Written by Kim Lindsay, the western pulp Mountain Man is set in the U.S.A., but was published in Australia during the 1950s as part of the American Ranch Romances series. We don’t see much that could be considered romantic about the freaky eyeless cowpoke Stanley Pitt painted for the cover, but since the perspective he used is basically groin-first, maybe we’re not even supposed to be looking at his eyes. That criticism aside, it’s one of the more striking western-themed paintings (of a soul eating demon) we’ve seen, and we’ll have more from American Ranch Romances a little ways down the line.

Pictured below, you see assorted romance pulps from the 1930s and 1940s. These did quite well during the golden age of pulp, and in fact, Ranch Romances was among the last true pulp magazines published, appearing on newsstands until the 1960s. The people who painted these covers remain mostly unknown, but these are some representative examples of the art.