Here you’ll find our favorites from the rich and varied art that appeared in fanzines throughout the 1930s and 1940s. As with authors, editors and publishers, several noted professional science fiction illustrators began their careers as fans. Sadly, the vast majority of the original work has been lost, but we can still mine the ‘zines for the rich trove of sublime and/or ridiculous images that lie therein.
Stay tuned to this page as we hope to update it frequently.
To give a sense of the vast range of subject matter, quality and form that we’ve encountered in our research to date, we hope you enjoy this very brief sampling:
Joseph Shuster, Science Fiction, January 1933Clay Ferguson, Jr., 1934, unpublishedJohn V. Baltadonis, 1937John V. Baltadonis, Science Fiction Collector, August 1938John V. Baltadonis, 1937John V. Baltadonis, February 2 1938. From the collection of Steve BaltadonisMorris Scott Dollens, 1937. From the collection of Steve BaltadonisMorris Scott Dollens, c1937. From the collection of Steve BaltadonisMilton A. Rothman, Science Adventure Stories, v1n1, July 1938James M. Rogers, The Science Fiction Fan, v2n6, February 1938The Comet, May 1930Morris Scott Dollens, 1937Francis J. Litz, 1939John V. Baltadonis, Fantasy Fiction Telegram, January 1937Hannes Bok, 1928, unpublishedHannes Bok, Cover art for the serial novel Cosmos, Fantasy Magazine, January 1935Hannes Bok, Futuria Fantasia, Summer 1939Hannes Bok, postcard to Ackerman, March 25 1940Clay Ferguson, Science Fiction Digest, October 1933Morris Scott Dollens, Helios, July 1937James M. Rogers, The Science Fiction Fan, December 1939Joseph Jackson, New Tesseract, March 1938Larry Farsaci, FAPA #7, March 1939Lee Gregor, Fantasy Fiction Pictorial, Winter 1940Nils Frome – October 1936Nils Frome – June 1937Nils Frome – c1937Nils Frome, Scienci-Snaps, February 1939Jack Cadrell, Van Houten Says, v2n1, January 25 1939John Michel, Futurart, January 1939John Michel, Futurart, January 1939John Michel, Le Vombiteur Literaire, n2, March 1939Walter E. Marconette – c1939Walter Earl Marconette, Horizons, March 1942Walter E. Marconette, illustrating “The Thing in the Moonlight” by H.P. Lovecraft, Bizarre, January 1941Arthur F. Williams, Browsing n8, 1944Ronald Clyne, The Fantasite, v2n6, February 1944Alva Rogers – Voice of the Imagination n36, October 1944Roy Hunt, Starlight, Spring 1941Roy Hunt, Pacificon Combozine, July 1946Fred Warth, Ad Infinitum, n1, July 1944
