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Jan 31

A look of otter disbeliefClick for larger image

Ryan Comments: Weaponize the Otter People!

Published 1976

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: 6.63 out of 10)
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16 Responses to “War of the Wing-Men”

  1. fred Says:

    Obvious question. If they can fly, why are they walking?

    Part of an Poul Anderson Ace Double double in an earlier publication.

    https://www.amazon.com/Snows-Ganymede-War-Wing-Men/dp/B00HWM5DLK

  2. THX 1139 Says:

    I love War Wing-Men in The Book of Boba Fett!

  3. A. R. Yngve Says:

    “Damn, this golden breastplate is too heavy. I can’t get enough lift!”

  4. Tat Wood Says:

    How Belgian Waffles defeated the Otterman Empire.

  5. Bruce A Munro Says:

    The sort of cover that comes along once in a blue moon.

    Considering how little it covers, what with the wings and all, that’s not a particularly useful shield/breastplate. Perhaps it’s an in-flight meal? (Probably better than your usual airline food).

    @fred: the dude’s not walking, he’s doing a Stump Speech to inspire the otter Wing Men.

  6. B. Chiclitz Says:

    “Dammit, I’m going to spend the rest of the day joyfully sliding down a muddy hill into a lake if I have to kill all of you bastards!”

  7. Tor Mented Says:

    I see a quiver of arrows and the top half of a bow. What I don’t see:
    A) How he keeps the arrows from falling out when he goes flying.
    B) How he moves his arm without snapping the bow off
    C) How he accesses the bow and gets it ready to fire in an emergency.

  8. FluffyGhostKitten Says:

    They can kill gators with their teeth, so why would an otter need a guisarme? (At least, it looks like a guisarme. Kind of hard to tell, though.)

  9. Bibliomancer Says:

    He’s got the fasces on his belt.
    He must be a Roman magistrate.

  10. JuanPaul Says:

    It looks like his head and hand have just regenerated after being lopped off.

  11. GSS ex-noob Says:

    Lions… with human arms… otter heads… and bat wings.

    So beyond Centaur! that I don’t know. Kind of Gryphon! but also not.

    JH Breslow must have been playing with his kid’s random interlocking toys the night before.

    @fred: Birds have wings, and they walk too. But this guy’s giving his Henry V speech. The Ace cover was much better.

    @Tor: I can’t even see a bow, so I have those questions and more.

    @B’man: it was the lictors what carried the fasces, but when you can move in 3 dimensions, I guess that’s not practical. So his sticks and tiny tiny shield signify he’s the leader. And possibly also the fact he’s had his head gilded.

    @FGK: It could be a fauchard, too — can’t tell, and I’m sure the artist didn’t know. The rank and file seem to only have spears, though the second from the left could possibly be a Hugo award (or 50’s hood ornament — same idea).

  12. Tor Mented Says:

    @GSSxn: The Wing-Man appears to have a quiver on his right hip. Above the quiver is a green, curving object that I took to be the top half of a bow.

  13. GSS ex-noob Says:

    Hey, here’s a relative of this guy (minus the wings):

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isfahan#/media/File:Insignia-coatofarms-isfahan-province.png

    @Tor: I was seeing the green thing there, as well as around his arm, as some kind of jewelry, or possibly rank marking. You know, he’s the leader dude, so he’s got the fancy arm jewelry.

  14. Anti-Sceptic Says:

    I like his satchel.

  15. GSS ex-noob Says:

    @A-S: Maybe we’ve got it all wrong, maybe he’s just going shopping.

    It looks like wickerwork, which makes a great tote bag and patio furniture, but isn’t quite as good used as a shield against big metal pointy things being flung at you by flying critters.

  16. Emster Says:

    Publisher with deadline looming: Sorry Poul, this was the only cover art we had on short notice that kinda looks like a man and has wings. We’ll do better for for that little “centaur people” story you’re working on, okay?

    Poul: (sigh) Sure…

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