Evolution of Matt Helm novel covers

We just came a Web page that every fan of the literary Matt Helm ought to see. It’s a diagram showing the various version of Matt Helm paperback covers of the stories spun by Donald Hamilton (1916-2006). Some of the books kept to one design during their print runs, but others changed. Among them:

Death of a Citizen: The original had a woman in a slip looking leeringly at the reader. It got revamped a few years later once the series had been established this time with a woman in bra and panties on a bed. Helm didn’t make the cover until a revamped version some time later.

The Wrecking Crew: The second novel debuted with Helm wearing a trenchcoat and carrying a machine gun. Two other versions the cover would later be published.

Also, as the series goes on, he’s drawn to look younger and more of a stud. That’s interesting given he was listed as being 36 years old at the start of the series, which ran from 1960 through 1993. (The Hamilton family is sitting on a last unpublished novel, hoping that a new movie deal will develop that would make this final novel a more marketable property.)

In any case, this is an interesting page. Just click RIGHT HERE to view. To look at a larger image of each cover, just click on it.