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Sep 12

Homo says 'What?'Click for larger image

Uh, whose hand is that at the bottom?Click for larger image

It’s a Two-Fer Tuesday – Genus Homo Edition

Good Show Sir Comments:
1. You know, when you think about it, every morning we wake up and find ourselves the only human beings alive.
2. “Don’t shoot him! I was just lending him my eyebrow pencil”!

Published 1941, 1961

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 8.14 out of 10)
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18 Responses to “Genus Homo”

  1. GSS ex-noob Says:

    Other than the mystery hand, the second one is much better. It’s got lifelike colors, some dynamism, decent anatomy, reasonable clothing, as much realism as one could expect from a scene in which a gorilla’s got a big zap gun. Even the hand might belong to a body which has the head beyond the bottom of the cover.

    But that first, later one. Oof. That’s just terrible. Garish colors, everything out of proportion in what I gather was supposed to be artsy but is just ugly and tacky (and garishly colored). Unnecessary dots and triangles. Colors that don’t go with each other and are perhaps the worst shade of each imaginable. And does it still count as “font problems” when the title’s been handwritten?

    I would read the Super Science version on the bus. Not so the other.

    In GSS ratings:

    1941: 3, at worst
    1961: 8.5 to 9.

    (Special note to @Rachel J: the Mermaid Menace… In Spaaaaace!
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073ZKS1D2/)

  2. THX 1138 Says:

    1: I expect that monocle drops into a brandy glass with crushing regularity.

    2: “It’s OK, we’ve only just taught him not to climb on the furniture!”

  3. Bibliomancer Says:

    1. I like Richard Powers but he just phoned in this one. Looks like a children’s book for Planet of the Apes.

    2. “Cut! Genus Homo isn’t working. Let’s swap in the ape guy for the lion man. We’re re-writing the script and calling this King Kong now.”

  4. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    1. “E = H2O +”? That doesn’t make any sense.

    2. @GSS ex-podiatrist, I think that’s supposed to be his foot, and he has opposable toesies.

  5. fred Says:

    1) The missing piece of the formula is probably scotch. What did the wearing of a monocle culturally signify in 1961? Upper class twit? Evil Hydra agent?

    2) ‘The right to bear arms against unarmed bear people shall not be abridged.’ has just been Super Scientifically proven.

  6. Tat Wood Says:

    1. 1986: Jeremy Corbyn is captured and humiliated by Young Conservatives.

    2. “Keep Bungle away from the booze!”

  7. B. Chiclitz Says:

    I shouldn’t reveal this, but I actually like #1. Crazy primitivism, wacky but somehow appealing colors, the eye-drama going on between the ape and the guy, the goofy fig leaf, the swirling mandala-like patterns, somehow it works for me. I guess I like a cover that says “I’m not taking myself too seriously, are you?” Sorry.

    #2 should be “Super Soakers Novels Magazine.”

  8. Ray P Says:

    #2 Life wasn’t easy for a ‘Dime-a-dance’ hall girl with the circus in town. “Get your damn dirty paw off me, ya great ape, I mean bear…”

  9. Ray P Says:

    #1 “Kneel before Grod.”

  10. Raoul Says:

    1. Is homo there eating a banana or a corn on the cob?

    2. 1941? Then it’s a World War II metaphor. The American and the Russian ape are stopping the Nazi animal from raping lady Europe.

  11. Yoss Says:

    That second one gives me a Showbiz Pizza kind of vibe.

  12. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Raoul—Let’s update that #2 to be the American and the European ape are trying to stop the Russian bear from violating Lady Trump.

  13. Anna T. Says:

    On cover 1 we have a sinisterly smiling simian mad scientist with an unwilling subject, done in the style of an elementary school art project with pastels.

    On cover 2 we have a giant ape in a polar bear mask menacing an attractive woman in a red dress as a man and another ape, both wielding odd-looking guns, look on. Oh, and that disembodied hand is actually the mask-wearing ape’s foot.

    I would have to say, cover 2 is somewhat more interesting, but only slightly

  14. GSS ex-noob Says:

    @DSWBT: Ah, the critter’s foot! Makes sense. The shading just kinda failed there.

    @BC: I think it’s more like the European ape and Justin Trudeau are trying to keep the Russian bear from violating America. Maybe the disembodied, unnatural hand is Trump, squashed under the Russians.

    Or maybe, since the attacking critter has ridiculous hair and no discernible hands or manners, and is grabbing Lady America (Miss USA?), critter is Trump.

    Yeah, I’m gonna go with that last one.

  15. A.R.Yngve Says:

    Q: What is “Super-Science,” really?
    A: Science with lots of ray guns, big rocketships, and damsels in distress.
    Q: Huh??
    A: You know… overcompensation.

  16. Bibliomancer Says:

    Those aren’t ray guns. They’re shooting pub darts.

  17. JuanPaul Says:

    #2 “honey, take my picture while I sexy-pose in front of this crazy mural!”

  18. RachelJ Says:

    @GSS ex-noob. THEY’RE EVERYWHERE! THERE’S NO ESCAPE!

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