Mar 23
Click for full imageZycrow’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!
(Average: 7.39 out of 10)
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March 23rd, 2011 at 10:57 am
You REALLY want to be careful climbing out of that basket in that mini-skirt…
March 23rd, 2011 at 11:09 am
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!? 😀
March 23rd, 2011 at 11:15 am
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.
March 23rd, 2011 at 12:05 pm
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.
March 23rd, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Balloons and spikes are a bad combination. This is a scenario where no one wins.
March 23rd, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Balloon fanfic? Oh, the humanity!!
March 23rd, 2011 at 2:29 pm
My first thought when seeing this: those balloons are badass. I’d say the art direction was a success.
March 23rd, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Published in 1980.
The color choices gave that away. What a lovely pink and aqua scheme.
March 23rd, 2011 at 3:52 pm
DEATH RACE 1800
March 23rd, 2011 at 5:27 pm
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.”
March 23rd, 2011 at 7:09 pm
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!”
March 23rd, 2011 at 9:27 pm
“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.
March 24th, 2011 at 8:53 am
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!!”
March 27th, 2011 at 4:08 am
Large pointy things on a ballon. Steampunks are genius.
May 20th, 2011 at 1:37 am
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.
June 27th, 2011 at 12:36 am
the picture won’t show, so I’m using my imagination. And I have to say… WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?!?
June 27th, 2011 at 12:39 am
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/graham-diamond/falcon-of-eden.htm
November 10th, 2013 at 5:03 pm
/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!