Number 1464: Tony Gayle’s underwater style

When I first showed this story from Guns Against Gangsters #6 (1949) in 2006, I wrote the following about artist L. B. Cole:

L. B. Cole drew, by his estimation, nearly 1,500 covers in his career. He was a decent artist on these inside continuity pages, but it’s for his covers he’s famous. His ability to make eye-catching poster-like covers sold an awful lot of otherwise mediocre comic books. Except for his loving renditions of sexy Toni, I don’t think there’s much else about this artwork that would send anyone’s pulse racing. But then, maybe that was enough for those readers in 1949 looking for a little something extra for their dime.

“Toni” is Toni Gayle, the lead character for Guns Against Gangsters. Toni is a pin-up in the Bettie Page style. She is so stylish she can swim underwater and come up with dry hair.

And as for the cover, despite, or maybe because of, the silliness of fashion model Toni in high heels fighting a shark, I think it is one of the great covers of the Golden Age.