Henrique Alvim Corrêa – Martian Heat-Ray Victims, War of the Worlds 1906

Subverting the triumphalist adventure conventions of Victorian invasion fiction, this harrowing pen-and-ink scene depicts human casualties strewn across open ground, scorched and smoldering beneath a sky etched with violent crosshatching — the visual signature of Martian devastation. Corrêa's expressionistic linework conveys chaos and helplessness with visceral economy: bodies collapsed mid-flight, wisps of smoke rising from freshly incinerated flesh, the landscape itself seemingly recoiling. It is a rare illustration that centers human suffering rather than alien spectacle.