And part of this escape was the artwork.
Frazetta didn't get into fantasy until years after I had moved into the adult world but he had a talent that made him recognizable at a glimpse and an ability to bring fantasy heroes alive. What young male could not see himself standing on top of a pile of bones that use to belong to his enemies with a nubile succulent female wrapping herself around his feet?
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Unisex was not in his genes.
In the early years most science fiction and fantasy magazines were not adult nor intended to be. They were pulp magazines intended to fill an evening of reading much like most of the junk on TV is meant to be mind numbing time killers between 7 and 11. The artwork wasn't always great but it always moved.
And the girls were always beautiful and buxom but not to be argued with.
And then we had the girls dancing for their supper.... paid for by aliens... of course. But the sex was always on the cover and never between the covers. Like radio, it expanded the imagination.
And some of the girls were hotter than others.
Of course in its infancy, as shown in this February 1927 cover by Paul, the covers were more about adventure and the contents were, well, much the same as they would be 20 years later.
And by 1992 the view of the universe had expanded as shown in this cover of a child watching an alien friend blowing bubbles. Peaceful yet threatening it almost has an "Alice In Wonderland" feeling.
But was sex out? No.
Sometimes I will have to do a post or so on the artists that made the stories better. And here's to the ones that made us grasp our quarters and gleefully pay for the latest issue of Amazing, Startling, Planet and all the others.
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