Whitechapel - Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-28T13:27:19-08:00

I love pulp covers. Ideally, ones before 1940. This is a Leo Morey -- here's some of his b/w illustration too.

All these people, working flat out to invent the future...

Show me some of your favourites.

-- W

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-28T16:34:24-08:00

Amazing Stories, December 1927 , by Frank R. Paul.
I think it's from "The Country of the Blind" (H. G. Wells), presented inside.

also:

Amazing Stories, April 1928 , by Frank R. Paul.
from: "A Story of the Days to Come" (H. G. Wells)

Found them: here

It's in French , but you won't need the language...

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-28T16:56:24-08:00

Two more:

Amazing Stories, March 1935 , by Leo Morey.
I think it illustrates the story: "Earth Rehabilitators, Consolidated" [Part 1 of 2] by Henry J. Kostkos.

The words future and luxury come in mind...

also:

There is a sense of authority (or identity) about that one... and Doc Sleepless...

Amazing Stories, September 1928, by Unknown.
(It served as "badge" on the lower corners of Amazing Stories: December 1928, January - March 1929.)

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-28T17:31:48-08:00

I loved the fusion of fascist iconography and art nouveau in that last one.

Someone needs to put that logo on armbands....

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-28T20:54:49-08:00

Wow, I love that badge.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-29T14:57:14-08:00

Nice covers you posted, Periklis. I like Frank R. Paul, that "eyeball" cover you posted is fantastic.

Here's another one from Paul:

Here's the source of that pic and the site has many more Paul covers.

Paul also did what has become one of the most well-known sf pulp covers: August 1928 Amazing Stories, the pulp which has the first Buck Rogers story (although the cover isn't Buck Rogers).

He is also known in vintage comics circles for doing the cover of the very first Marvel comic book.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-29T17:38:17-08:00

Mark, thank you for your kind words & the GREAT ! link. Paul's "Science Wonder Stories" covers are amazing!

Here's a couple more from Paul, Amazing stories December 1928 & Amazing stories March 1929. Apart from the similar motif, notice the "badge" in the corners. Maybe it was Paul who did the September 1928 Cover uncredited...

I love the "flying menace" on that one.

I think that one justifies The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction quote: " [...]FRP's style shows his architectural training; his cities and technology are lovingly detailed, his aliens well thought out and plausible, but his human figures stiff and simplistic. His colours were bright (almost garish, even for the period) and flat, and he liked pure reds and yellows, particularly as backgrounds[...] " here

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-29T20:28:44-08:00

I love everything this cover suggests...

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-29T20:36:54-08:00

The future we were supposed to get is always so much better than the one we were given. Of course, some people aren't satisfied with that and try to make the retro future happen. McFly 2015.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-29T20:41:44-08:00

Probably not the type you're going for, but I've always loved this one:

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-29T21:50:41-08:00

I just love the word "Scientifiction." That should never have gone away.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-29T23:34:02-08:00

This makes me think of when I saw the new cut of Blade Runner a few weeks ago, about how even though 2019
is still twelve years ahead and we don't have replicants or offworld colonies, the movie shows an incredibly retro future with its Atari 5200 level computers and hour trappings. It's like a splinter future, a digression, and that's a big part of what made it so interesting to see in that glamorous old movie theater, giving it the official status of Classic Old Movie. I just can't think of any other SF I've seen that deserves that much prestige. I'd like to think that all of these old paperback covers represent similar futures, particularly the ones set in like 1982 or whatever.

As an aside, I read today that the Deutsch version of Philip K Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch was called LSD ASTRONAUTEN.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-30T02:39:46-08:00

Not what you want, but look at the juxtaposition there! Lovecraft and idyllic fantasy countryside.

Otherwise, the covers that I really like are this

I don't think any pulp covers beat those linked. The aesthetic is just marvelous.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-30T03:13:13-08:00

I was doing a search for pulp magazines, as I'm always interested in pulpy things, such as these covers, and I'd like to get a hold of some of these books to read in and have, but I saw this one and it just jumped out at me.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-11-30T15:47:18-08:00

The intention was there :

October, 1938

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-12-01T09:05:38-08:00

Ethan : oh, my.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-12-02T11:15:27-08:00

Norman Saunders - April, 1935. This is one of a long series he did for Modern Mechanix & Inventions during the 30's. They're some of my favorite retro-future visions. Saunders did pulp fiction covers too, but mostly for other genres. Much later on he painted the "Mars Attacks!" trading cards.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-12-02T16:28:28-08:00

If your in Connecticut the New Britain Museum of American Art is Holding an exhibit on pulp art going on until Dec. 30.
http://www.nbmaa.org/exhibitions/current.html

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-12-02T18:25:37-08:00

Bradley - thanks for posting that, I'd never heard of the magazine but what a great title. Fantastic cover art also:

Modern Mechanix cover gallery (scroll down a bit to get to the Modern Mechanix stuff)

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-12-02T20:47:03-08:00

My pleasure completely. The one I posted is one of a series I retouched for one of my commercial sites - I bought up a bunch of the issues a few years ago, and the interior layouts are also pretty wonderful.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-12-04T18:35:44-08:00

All of these are awesome.
I had totally forgotten I read some really pulpy SF that I guess was for young kids in the 50's. (edit: apparently, published from 54-71) here's one of the covers of the one I remember reading most clearly:

The website's description of the cover confirms what I remember about it:

The cover of this book is, at first glance one of the better ones in the series. It depicts Tom Swift working away at a large control board controlling Owell, just what he's doing is not apparent, but it looks important and exciting. After reading the book, however, I realized that the cover made absolutely no sense....And what are those bright colors coming off the top of the Wing? ... It just doesn't make any sense.

I read this one too and I remember spending a long time just looking at the cover when I was like 4 or 5 and trying to figure out just what the fuck was going on...
What's with the screens along the inside curve? Why is it shaped like that? Is it going into the water? Why not take one of those rockets behind them on the lake shore? those look way more awesome.
Also, What is a Polar-Ray Dynasphere? is that even a sphere at the end there? Is there a sphere anywhere? a decade and a half later, they remain unanswered.

If you're curious there's way more information that even I want here.

Thanks for sparking a trip down memory lane.

I loved the fusion of fascist iconography and art nouveau in that last one.

Someone needs to put that logo on armbands....

Seconded.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2007-12-04T18:55:54-08:00

Unfortunately you can't see it very well, but the caption is "Submarine-Land Dreadnaught!"

The fact that this was in the precursor to Popular Mechanics makes it all the more fascinating - this was really what people thought the future of warfare and industry would be like.

I think we ought to start a movement to bring the term "scientifiction" back.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-18T17:14:42-07:00

" alt="doc savage and tarzan fight in the nude" />

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-18T17:20:10-07:00

I love that book.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-18T17:20:40-07:00

You can't beat a dame with lotsa shooters...

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-18T18:30:23-07:00

My brother scarred me for life when I was but a teen by handing me a copy of A Feast Unknown. 'Sprobably why I'm here.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-19T02:04:04-07:00

gotta love this suit!

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-19T10:01:22-07:00

These covers remind me of the Choose Your Own Adventure books. I'd go to the library every two weeks and grab as many as I could carry, based on the covers alone.

Here's more: http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series_images.php?id=30

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-19T14:03:16-07:00

Choose Your Own Adventure! Aah childhood...

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-20T11:30:34-07:00

I've had an 8x10 print of that cover on my book shelf for the last five or six years.

I still don't know what's going on in the picture.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-20T11:36:13-07:00

@ Loki: When it came to Choose Your Own Adventure, I always managed to die within 3 choices. Half the time a ninja was involved.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-20T12:33:57-07:00

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-20T13:12:44-07:00

@ sythsapien

HAHA! How many guns does one dame need?!

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-20T16:17:13-07:00

This man fucking raised me:

This man came into one of my classes as a child, and scared the shit out of all of us:

bastard even made one of us cry.

that's the true test a science fiction writer, making small children cry.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-20T22:36:53-07:00

Honey West ^

This is a 60 anniversary image by George Chastain:

All I could think of at first when you say Pulp were parody images. George Chastain has some doozies. The two below invoke beloved memories:

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-20T22:43:11-07:00

Holy God, I remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books. I suspect they're what got me into tabletop gaming, actually, before I'd even heard of Dungeons and Dragons.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-21T00:32:56-07:00

Okay, this may be pretty much off-topic, but I've often thought of collecting scifi set in the past. Alien invasions in the 80's, interstellar travel in the Year 2000... that kind of thing.

But I'd probably just pine away waiting for my flying car and Moon-colony vacations... I'm old enough to have grown up seriously expecting all that.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-21T13:47:07-07:00

The art of Bob Pepper

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-22T00:15:08-07:00

Jeez! Tom Swift (Jr)!! Back in like 6th or 7th Grade (and that would be like 1966-67 or something), EVERYBODY (well the boys anyway) in my class read the whole series - like 30 books or something. It was the Hardy Boys or Harry Potter of the sliderule-and-home-chemistry-kit set (yeah, yeah, flying cars and moon vacations... blah blah blah). And cooler yet, my best friend's Dad had the complete "Tom Swift (Sr)" series which must have dated from 1920s or earlier - titles like "Tom Swift and His Transcontinental Railroad" (I'm not kidding, though that may not have been an exact title).

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-22T00:58:29-07:00

Think Like a Dinosaur didn't make me cry... but it was CLOSE.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-22T08:48:01-07:00

@ Brent and Sarpedon: If you're as old as me — you'd remember the Danny Dunn series as well. Apparently - there were 15 of them. The only one I remember now is 'The Homework Machine' which was some sort of 'personal computer' —

And as much as I like the original Essex house printing of "A Fest Unknown" - one has to love Richard Corben's cover:

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-22T16:10:42-07:00

http://www.philipkdick.com/works_covers.html

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-22T23:34:05-07:00

First sci-fi book I ever bought:

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-25T09:40:16-07:00

Got this lovely, if a bit small, book of pulp covers for christmas The Incredible Pulps.
My favourites were Captain Satan

and (I really want this) Zeppelin Stories

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-03-25T13:09:02-07:00

The Gorilla of the Gas Bags, excellent title.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-05-17T08:53:22-07:00

Some beautiful cover art at MONSTER BRAINS blog (@Ariana: Sorry for the first post).

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-06-21T09:32:37-07:00

I think the world would be a better place if this were an actual magazine:

But, you know, we do what we can.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-08-31T09:48:10-07:00

@AtomicSloth Is it too late to legally change my name to Captain Satan, King of Adventure. Any guesses what his first name was? Ron? Larry? Englebert?

Man, Captain Satan. King of Adventure. Y'all just made my day.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-08-31T12:02:14-07:00

the delegate from VENUS means business!!

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-08-31T12:30:18-07:00

I would pay a lot for a Toaster with Two Brains PC case.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-08-31T23:46:08-07:00

Some Astoundings up through 1940. Source.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-09-01T17:49:26-07:00

v2#3 july 1929

1955 edition-

I enjoy the art deco ship. The 1984 people seem rather contemporary. Looks like a Freas color sketch to me.
God, just what I need, another thing to collect. I have always loved pulps however.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-09-05T19:20:43-07:00

Dammit, you beat me to the punch with the 1984 pulp cover.
I think all literature should come with a pulp cover.

Ah well.
anyhoo, this one's my all time favourite ever since i found it in my dad's pulp sci fi coffee table book.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-09-10T02:27:31-07:00

All gorillas report to the gas bags! Yep.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-09-13T16:23:15-07:00

@liamshiels: I found something very similar in my dad's record collection...

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-09-14T07:49:17-07:00

@Conojito: Oh hell yeah, that's just plain perfect in every way it shouldnt be.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-09-14T13:28:42-07:00

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-09-15T04:36:12-07:00

AIR WONDER STORIES, April 1930
"The Flying Buzz-Saw"

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-09-16T03:51:26-07:00

Oh, that is great. I must get one of those.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-10-13T04:37:24-07:00

Via an amazing pulp collection being shown here.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-10-13T07:21:10-07:00

"My brother scarred me for life when I was but a teen by handing me a copy of A Feast Unknown. 'Sprobably why I'm here."

Well yeah that, Norman Spinrad's The Men in the Jungle and Wilson and Shea's Illuminatus! trilogy..

Of course by that point I'd already read 1984 and Brave New World.

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-11-13T17:01:50-08:00

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-11-13T21:01:59-08:00

Though not a pulp cover, probably my favorite illustrated "cover" is one I got off of Warren a while back from a film called "Zeppelin V. Pterodactyls" and it has a big zeppelin with some airplanes flying out and shooting at a pterodactyl, amazing.

Also:

Pulp SF Covers: The Funeral Suit Of The Retrofuture

2008-11-13T21:43:54-08:00

Lovin' these covers!