Graphic Thrills - American XXX Movie Posters 1970-1985 vols.[1] & 2
(2014 / 2015 - FAB Press)

[Vol.1] (2014) (by Robin Bougie) Not appropriate for children or adolescents. Under a cover of new art by Ben Newman, this book scores a bit better than the volume that follows. Out of 144 pages, you'll find 81 full-page reproductions and another two pulling together multiple images. Being roughly a 10-by-11-inch volume, each featured movie poster takes up the majority of its page, with an inner sidebar taking the opportunity to describe the movie, a particular performer within, or the director. Know that Bougie apparently wasn't much yet tied into the artists (or those knowledgeable about them) so identifications are scanty here, but they are able to be filled in more with info from the later volume. The other half of the book is either the photographic posters or the substantial introduction. While the next volume hews closer to mainstream acceptability, this one features some selections that are just graphic enough to clearly signal putting it away with other adult-only materials. The 'well-presented' artists are: August, Chin Chi, Chet Collom (4), FMA, Ellen Gignilliat (2), Ben Newman, Penelope (2), RSB, Tom Tierney (3), Nancy Villagran (4), and UNKNOWN (62).

Vol.2 (2015) (by Robin Bougie) Not appropriate for children or adolescents. Like the first volume, this one is also a good exhibit of these painted & photographic works. Unlike some of the exhibits in its predecessor, those chosen here seem to have embraced being the public face of these productions, the images meant to leave a lot to the imagination. There's many a suggestive come-on at play, but rarely anything explicit in-&-of-itself. Still, one or two images might be considered as having crossed a line (the subject being too ecstatic, or hands too close to somewhere frowned upon in polite company . . .), so we keep the book hidden away from minors. You'll find here 144 pages (plus another new cover by Ben Newman), of which slightly more than half let an art-piece dominate. Again, each featured movie poster takes up the majority of its page, with an inner sidebar taking the opportunity to describe the movie, a particular performer within, the director, or even sometimes the poster artist themself (e.g. Collum, Gignilliat, Tierney, Villagran, and the mysterious 'Penelope'). The other half is either the photographic posters or the substantial introduction. While most of the artists cannot yet be identified, our list of the 'well-presented' looks like this: Lorraine Alraune, Donald Dean, CC, Chet Collom (11), Olivia DeBerardinis, Rudy Escalera (4), Elaine Gignilliat (5), Tim Guyer, Ben Newman, Pablo, Penelope (3), Paul Rader, Tom Tierney (2), Nancy Villagran (2), and UNKNOWN (38).