Animal and Monster

Weird Tales, October 1925. Cover story: "The Wicked Flea" by J.U. Giesy. Cover art by Andrew Brosnatch. Here is another unique cover of "The Unique Magazine," unique in that--as far as I know--it is the only one showing an animal being menaced by a monster. Granted, the monster is only a giant flea (judging by the title, it's a wicked giant flea), but it's still a monster.

I think this cover is supposed to be comical. I won't hide my opinion of it: I think it's a waste of space. I can't imagine that there was not a better candidate for the cover story in the October 1925 issue of Weird Tales. But then this is an example of poor judgment on the part of the editorial staff when it came to cover art. If there wasn't an art director at Weird Tales, there should have been. And if there was, he should have made better choices. I suspect that because the magazine operated on a shoestring budget, Farnsworth Wright or one of his helpers doubled as art director. An art director, though, should be an artist or designer. Wright had his place, but he was not an artist.

Text copyright 2014, 2023 Terence E. Hanley