. . . or maybe this belongs in the category of reduce, reuse, and recycle. After all, both Amazing Stories and Fantastic were published by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Maybe Leo Summers (1925-1985) was just handed a five-year-old magazine and told to recycle the damsel in distress on its cover. The original artist was Harris Levey (1921-1984), who had previously drawn comic book stories under the names Lee Harris, Leland Harris, and Harris Levy. His technique and his handling of color, texture, and the human figure are superior in this case. His villains are more interesting, too. Even in 1958, the Little Green Man was a cliché in science fiction.
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| Amazing Stories, March 1953, with cover art by Harris Levey. |
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| Fantastic, July 1958, with cover art Leo Summers. |
Text copyright 2021, 2023 Terence E. Hanley
I am not sure what rights the pulp magazines purchased for cover art, but they often acted as if they had purchased all rights. They often did not return the original art work, and it was not uncommon to see the same basic painting 'repurposed' from stf magazine to western to crime magazine. I should not be surprised if Z-D told Summers to redo the old cover. I seem to recall other such redos -- as well as straight reprints. As for the little green man, Z-D had been showing Shaver's deroes as green as for back as the March 1945 cover of Amazing Stories
ReplyDeleteHi, Carrington,
DeleteI think you're right, that most pulp magazines purchased or acted like they purchased all rights, and then proceeded to do with the art what they wanted. I've heard stories of original art being thrown away or fed into the incinerator. Horrifying.
I think the Little Green Man is an old image in fantasy and science fiction. At some point it crossed over into the Flying Saucer Myth. Rapuzzi Johannis may have been one of the first to have done that. He was a science fiction fan and writer and claimed to have been friends with Ray Palmer. Go figure.
Thanks for writing.
TH