Astounding Science Fiction

September 1954

Hal Salive Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection, University of Otago Library Special Collections. Every effort has been made to trace copyright ownership and to obtain permission for reproduction. If you believe you are the copyright owner of an item on this site, and we have not requested your permission, please contact us at special.collections@otago.ac.nz

New York: Street and Smith Publications

The green Martian on the cover of this September 1954 issue of Astounding magazine looks eerily like the artist who drew it, Frank Kelly Freas (1922-2005). Freas enjoyed a fifty year career in SF illustration, producing work for Weird Tales, Planet Stories, Astounding/Analog and MAD magazines; countless paperback covers; the patch for the NASA Skylab program in 1973; the cover of the band Queen’s 1977 album, News of the World; and even a werewolf’s portrait which appeared in the movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2005). Described as the ‘Dean of Science Fiction Artists’, Freas won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist ten times. Upon his death in 2005, his memorial service was held at the Church of Scientology’s Celebrity Centre in Hollywood.