Planet Stories Sept 1951 – Ted Sturgeon's 'Incubi of Parallel X' Blue Alien Women Cover
Before you stands a quintessential Planet Stories cover brimming with pulp excess: blue-skinned alien women — the monstrous 'Ffanx' hybrids — dominate the composition, their exaggerated glamour rendered in cool cerulean tones against a scorched orange atmosphere. A desperate human male fires a ray-gun as he clutches a scantily-clad woman, while a giant alien face looms in close-up at upper right. The painting illustrates Ted Sturgeon's novel 'The Incubi of Parallel X,' a tale of abducted Earth women transformed into 'beautiful, trampling, man-stealing monsters.'
The composition brazenly stacks a macro alien glamour portrait, mid-action combat, and victimized figure into a single chaotic frame with zero spatial logic — and it works magnificently. The blue skin, dramatic lighting, and tagline about 'man-stealing monsters' represent Planet Stories operating at its most gloriously shameless.
“STRANGE ADVENTURES ON OTHER WORLDS — PLANET stories SEPT. 25¢ TRADE MARK REG. A.N.C. The Ffanx had abducted Earth's womankind. A few escaped—to become beautiful, trampling, man-stealing monsters The INCUBI of PARALLEL X A Novel of Interlocking Worlds by TED STURGEON VENGEANCE ON MARS! by R. R[illegible]”
