Startling Stories March 1939 – The Impossible World Cover
Cover art for the March 1939 issue of Startling Stories, illustrating Eando Binder's featured novel 'The Impossible World.' A wild-haired, bare-chested humanoid figure with goggle-like eyewear grips a large crimson spherical craft studded with portholes and mechanical fittings, beams of light bursting outward. A vignette at right depicts imperiled human figures amid wreckage, hinting at the story's perilous alien setting.
A near-naked mutant wrestling a grinning robot sphere while light rays explode behind it — this cover packs an extraordinary imagination-per-square-inch ratio. The nested vignette panel, mechanical eye, and radiating composition leave almost no visual breathing room, which is precisely the point.
“STARTLING STORIES 15¢ 8¢ 2 FOR 15¢ 2322 MISSION ST. EXCHANGE - 2 FOR 1 8¢ FEATURING THE IMPOSSIBLE WORLD A Long Book-Length Novel of a Miracle Planet By EANDO BINDER MAN FROM MARS By R. SCHUYLER M[illegible] A THRILLING PUBLICATION”
