Vintage Pulp | Oct 14 2011 |
This cover of Australia’s Adam magazine from October 1963 has a vivid bullfighting illustration for Damon Mills’ short story “Return To Glory,” the tale of a washed up Mexican bullfighter lured back into the ring by the promise of an easy bull, but who instead finds himself trapped with an exceptionally large and dangerous “bragado”. In the story the hero is wounded by the bull but through sheer determination and bravery still wins the fight, and then walks off into the sunset to run a cattle farm with his beautiful girlfriend. Good thing he wasn’t gored like Spanish matador Juan José Padilla, who six days ago didn’t walk off into a sunset, but rather was carted off into a hospital to have his eye removed and his jaw reset (a link here—only for the bravest among you). Regarding the cover art, the girlfriend in “Return To Glory” is brunette, but the artist obviously opted for red hair to echo the color and shape of the matador’s muleta, or cape. Good decision, we think. Eighteen more scans from Adam below.