Monster of the Day #1044

Did I feature this before? I don’t care, it’s lovely. I think it’s the four monster walrus I’ve featured too.

As you can see, Thrilling Wonder Stories had sort of a formula. In fact, it was more likely to ditch monsters on the cover than nude or semi-nude women.

The artist really went to town on the details. Look at those two brass buttons on the woman’s skirt. It’s amazing how much work they put in on these things, considering they couldn’t have been paid all that much.

  • Flangepart

    When angered, the Space Walrus attack is a fearsome thing. Nothing like a herd of fanged blubber guts to make ya draw the ol’ space blaster.

  • sandra

    Those metal bras would be incredibly uncomfortable: in hot weather, they’d heat up, in cold they’d freeze, and they’d chafe all the time.

  • Flangepart

    Yeah. Any self respecting amazon would get a molded ‘breast plate’ with room to move. But no build in weapons cause ya know…malfunctions.

  • Rock Baker

    In answer to your question of having used this image before, yes. I don’t think I’ll ever forget those walrus/hippo creatures!

  • joliet jake blues

    A story by Leigh Brackett – damn, those were always good.

  • Luke Blanchard

    This is from 1944, when Oscar J. Friend was the editor. The cover story was “Star of Treasure”. The above image is significantly cropped on the right; on the full cover there’s a clear view of the “walrus” the spaceman is shooting
    This issue can be found at Internet Archive. It’s the “Community Texts” section, so I’m not certain it will have been vetted by the curators to make sure it’s in the public domain. But I found a site that sells a DVD collection of issues of the series and claims it is.
    “Star of Treasure” is placed first, and its splash page illustration is another version of the image on the cover. The critters are mud beasts.

  • Luke Blanchard

    I must correct myself: the Internet Archive text is a pdf of the cover story only (with the cover, contents page, and “The story behind the story” author’s note).

  • Ken_Begg

    Corrected, thanks! I forgot to resize the still before I posted it. (Duh, gee, Tennessee.)

  • Eric Hinkle

    The Queen of Outer Space never, ever left her fans dissatisfied.

  • Luke Blanchard

    I don’t know if it’s been restored digitally, or it’s just taken from an issue in top condition, but the image is so clear, it’s a pleasure to look at.