War of the Worlds: Narrator Flees Martian Heat-Ray, Warwick Goble 1897

Martian heat-ray technology — H.G. Wells' devastating directed-energy weapon — is depicted here as a churning column of black smoke and scorched earth obliterating the English heathland. A terrified man in Victorian coat and hat stumbles headlong through burning heather, the alien weapon's destructive trail snaking behind him toward an ominous dark object above. The illustration captures the visceral horror of humanity's first encounter with vastly superior extraterrestrial weaponry, rendered in Warwick Goble's distinctive ink wash technique.