The Top 100 Speculative Fiction Magazine Covers, #70-#61
Okay, I'm back another ten rockin' speculative fiction magazine covers. I won't be putting these behind a cut. I'm sorry if it slows your pooter down; feel free to remove me if it has to come to that. If you missed any, here's some links to help you along the way:
Here we go again...
#70
Name: Asimov’s Science Fiction
Issue: June 2006
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: Looking like artwork snapped straight out of Realms of Fantasy’s pages or Magic the Gathering, this cover creates a wonderful sense of magic. The color palette is light and faded, soft, and the way the is positioned to almost float upwards with herself is excellent. Plus, y’ know, her bewbs aren’t just hanging out. The arc of flowers over the magazine’s title is a nice touch, even if it wasn’t planned.
#69
Name: Space and Time
Issue: #102, Winter 2007
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks:Space and Time’s covers generally fall under two categories: goofy and goofier. When they are highlighting age-old robots or smirking dragons, they occasionally do things better. Here we have a very colorful piece, with a rooftop view of a boy/girl reading and looking out on the city. This would’ve been higher on the list if the bat-thing and bird-king weren’t included. Still, not bad. The sky is beautifully rendered.
#68
Name: Phantom
Issue: #0
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks:A one-time issue that was, I believe, distributed at a con. I reviewed it for Tangent Online some time back, but I absolutely adore the font they used. Yeah, I guess I’m a fontwhore, too.
#67
Name: Analog
Issue: June 1962
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: C’mon. You know you’ve always wanted to do this whenever you see a picture of clouds viewed from outer-space. Don’t lie.
#66
Name: H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror
Issue: Spring 2009, #5
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: The final cover for the print version of H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, but boy is it a doozy. Creepy, creepy, and then some. Why? Well, you first assume it’s a fellow in a mask, but the more you look at it, the more difficult it becomes to tell apart skin from suit, eye sockets from holes, and so on.
#65
Name: Science Fiction Monthly
Issue: December 1974
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks:The smoke starting to cover up the magazine’s title is a bold, but effective choice. And the dismembered hand doing its wicked thing would certainly make Dali proud.
#64
Name: Zoetrope: All-Story
Issue: Vol 13, #2, Summer 2009
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: Sure, this issue has a story from Kurt Vonnegut in it, but you’d never know that from the cover. A lot of times, covers get cluttered with names and a list of special features within; here, we just have a doctored photograph, and the power of crosshatching prevails. Not sure the point of it all, but definitely an issue that stands out.
#63
Name: Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine
Issue: #8
Cover artist: Janice Blaine
Reason it rocks: Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine usually plays it safe with a cover showing off some lush landscape (forest, waterfall, whatever), but this one is fine-tuned to depict one of the issue’s stories. Love the spiderwebs around the dangling pods, as well as the murky, gray sky, definitely symbolizing bad stuff’s about to happen.
#62
Name: Mythic Delirium
Issue: #12
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: A wonderful use of color can make even the most lifeless stance pop. It’s just an astronaut, but the green surrounding him instantly makes me think of a poisoned planet (he should put his helmet back on then!), and the way the image is perforated is kind of neat, that way it doesn’t bleed all the way to the end of the page.
#61
Name: Fantasy & Science Fiction
Issue: July 1988
Cover artist: Ilene Myer
Reason it rocks: I’m a sucker for weird plant life. The first thing I’d do if I found myself on some alien planet is totally check out the local flora. We can see normal Earth creatures in this image (a turtle, a frog), which means it is a foreign plant to us, and it seems to be growing out in a desert of sorts. The mystery has been built.
Here we go again...
#70
Name: Asimov’s Science Fiction
Issue: June 2006
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: Looking like artwork snapped straight out of Realms of Fantasy’s pages or Magic the Gathering, this cover creates a wonderful sense of magic. The color palette is light and faded, soft, and the way the is positioned to almost float upwards with herself is excellent. Plus, y’ know, her bewbs aren’t just hanging out. The arc of flowers over the magazine’s title is a nice touch, even if it wasn’t planned.
#69
Name: Space and Time
Issue: #102, Winter 2007
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks:Space and Time’s covers generally fall under two categories: goofy and goofier. When they are highlighting age-old robots or smirking dragons, they occasionally do things better. Here we have a very colorful piece, with a rooftop view of a boy/girl reading and looking out on the city. This would’ve been higher on the list if the bat-thing and bird-king weren’t included. Still, not bad. The sky is beautifully rendered.
#68
Name: Phantom
Issue: #0
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks:A one-time issue that was, I believe, distributed at a con. I reviewed it for Tangent Online some time back, but I absolutely adore the font they used. Yeah, I guess I’m a fontwhore, too.
#67
Name: Analog
Issue: June 1962
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: C’mon. You know you’ve always wanted to do this whenever you see a picture of clouds viewed from outer-space. Don’t lie.
#66
Name: H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror
Issue: Spring 2009, #5
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: The final cover for the print version of H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, but boy is it a doozy. Creepy, creepy, and then some. Why? Well, you first assume it’s a fellow in a mask, but the more you look at it, the more difficult it becomes to tell apart skin from suit, eye sockets from holes, and so on.
#65
Name: Science Fiction Monthly
Issue: December 1974
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks:The smoke starting to cover up the magazine’s title is a bold, but effective choice. And the dismembered hand doing its wicked thing would certainly make Dali proud.
#64
Name: Zoetrope: All-Story
Issue: Vol 13, #2, Summer 2009
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: Sure, this issue has a story from Kurt Vonnegut in it, but you’d never know that from the cover. A lot of times, covers get cluttered with names and a list of special features within; here, we just have a doctored photograph, and the power of crosshatching prevails. Not sure the point of it all, but definitely an issue that stands out.
#63
Name: Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine
Issue: #8
Cover artist: Janice Blaine
Reason it rocks: Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine usually plays it safe with a cover showing off some lush landscape (forest, waterfall, whatever), but this one is fine-tuned to depict one of the issue’s stories. Love the spiderwebs around the dangling pods, as well as the murky, gray sky, definitely symbolizing bad stuff’s about to happen.
#62
Name: Mythic Delirium
Issue: #12
Cover artist: Unknown
Reason it rocks: A wonderful use of color can make even the most lifeless stance pop. It’s just an astronaut, but the green surrounding him instantly makes me think of a poisoned planet (he should put his helmet back on then!), and the way the image is perforated is kind of neat, that way it doesn’t bleed all the way to the end of the page.
#61
Name: Fantasy & Science Fiction
Issue: July 1988
Cover artist: Ilene Myer
Reason it rocks: I’m a sucker for weird plant life. The first thing I’d do if I found myself on some alien planet is totally check out the local flora. We can see normal Earth creatures in this image (a turtle, a frog), which means it is a foreign plant to us, and it seems to be growing out in a desert of sorts. The mystery has been built.