Posts Tagged ‘Pulp Art’

This week we’re going to depart from the black and white interior art and look at a few Canadian versions of Super Science Stories and some its variant titles. These covers are bit less common than the usual American editions, and that may be because there is was no American counterpart for these issues. They contained mostly reprints from various magazines. Some of the covers were reused from other magazines, but mostly they were new to these Canadian magazines. The Wikipedia entry for Super Science Stories explains quite well the whole publishing history of this pulp.

Super Science and Fantasy Stories - October 1945

Super Science and Fantasy Stories - August 1945

Super Science Stories -- October 1944

Super Science and Fantasy Stories -- April 1945

From December 1944--Cover reprinted from a Famous Mysteries Stories

The Weirdest Cover of them All from Super Science June 1945

Amazing Stories - September 1927

Frank R. Paul could be called the father or grandfather of Science Fiction art. He is the first artist of the science fiction magazine genre. He painted the cover and did the interior of the first issue of the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories in 1926, and stayed busy into the 50s. His cover art, which I only show one example, are wonderfully colorful to the point of garishness. But this is pulp art and garishness in not such a bad thing. His knack was creating technological machines. His weakness, in my opinion, was humans. They are all very generic and conventional. So I tried to favor the interior art that was more technologically inclined.

The Isotope Men - Wonder Stories 8-33

The Cosmic Horror - Wonder Stories 8-33

Castaways On Deimos- Wonder Stories 8-33

The Man Who Awoke- 6-33

Gullivar 3000 A.D. - Wonder Stories 5-33

The Wreck of the Asteroid - Wonder Stories 2-33

Weird Tales-December 1937 cover by Finlay

Last week we looked at an all Lawrence issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries. Today I decided to do a similiar all Virgil Finlay issue.

Weird Tales – December 1937

I just read the title story and I can say the cover accurately illustrates the cover. This chick couldn’t get naked enough in this story. But Weird Tales stories are only sexually implicit  vs. being sexually explicit. Check out the wonderful interior, all by Finlay. And, yes, click on the thumbnails to appreciate the artistry.

The Sea Witch

Flames of Vengence

A Wine of Wizardry

Fane of the Black Pharaoh - story by Robert Bloch

The Black Stone Statue - very surreal

The Child of Atlantis

The Voyage of the Neutralia

A new stack of Famous Fantastic Mysteries and Fantastic Novels Magazine via eBay

Picked up a bunch of low-grade Famous Fantastic Mysteries and Fantastic Novels Magazines on eBay. The covers are pretty rough but the interior art is still beautiful after a little Photoshop processing to turn those tans and grays back to black and white.

Famous Fantastic Mysteries, June 1946

Let’s look at the art of a single issue. The issue features a novel called The Undying Monster by Jessie Douglas Kerruish with one short story called The Novel of the Black Seal by Arthur Machen.

Lawrence Sterne Stevens

The art is by Lawrence Sterne Stevens who just went by the single moniker of Lawrence. His paintings are great, but I think his interior art is even better.

From June 1946--Cover art also by Lawrence--creepy

The Undying Monster-- Title Page

The Undying Monster

The Undying Monster-Almost my favorite

The Undying Monster-click this thumbnail--Amazing!--yes, my fav from this ish.

The Undying Monster

The Novel of the Black Seal - not really a novel, just a short story

The Door Beyond, art by Humiston (Weird Tales, May 1949)

What’s Wrong With My Brain?

Take a walk on the psychically wild side with these lost weird wonders of the past.

 

Deep Freeze, art by McCauley (Imagination, January 1953)

Voyage to Eternity, art by Calle (Imagination, July 1953)

All the Answers, Artist unknown (Science Fiction Quarterly, August 1952)

Voyage to Eternity, art Calle (Imagination, July 1953)

Between Worlds, art by Finlay (Fantastic Novels Magazine, July 1949)

The Metal Chamber, art by Finlay (Weird Tales, March 1939)

The Flying Legion, art by Lawrence (Fantastic Novels Magazine)

The Opal Necklace, art by Summers (Fantastic, June 1952)

“Just Call Me Lawrence”

Lawrence Sterne Stevens, son of a preacher of the same name, signed his work just “Lawrence”. The art directors and publishers who commisioned his work must of felt they were getting their money’s worth. For craftsmanship and technique he can’t be beat. But let’s not ignore the artistry. I think we can call him a master artist. He certainly used a lot of ink. His color painting were fantastically great too! Here are some interior black and white work I’ve recently scanned and cleaned up for your perusal.

And click on the thumbnails to really appreciate the works.

Gift of Zar from Other Worlds, June 1955

The Flying Legion from Fantastic Novels Magazine, January 1950

The Flying Legion from Fantastic Novels Magazine, January 1950

The Flying Legion from Fantastic Novels Magazine, January 1950

The Torch from Fantastic Novels Magazine, April 1951

The Second Deluge from Fantastic Novels Magazine, July 1948

The Middle Bedroom from Fantastic Novels Magazine, March 1948

Finis from Fantastic Novels Magazine, July 1948

Classing the Joint Up

Love that Woo-Woo! by H.W. McCauley (Imagination, Sept. 1953)

The pulp covers were rather discrete about nudity on their covers. After all they did not want a news stand vendor hiding their magazines under the counter. But occasionally they would allow some nudity to get into the interior art. This Monday’s Lost Art will focus on some of that inner beauty. From the sublime to the cheesecake. Don’t forget to click on the images.

Temptress of Eden, Art by Emsh (Future SF, April 1959)

Jonah and the Venus Whale--Artist unknown (Other Worlds, June 1955)

Temptress of Planet Delight by Frank Kelly Freas (Planet Stories, May 1953)

The Ship of Ishtar by Finlay (Fantastic Novels Magazine, March 1948)

Terror Out of Space, Art by Terry (Imagination, July 1954)

The Stilled Patter by Stallman (Infinity, June 1956)

Other Worlds, 9-1951 Cover Art by Jim Settles

Other Worlds featuring Ed Cartier

For this Monday’s Lost Art series we’re going to look at the art of a single issue. Other Worlds Science Stories lasted for 46 issues. The fiction was usually not that great, but they had some top notch illustrations. This issue from September, 1951 features some really nice art from Ed Cartier. Lets take a look:

Down in the Misty Mountains (1 of 3) art by Ed Cartier

Down in the Misty Mountains (2 of 3) art by Ed Cartier

Down in the Misty Mountains (3 of 3) art by Ed Cartier

The Witness by Ed Cartier (I love this one)

A Word From Our Sponsor--Art by Ed Cartier

I came across some beautiful art from the Pulp era that’s not usually featured at the pulp cover sites. Since I started the Lost Art series, I’ve been coming across some less than typical pulp art. John Jos. Miller’s Creature Feature at CheeseMagnet.com features pulp art postings every Friday. Some very cool art there too! His latest entry gives an overview of Film Fun with many examples like this one:

Pulp Spice plus Art Noveau makes this cover by Enoch Bolles irresistible.

I generally think of Pulp Art gracing the covers of fiction magazines. But sometimes I forget that many of the same artists worked for the non-fiction magazines like Film Fun.

Be sure to check out Cheese Magnet for a lot of retro fun and coolness too.

Hold a Laser Blaster to My Head

The Lighthouse from Fantastic, January 1953

“Name your favorite artist! Just one and do it now or I’ll burn your brains to overcooked porridge.”

If you held a laser blaster to my head and told me to name my favorite illustrator, I’d have to say Virgil Finlay, and then I’d say, “Cool, where didja’ get a laser blaster?”

So here’s eight Virgil Finlay illustrations. Some of these might be found in hard to find books or on websites somewhere. But I’d think many of these have not been republished and seen in 50+ years. Hence the “Lost Art” series.

And don’t forget to click on the thumbnails to fully enjoy them.

You’ll find hidden faces in the “Six and Ten Are Johnny” images too.  How many can you find?

Six and Ten Are Johnny from June, 1962 issue of Fantastic

Six and Ten Are Johnny, Fantastic June 1952

The Man Who Mastered Time from Fantasic Novels Magazine

Vibrators of Space, uhmm really it's "A Planet For Plundering" from Galaxy, April 1962 (2 page spread)

The Albino Otter from Fantastic Novels Magazine 7-1949

The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt from Fantastic Novels Magazine --sheer awesomeness!

Podkayne of Mars by Robert Heinlein from the March, 1963 issue of If