Margaret Brundage's 'The Witch's Mark' – Weird Tales January 1938
More provocative than even her notorious 1933–1935 Conan covers, this Margaret Brundage pastel exemplifies the peak of Weird Tales' sensationalist cover strategy under editor Farnsworth Wright. A voluptuous, flame-haired woman barely draped in silken cloth sits in the grip of a cadaverous, cloaked hag, both surrounded by swooping bats against a twilight sky. Illustrating Dorothy Quick's 'The Witch's Mark,' the composition fuses Gothic horror with soft-focus glamour in Brundage's unmistakable, silky pastel technique.
A nearly nude redhead menaced by a leering cadaverous witch with bats wheeling overhead — Brundage weaponized sex and horror together in a combination that made Weird Tales the most controversial pulp on the stand. This cover would have been snatched from the rack immediately.
“JANUARY Weird Tales January, 1938 25¢ Vol. 31, No. 1 The Witch's Mark By DORATHY QUICK Seabury Quinn Edmond Hamilton Vennette Herron WEIRD TALES”
