Flex Mentallo

Ah me, that was so tragic! He was set fair to be a giant...

This is fabulous Pat. Which issue is it from? Oh - and, please sir, may I have some more?

Thanks for posting the scan of the book jacket. I always enjoy seeing things like that. Here's the cover to "The Black Flame" pulp appearance. Startling Stories v1 #1 (January 1939) That's a Weinbaum of which I was unaware - thanks guys. I'll see if I can find one. I love the book cover in particular - but would never have figured out the link with Startling, which helps me understand why the book is such a late publication. Weinbaum is a wonderful writer, whose A Martian Odyssey is a classic of the genre. Is my recollection correct that he died while still young? And is A Martian Odyssey also contained in a pulp somewhere? As always, thanks for the combined erudition!

Wings Comics often had oriental femmes fatales...

I think there is one nice page with FM's daughter in a veil...

Thnx Jeff, I was unaware a spine could fade like that. More the strange because of the yellow cover, the spine color matches it perfectly. It really sticks out when constrasted with the red spines when I stack the books! I hear you on the Fiction House - my only copy of Planet Stories has a very dull orange spine as well. But for now, it's a defect I can live with as the front covers are strong and present very well. Sounds like the same problem as with the comics...faded reds... Yep, it's exactly the same. Speaking of pulps, I'm about to be inundated with pulp scholarship today. I'm at the PCA/ACA conference in San Antonio right now to give a paper on REH. There's going to be a whole day of sessions on pulps. Should be fun. There are also sessions on comic books and graphic novels pretty much every day so hopefully I'll get to catch some of those too. THe book vender room looks promising too. We want a full report! (thumbs u I never get to go anywhere interesting

I've always thought that the only thing missing from this cover is dialogue.

You have waves?

Which ones are the forgotten keys? All of them Thank god, Bill! I was beginning to think no-one round here gets my sense of humor (but then Billy would tell you that's because I'm not very funny.) Is that Merryweather's couch?

Thnx Jeff, I was unaware a spine could fade like that. More the strange because of the yellow cover, the spine color matches it perfectly. It really sticks out when constrasted with the red spines when I stack the books! I hear you on the Fiction House - my only copy of Planet Stories has a very dull orange spine as well. But for now, it's a defect I can live with as the front covers are strong and present very well. Sounds like the same problem as with the comics...faded reds...

Which ones are the forgotten keys?

Return of Sumuru seems to turn up frequently on ebay - are they a good read? And can we please have more femmes fatales please? I mean, please!

That is a really cool looking book (thumbs u Tough to find with brilliant reds! A pity the cover has nothing to do with the interiors - that's my kind of woman!

Love 'em!

Benulis had a very distinctive style. Here are a couple of IW's which feature Benulis's work - reprints of late Planet Comics:

I think we should start discussing Astoundings. Well, hmmm, yes, I'm willing but to do that too but I'm afraid we will need BZ and Co to post another few dozen covers at least...maybe more...

That stunning cover took my breath away. Now where can I get me one of those?

That's weird. I had a dream that I mysteriously acquired a beautiful set of Actions and Supermans. Then the awful sound of the alarm clock ruined it...

That is a stunner! Actually, for the life of me when I first looked at that picture, I was trying to figure out what she was doing with a phaser. Definitely awesome work. 'tis poison i' the cup!

I'm glad you all liked them! Got me out of "the sleazy corner" anyway!

That is a stunner!

The Minotaur was the son of King Minos' wife, Pasiphae, who was raped by Zeus who came up in the form of a white bull rising from the sea . The monster was sealed away in a labyrinth, and fed live sacrifices in the form of tribute from the shores of Mycenaean Greece. Theseus was the son of Aegeus, King of Mycenae, He was brought to the labyrinth in a black-sailed ship as a sacrifice. But Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, fell in love with Theseus, and gave him two gifts: a sword with which to slay the Minotaur, and a length of golden thread as a means to find his way out of the labyrinth. In return for saving him, Theseus promised to take Ariadne back to Mycenae with him. But having duly despatched the monster Theseus fled without her. But in his haste, he forgot to take down the black sails, and spying these from the headland Aegeus assumed the mourning sails meant that his son was indeed dead, and in his grief he caste himself into the sea and drowned. Thus Theseus was punished - for he in his falsehood had become the monster. I love myths such as these, for they have so many connotations. There is indeed a labyrinth in the ruins of the Minoan capital, and for a time the Minoan Civilisation dominated the Mediterranean. And the Minoans worshipped the bull as a deity. So myth invariably has a basis in historical fact. But there is also both a moral and a psychological underpinning as well. The psychoanalyst C.K.G.Jung argued that each of us has the potential to be the hero of our own lives - and in order to do so we must be courageous. But the risk is that instead of transcending our limitations, we become the monster. For those who are interested in comparative mythology, and how the active principle of Myth shapes our understanding of the world, I recommend the works of Joseph Campbell, especially The Masks of God and The Hero with a Thousand Faces. linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell

and finally... JEAN DE BOSSCHERE 'An immense dragon lying by the waterside.' Illustration to The Reward of the World from Beasts and Men, Folk Tales Collected in Flanders (Heinemann, 1920) linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Bossch%C3%A8re

E. J. DETMOLD 'The Rukh which fed its young on elephants' Illustration to The Second Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor from The Arabian Nights (Hodder & Stoughton, 1924) linky: http://www.bpib.com/illustra2/detmold.htm

HARRY CLARKE 'For the love of God, Montresor, Yes, I said, "For the love of God." ' Illustration to The Cask of Amontillado from Tales of Mystery & Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe (Harrap, 1919)