Amazing Stories April — Astronaut vs. Energy Phantom, 'Beacon to Elsewhere' 1960s

A crimson-suited astronaut tumbles through crackling yellow energy bolts as a massive silver alien entity — dolphin-like and translucent — curves menacingly overhead, while ghostly humanoid forms writhe below in a churning electric maelstrom. Above, a gleaming golden satellite dish locks onto a blinding beacon. This is the moment of first-contact gone catastrophically wrong, rendered in bold gouache with the kinetic urgency that defined Atomic Age pulp covers at their most dramatic.