Alien Invasion of New York Harbor, Thrilling Wonder Stories Jan 1940
Like the best of Thrilling Wonder Stories' rival Amazing Stories covers from the same period, this January 1940 issue delivers maximum spectacle: a massive spherical alien warship bristling with energy cannons hovers over New York Harbor, its multi-tiered hull swarming with green-helmeted invaders. The Statue of Liberty crumbles under alien fire while fleeing passenger liners and ferries churn the green waters below. Tightly composed and viscerally kinetic, this cover epitomizes the alien-invasion paranoia and retro-futurist excess that defined late-Depression-era pulp art.
A colossal alien battleship destroying the Statue of Liberty while swarming with little green men is about as newsstand-grabbing as pulp art gets. This cover practically screams off the rack — pure controlled chaos executed with conviction.
“THRILLING WONDER STORIES 15¢ JAN. FEATURING THE DAY OF THE CONQUERORS A Complete Novel of The Stone Age By MANLY WADE WELLMAN A THRILLING PUBLICATION REVOLT AGAINST LIFE By FREDERIC ARNOLD KUMMER, JR.”
