Wonder Stories Quarterly Winter 1931 — Meteor Strike Spaceship Cover Art — art by Frank R. Paul — Wonder Stories Quarterly — 1930s
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Wonder Stories Quarterly Winter 1931 — Meteor Strike Spaceship Cover Art

This is the Winter 1931 'Interplanetary Number' cover of Wonder Stories Quarterly, Hugo Gernsback's prestige pulp science fiction publication. A massive yellow-green interplanetary spacecraft with a transparent cross-section hull blazes through an asteroid field, trailing vivid red and orange rocket exhaust as meteors shatter around it. The cutaway view reveals the ship's interior compartments, a hallmark of Gernsback-era didactic sci-fi illustration that married spectacle with pseudo-technical detail. Featured story: 'The Mark of the Meteor' by Ray Cummings.

Category: Magazine Cover
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Decade: 1930s
Country: United States
Coolness: 8/10

This cover sits firmly near the exploding space station end of the dial — a colossal spacecraft plowing through a meteor storm with full cutaway drama and blazing rocket trails. It's peak Gernsback-era spectacle: educational ambition colliding head-on with pure pulp bombast.

Text in image:

Interplanetary Number Wonder Stories Quarterly "The Mark of the Meteor" By Ray Cummings WINTER 1931 Hugo Gernsback Editor Gernsback Publications 50 Cents

Public domain. This vintage illustration is free of known copyright restrictions — free to download, share, and reuse for any purpose.

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