Nov 22
Click for full imagePhil’s Art Direction: I’m CERTAIN people will buy this. If it was good enough for Hugo Gernsback, it’s good enough for me.
Published 1987
(Average: 7.74 out of 10)
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Phil’s Art Direction: I’m CERTAIN people will buy this. If it was good enough for Hugo Gernsback, it’s good enough for me.
Published 1987
(Average: 7.74 out of 10)Loading...
(9.25 out of 10) (9.18 out of 10) (9.01 out of 10) (8.97 out of 10) (8.93 out of 10) (8.93 out of 10) (8.93 out of 10) (8.92 out of 10) (8.88 out of 10) (8.88 out of 10)
Lastest Tweet
November 22nd, 2011 at 10:00 am
Maybe I’m wrong but I kinda think for something in 1987 it does a pretty good job at looking like retro sci-fi!
Also a light hearted romp. We’re pushing the rules slightly with this one! 😛
November 22nd, 2011 at 10:58 am
“Hilarious”? The red blob certainly looks as if he’s laughing.
November 22nd, 2011 at 11:45 am
Which of the figures on the cover, I wonder, is the “man trapped?”
It is a reasonable pulp pastiche, although it betrays its ’80s vintage. The woman is more like a classic pinup than like a pulp cover, but I’m quibbling here.
I think “lighthearted romps” should be fair game. Their covers can be awful, too.
November 22nd, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Paste-up error, not a man “trapped”. The man is on the cover. It’s a trap.
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Sing it with me!
Attaaaack of the killer tomatoesssss!
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Maybe he’s a man trapped in a woman’s body?
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Pam pam pam, pa-pa-pa-pam pam pam…
Return of the killer tomatoes
Return of the killer tomatoes!
They’re back and now they’ve gone space
To masticate the human race
For dinner and lunch
and maybe dessert!
Pam pam pam, pa-pa-pa-pam pam pam…
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:36 pm
I admit to being in two minds on submitting this cover. The book knowingly refers to the cliches of SF, and I think the cover does, too. However, the average bookshop browser is unlikely to know about this knowingness…. and is, I think, more likely to utter a justified ‘WTF?’
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Even if she got away from those things that spaceship is far too small to hold her.
November 22nd, 2011 at 3:21 pm
What happened to her right arm? Why is she wearing only nylons and a top?
November 22nd, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Wow. That unknown Vargas must be worth millions.
November 22nd, 2011 at 5:15 pm
What mad universe! What bad cover-art!
November 22nd, 2011 at 9:57 pm
If her outfit were less stupid, this would actually be an awesome retro cover. But is looks like someone took a pinup and photoshopped on a weird jacket-type-thing.
November 23rd, 2011 at 2:59 am
Her right arm appears to either be twisted behind her back at an unnatural angle, or reaching into a hole in the rock face for… the key to her chains? Some weapon or repllant to use on the red tentacle-thingies? The Exit Button to the Mad Universe?
November 23rd, 2011 at 3:01 am
It’s pre-Photoshop. The girl is airbrushed, but she looks funny because the rest of the painting isn’t airbrushed.
The more I look at it, the more I think the artist just copied an old pinup (without necessarily understanding anatomy) and gave her ’80s modern hair and makeup. Her right arm is missing, as Jaouad noted, her right leg is totally flat, and her left hand is stiff and flat.
@Phil, I like humorous covers that give a wink and nod to genre clichés, but they still have to work as covers. They can’t just rely on cheap allusions. Visual humor is just as subtle and tricky as written humor. And if they go horribly, horribly wrong, even funny covers should be open to criticism.
November 23rd, 2011 at 3:07 am
By the way, I think an example of a humorous cover which succeeds brilliantly is this original cover of the parody “Bored of the Rings”:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2679/4366313055_2e6cc4f5a4.jpg
Painted by noted muppet designer Michael Frith, it sends up the bizarre paperback cover art if the late ’60s edition of “Lord of the Rings” while conveying actual plot elements and the absurdity of the story.
November 23rd, 2011 at 8:14 am
Hmm, there is something weird about the poor woman’s upper garment. Not much support for the devil’s dumplings* there.
* Merely echoing the terminology used in the Admin’s official tags, although curiously not applied in this instance.
November 23rd, 2011 at 8:53 am
You are right Phil! I completely forgot about the boobs! I must have been tired… 😛
November 23rd, 2011 at 7:28 pm
You’re never too tired for boobs.
November 24th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
What mad universe? I don’t see any mad universe.
September 30th, 2014 at 7:39 am
If I may, Phil: CERTAIN people will buy this.
Ba-da-bum!
August 27th, 2015 at 2:25 am
Quite apart from the damsel, has anyone else noticed that the red alien thing is wearing a pair of cheap plastic vampire teeth?