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Mar 23

Don't point that gun at me! Look! The other balloon!Click for full image

Zycrow’s Art Direction:
“So the art director told me he needed hot air balloons and they needed to be badass. How am I going to do that?”
“Easy. Add spikes.”
“Oh, that’s good. Like how many? Three? Four?”
“All of them. All of the spikes. Oh, and a dinosaur, and some wolves. That oughta cover it.”
Published 1980

Many thanks to Zycrow!

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: 7.39 out of 10)
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18 Responses to “The Falcon of Eden”

  1. Jonesey Says:

    You REALLY want to be careful climbing out of that basket in that mini-skirt…

  2. SI Says:

    I’m pretty sure that dinosaur/bird creature has been smoking some sort of herbs before flying.

    And Playboy… So did they put out anything of quality? Or can we expect this to be… saucy!? 😀

  3. A.R.Yngve Says:

    You know what would be even more badass than balloons with spikes on them?

    Pillows… with nasty pointy spikes on them!

    Or… marshmallows! With spikes driven through them!

    Or… anything.

  4. Phil Says:

    After the Montgolfiers, but before the Wright Brothers, this is what all aerial dogfights were like!

    Her balloon is clearly of the hot-air variety, and yet hasn’t been fitted with one of those hot-air-making brazier things. The enemy balloon just MIGHT be a helium balloon, in which case shooting it with bullets might be a good strategy. Except she appears to be aiming it at something off-page, which we can’t see. Maybe the spikes are also an anti-helium-balloon device.

  5. Tom Noir Says:

    Balloons and spikes are a bad combination. This is a scenario where no one wins.

  6. A.R.Yngve Says:

    Balloon fanfic? Oh, the humanity!!

  7. Kris Says:

    My first thought when seeing this: those balloons are badass. I’d say the art direction was a success.

  8. Kristin Says:

    Published in 1980.

    The color choices gave that away. What a lovely pink and aqua scheme.

  9. Scott B Says:

    DEATH RACE 1800

  10. NGpm Says:

    In a world like this, anything with the ability to puncture becomes the baddest weapon in town. A pointed stick is the equalizer in balloon world. “Our scientists have come up with a way to defeat the entire enemy fleet, we call it a bow and arrow.”

    I can hear the corny dialogue already: “Hate to burst your bubble old boy, but I have to fly.”

  11. SI Says:

    Phil> What if her balloon was lifted with natural gas!?! I can just imagine the line, “We’re going to need some more beef chilli!”

  12. Hazel Chaz Says:

    “And Playboy… So did they put out anything of quality?”

    Yes, actually Playboy published lots of good stories. (I don’t know if this is one.)

    The art directors didn’t necessarily work in the same offices as the fiction editors, but they were (perhaps still are) a serious place as far as printing fiction goes.

  13. A.R.Yngve Says:

    It says “Adventures of the Empire Princess #3″… so there’s a whole bunch of action-adventure princesses, then?

    “I am not a number, I’m a free princess!!”

  14. Dalton H. Says:

    Large pointy things on a ballon. Steampunks are genius.

  15. Green Says:

    Perhaps something more practical to wear would have been wiser. However, at least she did her hair. Can’t be going into battle poorly coifed. It’s just not done.

  16. arch9enius Says:

    the picture won’t show, so I’m using my imagination. And I have to say… WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?!?

  17. arch9enius Says:

    http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/graham-diamond/falcon-of-eden.htm

  18. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    /me follows link:

    ‘Stacy- the Lady of Haven and Princess of the Empire – needs the Russaks as allies. To gain their cooperation, she is forced into a quest for their legendary bird.’

    So, this is the story of a lady making friends by hunting for a cock? No wonder Playboy were so eager to publish a series of them…

    Wait…

    Is that a mountain in the background? Is that a snow-capped peak in the background? I can overlook combat ballooning with a wild badger, but wearing a pinafore up a mile and a quarter–bum to the breezes over the ice and snow–is simply the limit!

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