I agree! Glad you liked the selections. There are so many more I had to skip to keep the count to 50, and to keep this edition in mostly classic fantasy theme.
Not sure. Rules can get pretty complicated for that kind of thing. I saw somewhere that copyright for artwork created after 1978 lasts for 120 years from creation or 95 years from publication, whichever is shorter. If that's true, none of these items from the 1940s and 1950s would be in the public domain, however, I believe the rules are different for creations before 1978. For writing, anything from 1930 and earlier is now in the public domain, so again, if artwork follows a similar timeline, these illustrations would not qualify for public domain rights. However, there were often copyright renewals that were required to obtain the full term of the copyright after 28 years from publication, so it's possible these illustrations' copyright expired a long time ago. And of course, copyright rules are different in different countries. (I am not a lawyer or providing any legal advice!)
Here's my favorite... House of Fire/Daughter of Genghis Kahn - lady with the fire pot and a dragon like serpent with cool moody coloring
Most goofy (to me)... Invasion from the Deep (towards the end of post) with the lady riding the giant seahorse and attacking a modern military ship... like WTF!
Ooh - I absolutely adore that Daughter of Genghis Khan cover, too! The artist is H.W. McCauley, who unfortunately, doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. He seemed extremely prolific with tons of fantasy and pulp stuff. Here's a page that the Internet Speculative Fiction Database put together that has live links to many of his amazing works (mag covers, book covers, interior art): https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1824
Funny… he got into some racy pulp stuff in 1959-1961 after all the SF&F covers he did. Interesting late in life transition after all the cool SF&F art!
Great choices! I had to track down the cover artist of "Whom the Gods Would Slay" since it was that good. It was Walter H. Hinton, who did other covers for Fantastic Adventures.
His Wikipedia article is terrible - doesn't even mention "Fantastic Adventures" magazine, and there doesn't seem to be much more about him online other than his works for sports & outdoor mags, western mags, advertising, and some work in Amazing Stories. Looking at some of those makes me wonder why he wasn't more famous, since in my opinion he's at least as good as Rockwell if not better.
For being as prolific and talented as he was, this guy deserves a dedicated art book!
Most of these would have inspired an immediate reaction from me. :) Love the bold colors. I particularly like "The Daughter of the Snake God" and "The Ice Queen." Those look like ladies who could do some serious damage to any man who disrespected them.
And "The Mermaid of Maracot Deep" just looks fun.
The "Soul Snatchers" issue would make me stop, too. On first glance, it looks uncomfortably racist, with the fragile white woman framed against the wall of black men. But when you look closer, you can see the chains. It makes me wonder if the story is actually a condemnation of slavery. Anyone know? Is there a summary or scan of the issue available?
Good choices, Rebecca! I researched your question about "The Soul Snatchers". The cover depicts a scene from that story and was painted by Leo Ramon Summers. The story was written by Lee Francis with this teaser: "Want to know how that brilliant young physicist works his equations so easily? Just transfer his brain into yours and you'll find out. But better not get stuck with it. He has problems too."
The tagline: "The weapon was a simple recipe: a woman's soul, a physicist's brain, and a gangster's evil. But there was no escaping the hell that it wreaked."
I actually found the story online and scanned through it trying to find this scene. (It took quite a bit of scanning - this story is long!). It's basically the woman (April) having a dream about being alone in a land of hostile giants which is her subconscious tying together the story's plot threads. The story goes on for A LOT longer, which I didn't read through, but here's the direct link to that magazine if you're interested: https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/SF/FA/FA_1952_05.pdf
The Usurpers cover caught my eye, as I feel like the same scene composition has been used for others. It definitely has a The Shadow, one of my favorites, vibe.
And a number of these do sound and look like old DnD modules. The Lair of the Grimalkin and Goddess of the Fifth Plane definitely could work as old modules.
Good insights, Eric! The Usurpers does remind me of The Shadow now that you mention it. Also, good call on the titles (not just the illustrations) of these stories being great candidates for D&D modules.
Love old pulp covers.
Gorgeous, usually slightly naughty art.
Fun stuff.
Thanks for the share!
I agree! Glad you liked the selections. There are so many more I had to skip to keep the count to 50, and to keep this edition in mostly classic fantasy theme.
Do you know if they’re public domain?
I ask because I do calendars with comics and those covers would make spectacular 2027 Calendar pages…
Not sure. Rules can get pretty complicated for that kind of thing. I saw somewhere that copyright for artwork created after 1978 lasts for 120 years from creation or 95 years from publication, whichever is shorter. If that's true, none of these items from the 1940s and 1950s would be in the public domain, however, I believe the rules are different for creations before 1978. For writing, anything from 1930 and earlier is now in the public domain, so again, if artwork follows a similar timeline, these illustrations would not qualify for public domain rights. However, there were often copyright renewals that were required to obtain the full term of the copyright after 28 years from publication, so it's possible these illustrations' copyright expired a long time ago. And of course, copyright rules are different in different countries. (I am not a lawyer or providing any legal advice!)
Yeah, depending on what went on with the company that published them, it’s a tangle.
I was hoping you’d know, but I can check myself.
I am building a universe around public domain characters, so the public domain comics are a particularly great resource.
I’ll look into the covers.
Thanks!
Sounds good. Let me know what you find out!
Looks like the google machine thinks they’re unrenewed.
They’re on PICRYL which claims to host only public domain stuff, so that’s a good sign.
I’ll do a full copyright search before I use them, but the signs are good.
They’ll make spectacular calendars.
i want a book of just the covers
I was just dreaming about the same thing! I wonder if there's anything out there like that already.
Here's my favorite... House of Fire/Daughter of Genghis Kahn - lady with the fire pot and a dragon like serpent with cool moody coloring
Most goofy (to me)... Invasion from the Deep (towards the end of post) with the lady riding the giant seahorse and attacking a modern military ship... like WTF!
Ooh - I absolutely adore that Daughter of Genghis Khan cover, too! The artist is H.W. McCauley, who unfortunately, doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. He seemed extremely prolific with tons of fantasy and pulp stuff. Here's a page that the Internet Speculative Fiction Database put together that has live links to many of his amazing works (mag covers, book covers, interior art): https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1824
Funny… he got into some racy pulp stuff in 1959-1961 after all the SF&F covers he did. Interesting late in life transition after all the cool SF&F art!
Man that is some pulpy goodness!
So much pulp talent back then. I'm glad others appreciate this kind of stuff, too!
Witch of the Andes and The Devil With You are the 2 that would stop me. Who the Gods Would Slay made me laugh.
Great choices! I had to track down the cover artist of "Whom the Gods Would Slay" since it was that good. It was Walter H. Hinton, who did other covers for Fantastic Adventures.
His Wikipedia article is terrible - doesn't even mention "Fantastic Adventures" magazine, and there doesn't seem to be much more about him online other than his works for sports & outdoor mags, western mags, advertising, and some work in Amazing Stories. Looking at some of those makes me wonder why he wasn't more famous, since in my opinion he's at least as good as Rockwell if not better.
For being as prolific and talented as he was, this guy deserves a dedicated art book!
Golden age!
Oh yeah! I'm toying with sharing more from the Golden Age in coming weeks. So much great stuff.
Such amazing artwork.
Thanks for sharing.
Totally agree, Kveto. I truly love the old pulp covers even though I didn't grow up with them. They had such kinetic energy and danger.
These are fantastic. Toka and the Man Bats gets my vote for best in show.
A fine choice indeed, Wolfmoon! 🐺
Daughter of the Snake God was a very close second. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece. Good stuff! Keep 'em coming.
Thank you, my friend!
Most of these would have inspired an immediate reaction from me. :) Love the bold colors. I particularly like "The Daughter of the Snake God" and "The Ice Queen." Those look like ladies who could do some serious damage to any man who disrespected them.
And "The Mermaid of Maracot Deep" just looks fun.
The "Soul Snatchers" issue would make me stop, too. On first glance, it looks uncomfortably racist, with the fragile white woman framed against the wall of black men. But when you look closer, you can see the chains. It makes me wonder if the story is actually a condemnation of slavery. Anyone know? Is there a summary or scan of the issue available?
Thank you very much! I appreciate you tracking down the story. :)
Good choices, Rebecca! I researched your question about "The Soul Snatchers". The cover depicts a scene from that story and was painted by Leo Ramon Summers. The story was written by Lee Francis with this teaser: "Want to know how that brilliant young physicist works his equations so easily? Just transfer his brain into yours and you'll find out. But better not get stuck with it. He has problems too."
The tagline: "The weapon was a simple recipe: a woman's soul, a physicist's brain, and a gangster's evil. But there was no escaping the hell that it wreaked."
I actually found the story online and scanned through it trying to find this scene. (It took quite a bit of scanning - this story is long!). It's basically the woman (April) having a dream about being alone in a land of hostile giants which is her subconscious tying together the story's plot threads. The story goes on for A LOT longer, which I didn't read through, but here's the direct link to that magazine if you're interested: https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/SF/FA/FA_1952_05.pdf
Great art. Your commentary was hilarious!
Thanks, Hollywood! I was hoping I didn't overdo it. 😁
First I agree that does look like John Schnieder.
The Usurpers cover caught my eye, as I feel like the same scene composition has been used for others. It definitely has a The Shadow, one of my favorites, vibe.
And a number of these do sound and look like old DnD modules. The Lair of the Grimalkin and Goddess of the Fifth Plane definitely could work as old modules.
Good insights, Eric! The Usurpers does remind me of The Shadow now that you mention it. Also, good call on the titles (not just the illustrations) of these stories being great candidates for D&D modules.