I have a classic science fiction magazine cover calendar, and for two weeks I’ve been looking at the cover of Future combined with Science Fiction for October 1941*. I love the old SF and fantasy covers, but this one is profoundly weird and silly:
http://www.rimworlds.com/magazinessinglecovers2.htm#futurecombinedwithsciencefiction
It apparently illustrates Ray Cummings’ The Man on the Meteor (Cummings is the guy who gave us The Girl in the Golden Atom, the classic “atom-is-a-solar-system” story), and is by noted illustrator Hannes Bok, who must have been suffering from artist’s block or something. Or else he was forced to illustrate this image from the story by forces beyond his control. It features what i imagine is out titular hero, the man on the meteor, escaping with what appears to be our heroine, decked out in Hindu Cool, on the back of a weevil from kangaroos armed with slingshots riding flying Devo hat/pushpins against a background of the meteor’s own green Grand Canyon. Exactly how the weevil is flying isn’t clear to me, since it has no wings. But it’s not clear to me how the Devo hats are flying, either, except that they’re evidently powered by steam, judging from the smokestacks. He’s fighting them off with a ray gun shaped like my old Boy Scout flashlight. Or possibly a can of Mace.
It looks decidedly interesting and possibly exciting, but also really, really silly.
I haven’t read this story It first appeared in 1924 (when, possibly, this wouldn’t have seemed as odd) and was reprinted in this issue in 1941. The only other time it appeared, and the only time in my lifetime, it was apparently serialized in the back of 14 of the Perry Rhodan books. I didn’t even know they did that, and wouldn’t have been caught dead reading Perry Rhodan, in any case. My only hope, if I want to find out what the hell is going on, is to pick up a used edition. I see on the internet that this issue is going for about $15 - $25.
Old science fiction cover art is quite something, isn’t it?
The guy taken by the fish-folk is probably wishing it would had been greys instead, at least they do the anal probing on a very professional and aseptic way.
The guy being squeezed by the giant blue hand on the last image doesn’t seem to like it neither, but the girl next to him since to enjoy it just a bit too much.
If I read the cover right, that’s supposed to be illustrating H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow over Innsmouth, so the cover is misleading and inaccurate and gives too much away. You’d think they could be subtler and still lure the audience in.
Still, looking at it divorced from the story, it’s a freaky cover.
And, yeah, I’ve visited the Tales of Future Past site long before now. But I’m familiar with old SF cover art from way back.
I’ve got that same calendar, and I agree, that’s a pretty durned odd cover. I like the calendar overall, though it could use more giant Land Ironclads.
Of course, everything could use more giant Land Ironclads.
That cover illustration of a woman on jet-propelled skis seems to be illustrating Henry Kuttner’s I am Eden. That’s be my guess from the prominent placing of the title (although the Vance title, in constrasting white, is almost as much of a stand-out), and is the implication of the piece on page 15 here:
http://efanzines.com/FR/fr01.htm
If so, you’d need the original magazine to find out what’s going on. As far as I can tell, it only appeared in the December 1946 Thrilling Wonder Stories and was never reprinted:
I do own the magazine, but it’s in a box somewhere… All I remembered was that it wasn’t the Vance story (which was why I bought it originally, as a big Vance fan)
My girlfriend scanned the cover and customised a blank mousemat as a present for me…
