Dec 12
Click for larger imageMarvin Comments: It’s the little things, like the crown over the K, that make this cover special.
Published 1962
(Average: 7.00 out of 10)
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Marvin Comments: It’s the little things, like the crown over the K, that make this cover special.
Published 1962
(Average: 7.00 out of 10)Loading...
(10.00 out of 10)
(9.27 out of 10) (9.21 out of 10) (9.03 out of 10) (9.00 out of 10) (9.00 out of 10) (8.97 out of 10) (8.96 out of 10) (8.95 out of 10) (8.95 out of 10)
December 12th, 2019 at 10:18 am
I predict a grandiose but dark future for the Burger King franchise.
December 12th, 2019 at 11:09 am
“Bah, I’ll never get the hang of earbuds!”
December 12th, 2019 at 11:54 am
@THX – This is Apple’s I-machine. It uses brainbuds.
December 12th, 2019 at 12:38 pm
I have-never heard this particular ‘walk into a bar’ joke before, but I am sure the punch-line involves a -hyphen-.
December 12th, 2019 at 1:53 pm
At first I thought John Wayne of Mars was wearing an eyepatch, but on closer inspection I decided that Doc Brown decked him one for trying to steal his I-machine*. (Yeah, Apple gets very lazy in the future with their naming.)
*I-machine, L-machine – we may never know.
December 12th, 2019 at 3:48 pm
Landru needs to stop surfing for porn.
December 12th, 2019 at 6:41 pm
@Bibliomancer: There’s going to be a big product recall. He looks like he’s being electrocuted by his faulty I-machine.
This cover would make me buy this book, the blurb too, and I really want to know what’s on the other side.
December 12th, 2019 at 8:47 pm
Did someone invent the smotherboard?
December 13th, 2019 at 2:29 am
The I-Machine: self-actualization made easy!
@VerylatetotheParty: that’s just Mad Scientist hair.
If the guy with the spear is the man-wolf, I’m not particularly impressed: he looks more like a punch-drunk boxer. [1] He should at least have some facial hair. Is he doing the “surrounded by laser beams” thing? Or is he (looks more closely) surrounded by fierce oscilloscope displays?
[1] Apologies if the term is no longer PC
December 13th, 2019 at 2:46 am
Verylate, it looks like it was Cosmic Checkmate: https://www.amazon.com/King-Fourth-Planet-Cosmic-Checkmate/dp/B001OOE0LQ
Another GSS-worthy cover, from the looks of it on the website.
December 13th, 2019 at 11:08 am
@Bruce A M: With all that electricity arcing around their laboratories, and also being a bit mad, maybe frequent electrocution is the reason Mad Scientists have hair like that.
@Ryan, That’s an impressive B side.
December 14th, 2019 at 2:09 am
@Verylatetotheparty: you may well have put your thumb on what the artists were thinking. Of that, and of Albert Einstein. https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,h_348,w_620,x_0,y_80/f_auto,q_auto,w_1100/v1555927466/shape/mentalfloss/einstein10_0.jpg
December 14th, 2019 at 6:06 am
“That’s super early Sixties!” I thought, and yes.
I think they used the Blurbinator (TM) to create that blurb
I am firmly of the opnion that that’s an evil Doc Brown. Or possibly Peter Weller in a fright wig. Either one could have borrowed the hair from John Lithgow on the Buckaroo Banzai set?
December 14th, 2019 at 10:37 am
@Bruce A M: Albert’s hair must be the envy of Mad Scientists everywhere, but – aaw, he looks more like a design for a ‘My Little Mad Scientist’ doll than a proper Evil Mad Scientist.
December 16th, 2019 at 1:29 am
@Vlttp: Albert wasn’t evil, so he had Regular Mad Scientist hair. I wonder, did Mad Scientists have hair like that before him, or did he originate the trope
Evil Mad Scientists have hair like the guy on this cover, and also the crazy eyes.
@Bruce: Man-Wolf-Boxer looks to be descending a (sketchy) staircase into the EMS’ lair, maybe to stab him while EMS is distracted by the I-machine and/or the porn on it.
Apparently we’ve all got the wrong end of the pole weapon from this, though!
http://gnomeship.blogspot.com/2016/03/king-of-fourth-planet.html
December 16th, 2019 at 3:34 am
Huh. If he were a Martian it might be explicable as Martian hair, but John Rolf – only one “e” away from Pocahontas’ husband – doesn’t sound very Martian. I’m just going to go with “fabulous anime-inspired hair styles of the FUTURE.”
December 16th, 2019 at 9:26 am
GSSxn @15: that’s a fascinating page you linked to. I loved this bit: “all of the surrealism forced to stand in a straight line and act like a proper narrative.”.
December 17th, 2019 at 7:07 am
@L_L: Exactly how I like my surrealism.
If I ever come across this book/s, I’m picking it up.
December 2nd, 2023 at 10:01 pm
A god-king, a man-wolf and an I-machine walk into a bar….
Also, what is the difference between a man-wolf and a wolfman? Does the I-machine have the answer? The god-king?
Also, if the king were such an awesome god, he’d come up with a better name for his kingdom than “the 4th planet.” Lame!
December 3rd, 2023 at 12:50 am
I didn’t know they had tacky VST plugins and DAWs in 1962 – but that’s what I see on those tablets that the head is plugged into…
December 3rd, 2023 at 8:12 am
@JJYoyo: it’s part of a Prince-type rebrand. It’s now “The planet formerly known as Mars”, you see.
Is a Sea Wolf just a Man-Wolf on a boat? Or does it require some sort of sailor licensing?
December 3rd, 2023 at 11:26 pm
@Bruce: And what of the Space-Wolf and Star-Wolf? Do they need astronaut training?
(it is already established that a Wolfman is Lon Chaney, or else blasts the hits of this era from a Mexican station)