Woman Menaced by Lion-Beast, Weird Tales Vol.2 No.2, Sept 1923

Unlike the more polished later Weird Tales covers by Margaret Brundage or the intricate pen-work of Virgil Finlay, this early 1923 cover is raw and dramatically painted in near-monochromatic tones. A terrified woman in a dark dress recoils against barred gates, her arms flung upward in desperation, as a snarling lion-like beast lunges at her with bared fangs and raking claws. A leering face peers through a barred window behind her, amplifying the atmosphere of inescapable menace.