One of the joys of acting as art director for Planet of the Week has been reviewing public-domain pulp science fiction art for use in the two books (the Player’s Guide and the GM’s Guide). Here’s some art that I didn’t use but wanted to highlight.

The classic image of Charlton Heston discovering the Statue of Liberty and realizing he’s not on an alien planet but on Earth had a precedent earlier than the 1968 movie. The earliest example I found was the August-September 1953 cover of Fantastic Universe.

The trope “Rome on an alien planet” predates the Star Trek episode “Bread & Circuses” by at least 17 years.

Apparently slide rules were very futuristic:

Next, you should go check out Elizabeth Garbee’s article, “Pulp Sci-Fi’s Legacy to Women in Science.”