#pulp scifi

[spacetimesally]

Other Timelines, Other Lifetimes Series…

The 20s & 30s (3 of 3) - The Astounding Wonders of Spacetime Sally, a 1930s romantic space opera inspired sci-fi and sci-fi serials of the time

[vintagegeekculture]

In the 1920s, we thought giant insects would destroy mankind

In the 1920s, there was a decade-long trend of stories where a destroyed earth is ruled over by insects that have grown to colossal size. Giant Insects were believed to be the most likely cause of the end of the world all through that decade.

Hugo Gernsback especially was a big believer in giant bugs ending the human race, and as many pulp historians have pointed out, most of the published giant bug stories were in April and May, just around the time to appeal to fears of spring and allergy season.

This trend was inspired by "Red Dust," a hugely popular story from 1920 by Murray Leinster. This story got a lot of imitators, and it seemed that every single end of the world story in that decade involved a world ruled by giant bugs. In fairness, this isn't completely from left field. The science behind this is that oxygen levels in the atmosphere change over time in earth's history, and the more oxygen in the atmosphere, the bigger the bugs get.

Another cause of this might have been a 1908 article in the Strand that imagined what would happen if Giant Insects invaded London.

The "giant insects end the world" story was a cliché by the end of the decade, and letters pages in Astounding grew cranky whenever a story was done with that theme. By the 1940s, you could only get away with doing a story with this theme if you put a wrinkle in it, like in 1935's the Insect World, where thousands of years in the future, alien bugs arrive on earth to find it without humans, only to discover that mankind invented a race of termite-ants to do all our work, only to be destroyed by them when we lapsed into apathy.

Heinlein of course, wrote Starship Troopers in 1959, where his pseudo-arachnid bug race had weapons and technology, but the idea of giant bugs warring against mankind was already well-trod ground by the time the Old Man got to them.

[janrockart]

Misplaced future. Skeching some pulpy sci fi.

[spearhafoc]

Counter-Earth - The Witchbird.

A species of three-headed carrion fowl common to Ezkeel, the farthest moon of Clarion. The Witchbird, so-named because of its distinctive bony crests and head-plumage that superficially resemble stereotypical witch hats, flies above the barren, rocky terrain of its small world searching for carcasses to devour. The middle head holds the largest, dominant brain, while the other two have small, hind-brains. Their calls sound like women cackling. Despite the species' name, the Witchbird possesses no inherent magical properties.

Inspired by the common trope of the trio of witches, and also that weird, two-heated talking vulture from the Looney Tunes short Transylvania 6-5000.

[kekwcomics]

THRUST Science Fiction Vol. 3 #1 (1974)

Cover photo: Ted Manekin

Mike & Carol Resnik as the Ice Demon and White Sybil.

[theatsthetic]

ACETRONAUT

read it here! - link

also heads up, cw: for topics such as child abuse and trauma. a lot of this story is about the effects of what trauma does to a person and how a person reacts to it.

[knighterrantrafael]

HAWK STARLING Issue 1 Page 10: SESBIAN LEX

[taudalpoi]

The Space Cowboy

Available on Etsy.

[virovac]

I too sometimes want to send Alan Moore to the moon

"The Time Has Come!" From Weird Tales of the Future #1, published March 1952.

[doodling-gods]

DUKE SWEEP! DUKE SWEEP! DUKE SWEEP!!!!!

more mutant!Duke but this time with his husband love this bastard

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[spacetimesally]

Other Timelines, Other Lifetimes Series…

The 20s & 30s (3 of 3) - The Astounding Wonders of Spacetime Sally, inspired by the 1920s sci-fi serials and pulp sci-fi of the time

[vintagegeekculture]

[thefugitivesaint]

Virgil Finlay (1914-1971), ‘The Singing Skulls’, ''Fantastic Adventures'', Vol. 7, #2, 1945 Source

[janrockart]

Great leader has fallen (you will not survive). Last pulpy sci fi for now!

[spearhafoc]

Counter-Earth - The Air Boar

Thought I'd do another Counter-Earth creature design. This one isn't based on any pop-culture thing in particular, other than the old "When pigs fly" phrase and a pun on the word "airborne."  

[kekwcomics]

More Fletcher Hanks madness!