Harry Harrison provided illustrations for all three issues of Worlds Beyond magazine, published in December 1950 and January and February 1951 – see the previous post in this series. During 1951, Harrison also provided artwork for Marvel Science Stories and Galaxy Science Fiction.

Marvel Science Stories first appeared in August 1938 and ran for nine issues until April 1941. It was resurrected in November 1950 and lasted for another six issues. Both times it was published by companies owned by brothers Abraham and Martin Goodman, and edited by Robert O. Erisman. During its second run it was titled Marvel Science Stories for three issues and then became Marvel Science Fiction for the final three. Martin Goodman had founded Timely Comics in 1939, and this would eventually become the Marvel Comics we know today.

The earlier issues of the magazine featured ‘spicier’ stories than were common in science fiction at that time. It was these magazines more than any other that created the image of science fiction as consisting of pulp magazines with stories – and pictures – of aliens lusting after Earth women. The later issues, including those illustrated by Harry Harrison, featured much more standard science fiction fare. But, although the magazine featured writers including Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Lester del Rey, Richard Matheson, William Tenn, and Jack Vance, historians of the genre note that these writers were selling their best stories elsewhere.

Harry Harrison provided illustrations for four issues of the magazine, May 1951, August 1951, November 1951, and May 1952. For each issue he illustrated more than one story. The images below are presented in their order of appearance in the magazine. All are taken from scans of the magazine unless indicated.

Marvel Science Stories – May 1951

‘The Circle’ by Milton Lesser

‘The Polyoid’ by Bryce Walton

Scanned from a photographic copy in Harry Harrison’s collection

‘Captain Wyxtpthll’s Flying Saucer’ by Arthur C. Clarke

Marvel Science Stories – August 1951

‘This Joe’ by A.E. Van Vogt

‘At No Extra Cost’ by Peter Phillips

Marvel Science Stories – November 1951

This issue also contains the article on The Hydra Club by Judith Merril with HH’s illustration – see previous post.

‘Chowhound’ by Mack Reynolds

‘The Most Dangerous Love’ by Philip Latham

‘The First Spacesuit’

Marvel Science Stories – May 1952

The issue also has artwork by Al Williamson and Roy Krenkel.

‘Star-Wife’ by Morton Klass

‘Brother’ by Frank Quattrochi

‘Who’s Zoo’ by L. Major Reynolds

Scanned from a photographic copy in Harry Harrison’s collectionGalaxy Science Fiction – May 1951

Galaxy Science Fiction was first published in October 1950, edited by H.L. Gold and initially published by World Editions, a French-Italian company. It was sold to a couple of different publishers over the years, its initial run ending in 1980. It was revived in 1994 and a further eight issues were published. As far as I’m aware, Harry Harrison only provided one illustration for the magazine, for the short story ‘Bridge Crossing’ by Dave Dryfoos in the May 1951 issue. The image below is taken from a scan of the magazine.

Gnome Press

I’ll include one more image here dating from the 1950-51 period, a jacket illustration by Harry Harrison for Tomorrow and Tomorrow and The Fairy Chessmen, by Lewis Padgett, published by Gnome Press in 1951. Padgett was a pseudonym of husband and wife writing team Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore. Only 4,000 copies were printed.

Next: Harry the Artist Part 3: Unpublished and Unidentified Artwork

Paul Tomlinson is the author of over a dozen novels and books about writing genre fiction. www.paultomlinson.org