material in that issue, rather than directly illustrating a particular story as he often did later on.  Throughout this run, Cole brought his unique cover design sense to the science fiction themes of Blue Bolt to spectacular effect, and the Star Publications portion of the Blue Bolt run is highly sought after.  There are copies of two of the best of these covers in Blue Bolt #107 and #108 up for auction in the 2024 May 30 Adventures in the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40261 at Heritage Auctions.

L.B. Cole’s development as an artist provided him with the sort of work experience that balanced artistic, commercial, and technical concerns. Born in 1918 in the Bronx, New York City, Cole went to work in his grandfather’s cigar factory in the early 1930s, soon becoming interested in the label design aspect of the business. By the mid-1930s, Cole joined the art/design staff of Consolidated Lithographing Corporation, by that time the largest printer of cigar bands and boxes in the world.

That background would serve Cole well for what would come next. By 1943, Cole was working for Louis Goodman Ferstadt, whose studio provided art for a variety of publishers including DC Comics, Quality, and Ace.  The Ferstadt studio also employed Harvey Kurtzman.  Ferstadt was also a noted painter and muralist, and his comic book style is a clear influence on Cole’s style.  Of his approach to cover color and design, Cole would say: “I was always oriented toward newsstand sales, and these stylized covers drew readers. There was a riot of color out there on the stands and I figured something had to be done to catch the buyer’s eye. Take a look at most of the other books: they’re all done in a linear technique. All of the super-heroes… were a mass of figures kicking and punching and they all looked the same.”

But L.B. Cole’s covers did not look the same.  They stood out among the riot of color on the newsstands, and through the course of American comic book history, and here are copies of two of the best of his Blue Bolt covers in Blue Bolt #107 and #108 up for auction in the 2024 May 30 Adventures in the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40261 at Heritage Auctions.

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