Now, where have we seen a forlorn robot before? Let’s try Edd Emshwiller’s cover for the October, 1955, issue of Astounding Science Fiction … though the robot in that case seems far more in a state of bewildered befuddlement than permanent peril! As, per Virgil Finlay’s cover for the October, 1959 issue of Fantastic Universe. This is entirely unlike Mel Hunter’s cover illustrations for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction during the 1950s and 60s, which were whimsical and ironic in their portrayals of mechanical men.
Fantastic Universe was a regular venue for Virgil Finlay’s interior illustrations during the late 1950s, as per the two examples below. Though the magazine’s digest format by nature restricted the size and impact of his work, what he still created in that limited literary “landscape” was still impressive.
As per the two examples below.
Illustration for “Condemned to Death”, by Poul Anderson
(page 34)
Illustration for “The Planet of Heavenly Joy” by John Ruland
(page 94)
