Bob Haberfield.

Ah, Bob Haberfield.  I remember, way back in the day, I would take the bus up west to St. Anne's Court, just off Wardour Street, my pocket money burning a hole in my pocket, to Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed.  It was an amazing shop, a place unlike any other that I had ever seen before, a magical kingdom of superheroes, barbarians and martian princesses, super king-size rolling papers and black light majesty. I bought my first bong at Dark They Were; it was a plastic Foy pipe, bearing the legend the only thing wasted is you.  I discovered Solomon Kane and Logan 3 at Dark They Were.  I bought Howard the Duck # 1 at Dark They Were.  

 And I bought my first Michael Moorcock book at Dark They Were.  It was the Mayflower paperback edition of The Final Programme, with it's crazy way cool Bob Haberfield cover.  I can't even begin to adequately put into words the impact that my introduction to Jerry Cornelius had on me.  That book changed my life.  And I don't mean that in that twee over-statement kinda way that we're all prone to, from time to time.  The Final Programme genuinely changed the way in which I viewed the world around me, it opened up to me a whole new world of ideas and possibilitied in a way that no other book had ever done before and would never do again. 

And, of course, it set me on the Moorcock road.  The week after I bought The Final Programme, I returned to Dark They Were and picked up copies of A Cure For Cancer, The English Assassin, and The Condition of Muzak.  I read all three over the following week, and returned to discover Hawkmoon and The RuneStaff, then again for Elric and Corum, for Count Brass and Karl Glogauer, then again and again. 

Once, I saw Moorcock himself in the shop, but I was far too shy to approach him, and I regret that I never had the gumption to go up and speak to him, even now, after all these many years.  But, then, you know, I was a kid, and what on Earth do you say to Michael Moorcock, anyway?  " I think you're great? "  Hardly.

Anyway, here's a wee selection of Bob Haberfield's covers for Michael Moorcock paperbacks, skanked from over at the Multiverse Gallery.