Earle Bergey Ray-Gun Standoff, Startling Stories July 1949

At the dawn of the Atomic Age, postwar America channeled its anxieties about power, technology, and gender into lurid pulp fantasy — and this cover captures it perfectly. A square-jawed hero in yellow aims a sleek ray-gun at a menacing man in red wielding a pistol, zigzagging energy bolts crackling between them, while a glamorous blonde in a torn dress cowers at their feet. Gleaming machinery looms in the background, embodying science as both savior and threat.