Startling Stories Fall 1955 — James E. Gunn 'The Naked Sky' Montage Cover
Like many late-period Startling Stories covers competing with the sleeker designs of Galaxy and F&SF, this 1955 fall issue deploys a dramatic montage composition — a brooding male face at center radiating light, surrounded by vignettes of rocket launches, a fleeing woman in green, futuristic skylines, and alien tendrils. The psychic-projection style recalls Ed Emshwiller's multi-scene compositions, blending Cold War anxiety with pulp adventure energy in gouache-heavy brushwork typical of Thrilling Publications house artists.
The glowing cross-shaped light bisecting a wide-eyed male face surrounded by rockets, a running woman, and alien tendrils is a quintessential late-pulp attention-grabber. A newsstand browser in 1955 would have found it impossible to ignore.
“3 GREAT SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINES IN ONE STARTLING STORIES FALL 25c COMBINED WITH THRILLING WONDER AND FANTASTIC STORY A THRILLING PUBLICATION THE NAKED SKY a novel by JAMES E. GUNN ALSO: ROBERT F. YOUNG MARGARET ST. CLAIR BRYCE WALTON 20c”
