Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb 1950 – Giantess Bound by Goggle-Eyed Gnomes
More lurid than the typical Earle Bergey covers gracing Thrilling Wonder Stories in the late 1940s, this February 1950 issue escalates the formula to near-delirium: a voluptuous red-haired woman in a torn copper bustier strains against ropes cinched by a trio of bulbous-headed, goggle-eyed gnomish aliens in green trunks, one brandishing a ray-gun. The glowing figure fills the frame dynamically, conveying desperate peril against a deep violet cosmos — pure newsstand bait.
A luminous, imperiled redhead in a skimpy copper corset being swarmed by leering bug-eyed dwarves with a ray-gun is the platonic ideal of newsstand provocation. This cover would have stopped a reader cold at ten paces.
“THRILLING WONDER STORIES FEB. 25¢ When Time Went Mad a complete short novel By DIRK WYLIE AND FREDERIC ARNOLD KUMMER, JR. THE VOICE OF THE LOBSTER a novelet of the future By HENRY KUTTNER THE DANCING GIRL OF GANYMEDE a fantastic novelet By LEIGH BRACKETT A THRILLING PUBLICATION FEB. 1950”
