Sep 09
Frank Comments: Saw this at the Friends of the Library sale where I volunteer, and remembered one of my brothers had a copy of it when I was very young. I remember being very creeped out by the image of the stuffing coming out of the open head. And they did it again on the back cover!
Published 1962
Yes, Twilight Zone is a franchise…
…but this is amazing!
September 9th, 2013 at 9:53 am
And I thought it was the smoking what done him in. No, it was all the Numskulls escaping from his hinged cranium.
September 9th, 2013 at 10:16 am
I just couldn’t resist!
http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/serling.gif
September 9th, 2013 at 10:17 am
“Submitted for your approval”
September 9th, 2013 at 11:45 am
Substitute ‘lemony-scented’ for ‘eldritch’ on the back cover and it sounds like advertising copy for a heavy-duty cleaner!
Are those four obese nude women in red on the front cover?
September 9th, 2013 at 12:04 pm
@GSS Admin: “You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension – a dimension of me turned into Pacman, and er, that’s about it.”
September 9th, 2013 at 12:47 pm
“You unlock this mind with a key like a hacksaw…”
September 9th, 2013 at 1:02 pm
When you smoke four packs of cigarettes a day your head starts opening up like an old Zippo lighter.
This isn’t the only cover artist dreaming of three fat asses.
September 9th, 2013 at 1:37 pm
Say what you like, but Rod Serling was definitely open-minded…
That sure looks like Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street lifting Rod’s lid.
September 9th, 2013 at 4:32 pm
This cover shows that in the hands of a gifted artist, an Exacto knife® and a bunch of random rubber stamps is more than enough. If only they’d had a gifted artist around.
P.S. Hey, Rod—serious zit issue there. Ever heard of Clearasil®? I guess it’s true that smoking is bad for the complexion.
September 9th, 2013 at 4:50 pm
“It’s…. Monty Python’s Flying Serling!”
September 9th, 2013 at 5:45 pm
‘Weirdies’ is a noun? Weirdness wasn’t a more appropriate choice? They left enough space around ‘of’ that they surely could have squeezed in another letter.
Then again.. from now on when someone says ‘Whatcha readin’?’ I going to say ‘A weirdie.’
September 9th, 2013 at 6:22 pm
“I’ll bet my badge that we haven’t seen the last of those weirdies!” (c.1959)
September 9th, 2013 at 6:27 pm
Bats. Bats? There were bats, lots of bats. Any butts? A bounty of bodacious butts. Bones? The finger bones connected to the hand bone. Devils? No devils, but there was a Beelzebub.
September 9th, 2013 at 6:41 pm
@FṑM—all the language in that blurb is a bunch of weirdies. I was grimacing at the phrasing “out of that” instead of just “from.” Guess the blurb writer had been into that “wonderful place”—perhaps a hookah or a jeroboam of rotgut—a little too long.
September 9th, 2013 at 7:13 pm
@FöM: Willie Weirdie is a character created by American cartoonist Al Jaffee for Mad Magazine…back in the 1970s or 80s, I think. I remember sneaking over to an older friend’s house and reading a few of her paperbacks while I waited for Mum.
September 9th, 2013 at 10:29 pm
Photoshop beta versions showed a lot of work was still required.
September 10th, 2013 at 6:14 pm
“read these stories and set yourself to working properly again!”
You mean, unlike Rod there?
Or do they mean your head will begin to hinge open, too?
September 12th, 2013 at 3:03 pm
I noticed this morning that GSS Admin, Twitter Division, is using the skulls-a-poppin’ Rod Serling as its new avatar:
https://twitter.com/GoodShowSir
Thumbs up!
October 9th, 2013 at 3:28 pm
Is that a scratch on the cover, or is that Rod foaming at the mouth due to his skull-cap being unhinged?
December 19th, 2016 at 10:51 pm
I count at least 6 reasons for Sir Mix-A-Lot. (Or 12, depending)
August 31st, 2017 at 12:27 pm
“Five fat women… trapped in a spa where you get slim or slayed… address: The Twilight Zone.”
September 28th, 2018 at 4:30 am
Wait a minute ….
Those fat little floating asses look familiar.
September 28th, 2018 at 10:29 am
Just as well you used Bow-Tie Man(1). Because I find Rod Serling’s left ear(2) deeply offensive(3).
1. Is Bow-Tie Man a young Patrick Moore? Because I’m convinced that’s what Patrick Moore looked like at age 20.
2. Rod Serling’s Left Ear is my new band name.
3. There must be a story in the idea of a culture where genitals are proudly displayed but ears (or some other random body part) must be covered on pain of. . . something.
September 28th, 2018 at 11:14 am
‘this is a positive service to humanity’ needs to be a tag for author praising back covers.
September 28th, 2018 at 5:32 pm
dee-dee-deedee
dee-dee-deedee
dee-dee-deedee
You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of titles, blurbs and covers but of Bow Tie Men. A dimension where people’s hinged heads hide the darkest demons of their imagination, yet manage to look goofy at the same time. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of the internets, an imaginary land populated by brilliant commentary, lame puns, smiley faces and Unicorns! That’s the sign post up ahead. Your next stop, the GSS Zone.
dee-dee-deedee
dee-dee-deedee
dee-dee-deedee
October 1st, 2018 at 11:46 am
“My head aplode” is my favourite tag and I wish it was used more often. I put this down to seeing THAT clip from Scanners at a tender age.
October 1st, 2018 at 11:22 pm
Bow Tie Man! Indeed, this is a good spot for him. I think we all made that face upon thinking about this cover.
@BC: GSS!
@THX: I wonder if there’s any cover which has both “my head aplode” and “walking away from an explosion”.
October 4th, 2018 at 6:11 pm
Well spotted, Bibliomancer #22. Those are the exact same figures.
October 5th, 2018 at 4:42 am
So who originally drew the floating fatasses? Are there any appearances pre-1960? How did they become go-to sci-fi clip art at UAI?