Frank R. Paul - Father Of Science Fiction Art!

Frank R. Paul is one of the most important artists in the history of science fiction. He was there almost from the outset of the genre as it took shape in the pages of Amazing Stories. His brilliantly colored covers defined the visual style of the genre as it moved from its infancy. He also was called upon to illustrate some of the classic science romances which predated and informed the upstart genre such as War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. You can see above how wonderfully Paul captured the terrible elegance of the Martian war machines. 

Most comic book fans will know Paul from the singularly significant cover he fashioned for the debut issue of Marvel Comics. The Human Torch visualized by Paul on that cover was nothing like the Carl Burgos version inside the comics. Paul's Torch is more demonic, look of devlish glee on his android face as he burns free of his prison. 

Marvel Tales was not the only comic book cover that Paul worked on. But comics were not his chosen arena. His art flourished on the fronts and backs of the science fiction pulps which gave rise to the comic books. Not only are his covers evocative, but his vivid imagination also was given free reign to showcase fantastic images from a speculative future. 

Paul was tapped also to give life and form to imaginary creatures who just might be inhabiting the sundry planets which fill up our solar system. Each of the creatures he dreamed up were singular but no less corporeal. They might not have breathed like we did but they were alive. Below is a gallery. 

By and large Paul's images of the other planets was a peaceful one, an idyllic strikingly colored dream of what might just be possible. These creatures couldn't live really anywhere but in our imaginations but it was Paul who put them there. 

Something as prosaic as ERB's John Carter was given the Paul charge on the cover which debuted new adventures on Barsoom.

There is a nigh endless array of imagery from Paul to fascinate and quicken the mind and imagination. Seek it out. You'll be pleased. 

Rip Off

The Summer Of The Garuda Continues!

That's a sumptuous piece of art Frank Kelly Freas whipped up for the debut issue of Marvel's Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction. I can see why Marvel had the late great John Romita Jr. touch it up. His figures are a bit more realistic, and the lighting effects are sharper. But I still like the Freas original as well. 

This month kicks off the second part of my look at all things UFO and associated things paranormal such as the Mothman. I had planned in the beginning of June to have a lot of comics reading as a part of this, but as I kept adding to my stack of vintage UFO tomes the comics got edged out. 

Some of that slack will be taken up by the tremendous art book Wally Wood - Galaxy Art and Beyond which showcases some of Wood's finest illustrations. 

And also the delightful tome Frank R. Paul: Father of Science Fiction Art. Paul's vivid color art on vintage science fiction magazines defined the field. His stuff can be a bit of its time, but it's always beautiful to behold. 

I will wrap up my look at Jack Katz's The First Kingdom as well. Soon this month we wrap up the vintage material already released in magazine format and told the long saga of Tundran. This month also look to see how Katz polished off his epic saga with two standalone volumes produced for Titan Books. 

I will also be spending this month continuing my look at the dizzy science fiction (science fact?) from Richard S. Shaver. His wild "Shaver Mystery" yarns of underground societies filled with dangerous creatures from times gone by have a real hold on me. They don't always make sense, but they have proven to be a lot of fun. 

And look for a bevy of new movie reviews of classic flickers. The one thing they all have in common is alien invasion. I've talked around many of these movies over the years here, but these will be the first reviews in a strict sense. Lots of cinema and lots and lots of aliens. 

It's another hefty summer month and I haven't mentioned a red, white and blue Fourth of July surprise. 

Rip Off

Ralph 124C 41+!

Ralph 124c 41+ A Romance of the Year 2660 was first written by Hugo Gernsback beginning in 1911 for his Modern Electrics magazine. It wouldn't be a novel until it was first gathered together in 1925 before the genre of "science fiction" was named. Gernsback was the guy who named it in the pages of his later magazine Amazing Stories. I assume most folks know that Gernsback is percieved by many as one founding father of the genre and in honor of that standing the annual award the "Hugo" bears his name. 

The story is the story of a rare intellect named Ralph 124C 41+, one of fifteen genius inventors who poplulate the world and feed the thriving society hungry for new improvements. He is a celebrated man, protected and seen as an asset to the world. As such he is isolated. That isolation comes to something of an end when he saves a young woman named Alice 212B 423 (everyone has these kinds of names) from an avalanche by long distance using his scientific genius and soon she and her father head to the United States to visit him. The two are madly in love and for the first time Ralph thinks of things other than science and inventing. 

But he's not the only one in love with Alice. There is a classic mustache-twirling villain named Fernand and a Martian named Llysanorah. Alice has rejected the unscrupulous Fernand which only makes him more determined and dangerous. Llysanorah knows that the law forbids marriage between Earth folks and Martians and is sorely depressed and eventually quite desperate. Quite a bit of this yarn is taken up describing the wonders of the world in 2660 which is brimming with technological marvels. Gernsback's interest is not primarily in spinning a story, but showcasing the wonders of a possible future paradise of electrical and chemical marvels. But that doesn't mean there isn't a story, you just have to wait for it. 

It gets into high gear when Alice is kidnapped first by Fenand and later by Llysanorah. I will say no more to allow some who want to read it, to learn how all that turns out, but it is safe to say the pursuit of the villains into space by Ralph aboard his personal spaceship is intended to be the rowsing high point of the narrative. The supposed theme of the novel is hidden in Ralph's name, but you have to wait until the last line to learn that. (You can cheat and check out the Wikipedia too if you can't wait.) This is not any means a great novel, some might argue it's not a good one. I rather liked it after I fell into its peculiar rhythm. The personalities of the two lovers are too idealized for anything like real characte development, but if you think of it as a fairy tale it works fine. 

Rip Off

A Martian Odyssey!

I must have read "A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G. Weinbaum at least forty years ago in the Science  Fiction Book Club edition of the first volume of the The Science Ficiton Hall of Fame. So while I remember it being good, I was far enough away from it to enjoy it all over again when I read it again a few weeks ago. And for the first time I read its sequel "Valley of Dreams".  The story is regarded as perhaps the first to deal with interplanetary travel with a degree of realism as opposed to the flights of fancy which had been inspired by Jules Verne and his imitators. There was a degree of scientific rigor applied to the creation of some truly bizarre aliens, the most notable of which is a character named simply "Tweel". 

It's difficult to discuss "A Martian Odyssey" without spoiling its surprises which are the very details of the varied lifeforms humans find on the planet Mars when they mount their first mission there. Suffice it to say that some of that life is friendly or seems so and some of it is deadly dangerous. The two stories are both mostly related to the reader in the past tense when Jarvis, a chemist on the team of four men who descended to the planet's surface finds himself lost. In both stories he is found by his colleagues, the second time in "Valley of Dreams" one of them in tow, and in both stories, he relates what wonders he has seen. The second story builds on the first and answers some questions raised in the first and then does what any good yarn does, raised yet more questions. 

These are stories of speculation in which we see intelligent people grapple with wildly bizarre events and attempt to come to some understanding. Those who are most fixed on their familiar human experiences have the most difficulty making the leaps of imagination needed to comprehend this truly bewildering world of Mars filled with oddball pyramid builders, peculiar canal builders, and critters that offer you all you want just before they kill you utterly. Reading "A Martian Odyssey" I am immediately reminded of later stories of Mars by other authors who seem clearly to have made the journey with Weinbaum and drawn inspiration from it. 

Stanley Weinbaum is exceedingly well regarded in the science fiction community for these stories produced in the 30's before James Campbell and his Astounding crew revolutionized the genre because these tales are precious and few. Weinbaum died just as his career was beginning and only produced a smattering of stories. Clearly much more was on the way. 

Rip Off

Marvel Comics #1000!

I don't buy hardly any new Marvel Comics these days. Most of the line I gave up on decades ago and my last hold out, The Avengers and some related titles fell off the list over a dozen years ago. But I still keep up a bit from time to time with what's going on, when I can figure it out since I know not so many of the new characters and Marvel Comics #1000 was an ideal time and ideal way to get a glance. The fact the book had artwork by some of my favorite veteran talents didn't hurt any at all.

Neat to see new stuff by talents such as Steve Epting, Alex Ross, Chris Weston, Ron Frenz, Walt Simonson and especially George Perez. The book's format was intriguing too, a single page for each creative team to address in some shape form or fashion a significant character or even from across the span of the eighty years. Now truth told some of the "events" seemed not really to rate, but still we get some fun and even at times compelling stuff. Jams like this rarely make much sense overall, but this one took great pains to relate the saga of a black magical mask that has apparently been worn and possessed off and on throughout the ages in the Marvel Universe. Nifty gag that actually allowed the book to at once reach to its roots and point the way forward in the collection's climax.

To check out the many many alternate covers see this link.

Rip Off

The Father Of Science Fiction Art!

I adore this cover from Amazing Stories. It captures the romance and the adventure and the menace of the tripods better than almost any I've ever seen. Most illustrations alas make the machines slow, this one shows their speed splendidly.

I found this vivid and lively artwork on a lovely tome on the discount shelves at my local Barnes & Noble yesterday. Not only does it sport arguably the greatest War of the Worlds art ever, but it's filled to overflowing with images by the great Frank R. Paul.


Paul's art can be quaint today, but he was a certainly a definitive artist of his time. For much more on Paul see this link.

Rip Off