GENE BILBREW Peerless Sales 1950s Female Domination

Gene Bilbrew (aka Eneg) is best known for the fetish and bondage illustrations he created for Exotique magazine as well as Irving Klaw's Nutrix publications. One of the rarely seen publications that both he and Eric Stanton contributed to was a series of four-page, comic book like, black & white publications published by Peerless Sales. The series, including over 200 different titles, was published in New York City, mid-to-late 1950s. No details on who Peerless Sales was, however my gut suggests that Stanton may have been the publisher.

The stories were typical masochistic, fem/dom fantasies: busty sadistic females, in tight clothes, lingerie, garter belts, stockings and high heels. They are always ready to dish out what the no account male wanted and deserved! Anyone and everyone was fair game to these "Iron Women" including bartenders, boy friends, husbands, purse snatchers and any guy that was inked into the story with them!

Female characters include: Kitti Kane, Blondetta, Enorma, Big Milly, Lady Bountiful and Iron Woman. This post generated from a collection I purchased recently, marking the first occasion I've had to actually handle these wonderful bits of Bilbrew's work. Not that the male character in the issue of Blondetta (above illustrations) is most likely a depiction of Bilbrew himself.

click any image to enlarge

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JOE SCHUSTER Secret Identity ~ Nights of Horror 1950s

Back in the day, when I and everyone else, knew almost nothing about the underworld of the New York fetish magazine publishers and artists, the covers of Nights of Horror always set raised the question: who was the illustrator? Although always scarce, whenever I had one I would think: "I know who this artist is...but can't make the connection". As years past and connections made with other dealers and collectors there was strong speculation that Joe Shuster, one of the creators of the Superman character of comic book fame, was the illustrator of Nights of Horror. Then in 2009 Craig Yoe's book Secret Identity, The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster was published by Abrams and the story provided, not only to be true, but completely fascinating.

There were sixteen books published in the Nights of Horror series, all illustrated by Shuster. You can find all you need to know here. Recently I purchased a collection of digest sized magazines and although there were no original editions of Nights of Horror there was a reprint of one of the books in the series.  Of greater interest were two additional titles that I am sure were also illustrated by Shuster, but not mentioned in Yoe's book. Posted here are covers plus illustrations from House of Tears, Education in Submission and the House Of Horrors reprint. 

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