1Q 100+, Blood Pressure normal, lungs clear, metabolism normal, adaptability good
May 7, 2009 3:05 PM Subscribe
Images from The Complete Book of Space Travel illustrated by Virgil Finlay, including an analysis of the space-crew candidate.
So, in the future, Space Crews will entirely consist of tanned Rock Hudson clones?
Cause I'm down with that.
posted by The Whelk at 3:14 PM on May 7, 2009
Cause I'm down with that.
posted by The Whelk at 3:14 PM on May 7, 2009
He sounds pretty dull to me. Everything is normal and average, even his IQ. Is that why he plummits to earth as Icarus in the end? Or is that a warning that the safety wings are not meant to reach the sun, and are only intended for gliding gently back to earth after you escape from your shuttle as it malfunctions upon return to earth's atmosphere?
posted by filthy light thief at 3:21 PM on May 7, 2009
posted by filthy light thief at 3:21 PM on May 7, 2009
Virgil Finlay rocks. And so does that blog Golden Age Comic Book Stories. I visit every day, and very day, and I mean really every day, there are high quality scans of mind-blowing comic, fantasy and illustration art.
posted by marxchivist at 3:23 PM on May 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by marxchivist at 3:23 PM on May 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
analysis of the space-crew candidate
Android Yul Brynner, space cowboy.
Draw!
posted by Mblue at 3:26 PM on May 7, 2009
Android Yul Brynner, space cowboy.
Draw!
posted by Mblue at 3:26 PM on May 7, 2009
He sounds pretty dull to me. Everything is normal and average, even his IQ.
That's why the ideal Space Traveler is a vampire.
I am deadly serious.
Eternal life? Hard to kill? Can hibernate? Easy to Store food supply? Not considered human?
Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.
Worried about the dangers of manned spaceflight? Just shove Nosferatu or some older blood-sucking fiend into a capsule with a camera and a wifi connection and point it toward Alpha Centuari. Problem mucherfuckin' Solved.
posted by The Whelk at 3:28 PM on May 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
That's why the ideal Space Traveler is a vampire.
I am deadly serious.
Eternal life? Hard to kill? Can hibernate? Easy to Store food supply? Not considered human?
Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.
Worried about the dangers of manned spaceflight? Just shove Nosferatu or some older blood-sucking fiend into a capsule with a camera and a wifi connection and point it toward Alpha Centuari. Problem mucherfuckin' Solved.
posted by The Whelk at 3:28 PM on May 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
I also refuse to make comment about the "Adaptability" arrow pointing at his ass. Nope, not gonna say anything at all.
posted by The Whelk at 3:31 PM on May 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 3:31 PM on May 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
This is why he has a pair of metallic space truncks next to his pile of books and his aqualung there.
posted by Artw at 3:32 PM on May 7, 2009
posted by Artw at 3:32 PM on May 7, 2009
Excellent stuff Artw, thanks.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:47 PM on May 7, 2009
posted by doctor_negative at 3:47 PM on May 7, 2009
He won't be bothered by the cold of space with that thick coat of hair all over his body.
posted by digsrus at 4:00 PM on May 7, 2009
posted by digsrus at 4:00 PM on May 7, 2009
IQ 100*? Check.
Eyes 20/20? Check.
Belted briefs? CHECK.
posted by The Tensor at 4:33 PM on May 7, 2009
Eyes 20/20? Check.
Belted briefs? CHECK.
posted by The Tensor at 4:33 PM on May 7, 2009
this is great. and yeah, I'd fly with space man Yul Brynner any day. Please protect me from those four-armed aliens with the floppy fingers!
posted by wundermint at 4:48 PM on May 7, 2009
posted by wundermint at 4:48 PM on May 7, 2009
It doesn't really work this way.
Not how we do it anyway.
Love how you all keep trying, though.
It's what drew us to you to begin with.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 4:53 PM on May 7, 2009
Not how we do it anyway.
Love how you all keep trying, though.
It's what drew us to you to begin with.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 4:53 PM on May 7, 2009
Is that illustration of the stripped astronaut a crib from a Charles Atlas ad illustration? Or is it just that there's an old-fashioned kind of muscle flex you saw in bodybuilders before the '70s and you don't see anymore?
Anyway, the point is clear to me, which is that the galaxy must be explored by white, white men.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:25 PM on May 7, 2009
Anyway, the point is clear to me, which is that the galaxy must be explored by white, white men.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:25 PM on May 7, 2009
Valueless/valid point depending on hue of imaginary interstellar explorers and direction of dimension.
posted by Mblue at 5:40 PM on May 7, 2009
posted by Mblue at 5:40 PM on May 7, 2009
Or is it just that there's an old-fashioned kind of muscle flex you saw in bodybuilders before the '70s and you don't see anymore?
I think his old-school, non-body-builder look comes from (a) the old-school pants and (b) the fact that he doesn't have HUGE biceps from doing lots of curls in front of a mirror. He just looks like a guy in shape. I just Googled Charles Atlas, and he was much bigger in the chest and arms.
posted by The Tensor at 6:38 PM on May 7, 2009
I think his old-school, non-body-builder look comes from (a) the old-school pants and (b) the fact that he doesn't have HUGE biceps from doing lots of curls in front of a mirror. He just looks like a guy in shape. I just Googled Charles Atlas, and he was much bigger in the chest and arms.
posted by The Tensor at 6:38 PM on May 7, 2009
Anyway, the point is clear to me, which is that the galaxy must be explored by white, white men.
Meanwhile, over at EC Comics.
posted by Artw at 7:00 PM on May 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
Meanwhile, over at EC Comics.
posted by Artw at 7:00 PM on May 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
Daaaammn. Fanmail from Ray Bradbury.
posted by kid ichorous at 7:17 PM on May 7, 2009
posted by kid ichorous at 7:17 PM on May 7, 2009
Meanwhile, over at EC Comics.
Unsubtle like an episode of Babylon 5. Better ending:
SPACE-GUY: I SEE you've invented RACE-PREJUDICE... [whips off helmet] ...but I don't CARE, for you see, I am NOT an Earthman AT ALL, but instead a representative of the Evil ZONG EMPIRE. Now eat hot NEUTRONS, metal dog!
ROBOT-GUY: [melting] Wow, I was sure this was a morality tale!
SPACE-GUY: I know, right? GOTCHA!
posted by The Tensor at 7:22 PM on May 7, 2009 [4 favorites]
Unsubtle like an episode of Babylon 5. Better ending:
SPACE-GUY: I SEE you've invented RACE-PREJUDICE... [whips off helmet] ...but I don't CARE, for you see, I am NOT an Earthman AT ALL, but instead a representative of the Evil ZONG EMPIRE. Now eat hot NEUTRONS, metal dog!
ROBOT-GUY: [melting] Wow, I was sure this was a morality tale!
SPACE-GUY: I know, right? GOTCHA!
posted by The Tensor at 7:22 PM on May 7, 2009 [4 favorites]
Yeah, I beleive at some point he noticed EC were ripping off his stuff and started getting them to pay him for it.
posted by Artw at 7:23 PM on May 7, 2009
posted by Artw at 7:23 PM on May 7, 2009
Very short summary from Wikipedia:
Adaptations of Ray Bradbury science-fiction stories, which appeared in two dozen EC comics starting in 1952. It began inauspiciously, with an incident in which Feldstein and Gaines plagiarized two of Bradbury's stories and combined them into a single tale. Learning of the story, Bradbury sent a note praising them, while remarking that he had "inadvertently" not yet received his payment for their use. EC sent a check and negotiated a productive series of Bradbury adaptations
Judgement Day was first printed in 53, so I don't *think* it's a cheeky cutdown of that letter. When they tried printing it again later, under the reign of the Comics Code, things went a little nuts:
This really made 'em go bananas in the Code czar's office. 'Judge Murphy was off his nut. He was really out to get us', recalls [EC editor] Feldstein. 'I went in there with this story and Murphy says, "It can't be a Black man". But ... but that's the whole point of the story!' Feldstein sputtered. When Murphy continued to insist that the Black man had to go, Feldstein put it on the line. 'Listen', he told Murphy, 'you've been riding us and making it impossible to put out anything at all because you guys just want us out of business'. [Feldstein] reported the results of his audience with the czar to Gaines, who was furious [and] immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy. 'This is ridiculous!' he bellowed. 'I'm going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I'll sue you'. Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession. 'All right. Just take off the beads of sweat'. At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic. 'Fuck you!' they shouted into the telephone in unison. Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form.
It went out in the last comic book ever published by EC.
posted by Artw at 7:30 PM on May 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Adaptations of Ray Bradbury science-fiction stories, which appeared in two dozen EC comics starting in 1952. It began inauspiciously, with an incident in which Feldstein and Gaines plagiarized two of Bradbury's stories and combined them into a single tale. Learning of the story, Bradbury sent a note praising them, while remarking that he had "inadvertently" not yet received his payment for their use. EC sent a check and negotiated a productive series of Bradbury adaptations
Judgement Day was first printed in 53, so I don't *think* it's a cheeky cutdown of that letter. When they tried printing it again later, under the reign of the Comics Code, things went a little nuts:
This really made 'em go bananas in the Code czar's office. 'Judge Murphy was off his nut. He was really out to get us', recalls [EC editor] Feldstein. 'I went in there with this story and Murphy says, "It can't be a Black man". But ... but that's the whole point of the story!' Feldstein sputtered. When Murphy continued to insist that the Black man had to go, Feldstein put it on the line. 'Listen', he told Murphy, 'you've been riding us and making it impossible to put out anything at all because you guys just want us out of business'. [Feldstein] reported the results of his audience with the czar to Gaines, who was furious [and] immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy. 'This is ridiculous!' he bellowed. 'I'm going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I'll sue you'. Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession. 'All right. Just take off the beads of sweat'. At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic. 'Fuck you!' they shouted into the telephone in unison. Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form.
It went out in the last comic book ever published by EC.
posted by Artw at 7:30 PM on May 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Great find indeed! How the hell did I not own this book? I was a huge space nut in the '50s and wore out my copy of Ley's Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel. But now I can enjoy it at last!
So, in the future, Space Crews will entirely consist of tanned Rock Hudson clones?
Plus the occasional sex doll.
posted by languagehat at 5:57 AM on May 8, 2009
So, in the future, Space Crews will entirely consist of tanned Rock Hudson clones?
Plus the occasional sex doll.
posted by languagehat at 5:57 AM on May 8, 2009
Dinosaurs? Why the hell are there dinosaurs? I mean, it's cool and all, but why dinos?
Oh I get it, now that I look at it closely: it's the classic illustration evolution as a single stream of advancement, all leading to the final pinnacle of evolution, the man on the rock screaming "BUGGER THIS FOR A GAME OF SOLDIERS!"
posted by happyroach at 10:31 AM on May 8, 2009
Oh I get it, now that I look at it closely: it's the classic illustration evolution as a single stream of advancement, all leading to the final pinnacle of evolution, the man on the rock screaming "BUGGER THIS FOR A GAME OF SOLDIERS!"
posted by happyroach at 10:31 AM on May 8, 2009
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posted by Artw at 3:05 PM on May 7, 2009