Category Archives: new english library

books, exploitation books, horror, new english library

The Horror of….the New English Library Book Covers (70’s and 80’s)

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New English Library paperbacks. The penny dreadful of the 70’s and 80’s, the B Movie of the book world. Those well known residents of car boot sales, charity shops and landfill. The yellowed pages, with the first page marked in the top right corner with a 5p / 10p/ 25p value. The cracked and worn spines, the smell of mildew, the forlorn look of neglect. What NEL lacked in sophistication, they made up for in their cover presentation. While some covers explicity advertised the contents, others were a bit more obtuse. TWLB presents a small selection of some of the NEL horror back catalouge;

 

crossed, new english library, origin of the crossed?, proto crossed

Inspiration for the Crossed – the New English Library???

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The first series of Crossed finishes this week. I say series – it was due to last for one nine issue run, but Avatar have decided that this uplifting tale of Brotherhood, Solidarity, the Milk of Human Kindness and World Peace* has legs, and like the lucky / unlucky few of the non-Crossed throughout the series, it can run. But I digress. This is merely to point out while looking through some New English Library paperback covers, I came across the origin of Garth Ennis’ warped and terrifying creations! Look!

The Proto-Crossed.

The Crossed.

They both have their ‘qualities’, shall we say. I think the Crossed win the scary competition just because I know they are bloody relentless, despicably cruel and vilely inventive in their tortures and evil. And they have amongst their racks, one called horsecock. He has that name for a reason other than you may think. It is because he uses a horse cock as a bludgeon. Those proto-crossed also have something of the night about them, and something of the zealot.

Anyway, looking forward to the finale to Crossed ‘Season 1’. And if you are wondering what Garth Ennis makes of all of this sequel stuff, you may find an answer (diplomatic? truthful?) here;

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/16/interview-garth-ennis-talks-about-crossed/

*Again, when it comes to Crossed, I take the piss. Crossed is anything but uplifitng.