"Robot Monster" (1953)

Moon monsters launch attack against Earth! How can science meet the menace of astral assassins? New Science Fiction Thrills!

Hello, Pulp Friends,

Today's offering, "Robot Monster", directed by Phil Tucker in 1953, is in the same category of "Plan 9 From Outer Space": CULT movies! :D
Speaking of Plan 9, I should feature it in here as well - definitely ;)
Meanwhile I leave you with Ro-Man, our helemted primate from the moon and with my wish to draw a full book, one day, with this guy. I would LOVE to do that :)

Wish you all a wonderful Pulp Sunday :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
"Watchers from Outer Space" © and TM 2009 Francesco Francavilla.

"It Came From Outer Space" (1953)

Hello, Pulp Friends,

1953 seemed to be the golden year for sci-fi and alien invasions.
After "Invaders From Mars" and "War of the Worlds", from the same year, we deal today with the monstrous aliens of "It Came From Outer Space" ("Destinazione... Terra!" in its Italian release), written by Ray Bradbury and directed by Jack Arnold.

Monstrous aliens, I said, but in this case first impressions can be deceiving.
Stranded in the Arizona desert, the monstrous, but pacific, crew of an alien ship xenomorphically take the aspect of the local people so they can fix the ship without alarming anyone and leave to go back home.
A classic indeed :)

Wish you all a wonderful Pulp Sunday :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
"Watchers from Outer Space" © and TM 2009 Francesco Francavilla.

"War Of The Worlds" (1953)

Hello, Pulp Friends,

There is anything to add about this movie? I hope not becuase I am short on time ;)
I just hope you guys dig the more "different" approach of this week tribute ;)
Planning to do a more "realistic" portrait of these bad guys later this week.

Hope you all had a wonderful Pulp Sunday :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
"Watchers from Outer Space" © and TM 2009 Francesco Francavilla.

"Invaders From Mars" (1953)

Hello, Pulp Friends,

I feel like I have been neglecting this blog a bit, after the "busy" Halloween month in October - I just have a few deadlines I need to take care so I have been focusing on "work" lately ;) As matter of fact I haven't had chance yet to watch the "V" series premiere, even if I DVRed it so maybe this weekend I will fix that.

Meanwhile here's a classic for our Alien November: "Invaders From Mars" (or "Gli Invasori SPaziali" in its italian release), directed in 1953 by William Cameron Menzies and remade later in the 80s.

Quick Synopsis: A kid witnesses a starship landing on Earth and disappearing undergorund. He tries to warn everyone about this but only a doctor believes him.
Shot in 3D, this movie is the proof that you can accomplish a lot with really good ideas, even if the budget is tight.
Paranoid, obsessive, unforgettable.

Happy Pulp Friday, everybody! :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
"Watchers from Outer Space" © and TM 2009 Francesco Francavilla.

Shadow of the Skies

Hello Pulp friends :)

like we see it happening in each Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror, here's a little "cameo" of UFOs in between old pulpy horrors.

There are two reasons for today's post.
The main is that I wanted to pay tribute to the latest AWESOME creation of the cool and talented Dave Flora, of Ghost Zero fame. His Doc Monster is running this month competition over at Zuda Comics, DC label for webcomics.
If you haven't voted yet for Doc Monster, please do now by clicking here: there is still 48 hours to make Doc Monster win :)

The other reason is that, while October was dedicated to the horror, November will be all about classic sci-fi and aliens, thanks to the premiere, on Nov 3rd, of the new version of "V" on ABC. I did an ALIEN month in December 2008, so, about a year later, it's time to see more "Watchers" invading Pulp Sunday.
Hope you guys will tune in for some extra-terrestrial Pulp :)

Cheers,
Francesco

All images © 2009 Francesco Francavilla

MagmaCron & MechaMan!

Hello, Pulp Friends,

here are the final 2 covers for that deliciously retro pulp sci-fi role game books: the MagmaCron and the MechaMan! As mentioned before, these were tons of fun to work on and I hope you guys dig 'em as much as I do :D

Stay tuned and have a Pulp Sunday everyone! :)

Cheers,
Francesco



Artwork © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
"Galactic Adventures in the Fourth DImension of the Forbidden Zone" © 2009 Killer B Games.

Dragon Man!

Hello, Pulp Friends,

here's the second cover (in a set of 4 covers) for the Pulp Sci-Fi role game books I was mentioning earlier this week. This cover features one of the dreaded Dragon Men of Hydrus! A pretty mean (and ugly) dude ;)
Working on a Magma creature and a hoovering robot next.

Stay tuned and have a Pulp Sunday everyone! :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
"Galactic Adventures in the Fourth DImension of the Forbidden Zone" © 2009 Killer B Games.

Galactic Adventures

Hello, Pulp Friends,

first let me apologize for missing this past Pulp Sunday but I was attending Dragon*Con and didn't have chance to work on an old time radio show.
To make up for it, expect a week full of Pulpiness (some from the Con itself).

Let's start today with this cover I did for a role game book for a UK based game company.
This is the first of 4 covers commissioned by them.
Hope you guys dig it :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Artwork © 2009 Francesco Francavilla.
"Galactic Adventures in the Fourth DImension of the Forbidden Zone" © 2009 Killer B Games.

The Welcoming

Hello Pulp Friends,

John, one of the cool folks who commissioned me art at Heroes Con sent me the scan of the Mars Attacks! drawing I did for him at the show and I couldn't resist to dress those inks up a bit, especially considering the pulp nature of the subject ;)

Attached both the original sketch (well, the scan of it I received from John) and the final color version.
Hope you guys dig this little tribute to the classic Topps card set :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Sci Fi CLassics: Star Trek

Hi guys,

I finally found time to draw the last piece of my little Star Trek puzzle/tribute and, doing so, now I can show the whole composition before I head out to watch the new movie.

Below id Dr McCoy, part 4 of 4 - the color version is over at my other blog.

Hope you guys dig it.

Cheers,
Francesco

Pulp Screen: "Earth Versus the Flying Saucers", 1956

Helo Pulp Friends,

while we wait to find some other radio show to be the subject of my Sunday illustrations (apparently the Shadow episodes have been taken down from the Archive), let's keep it going with some more classic Sci-Fi cult.
This time it's the turn of "Earth Versus the Flying Saucers", from director Fred F. Sears.
Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory ;) I wanted to add that the movie had some cool special effect thanks to magician Ray Harryhausen, and that Tim Burton tribute the flying saucers showing perfect replicas in his Mars Attacks!

Cheers,
Francesco

Edit: OK, had some time to put some color on it so click on the image for the Technicolor version ;)

Pulp Screen: "The Day the Earth Stood Still", 1951

Hello Pulp friends,

if I am not wrong, a certain "remake" is opening tomorrow here in US so I thought to tribute the original version, directed by Robert Wise.
The pacific alien Klaatu and his bodyguard robot Gort land in Washington on front of the White House and they bring a message (warning and ultimatum at the same time).
Inside Gort's costume there is the gigantic Locke Martin, a doorman at Hollywood who was often used in movies thanks to his incredible height. He fainted many times during the shooting of the movie because of the heat of the spotlights: try to imagine to be in that armor and be fully toasted...

KLAATU BARADA NIKTO, everyone :)

Francesco

Pulp Screen: "This Island Earth", 1953

My little tribute to Forrest J. Ackerman. I know he was the biggest fan of old sci-fi and horror movies.

This is for you, Uncle Forry. RIP.

Francesco

Click on the image for the cinemascope version.

Pulp Sci-Fi Week: Captain Future

Hello pulp-friends,

On the second day of Pulp Sci Fi Week I am very honored to introduce a very talented artist and friend, Kyle Latino (kyle-latino.deviantart.com) who kindly offered to illustrate one of the classic pulp sci-fi hero. He did the beautiful illo that open this post and wrote the brief introduction to this character, including those trivia we all love :) I just added the little illo of Grag, just my daily contribute to Pulp sci-fi week.

Thank you, Kyle!

Curtis Newton (Captain Future) is born in his father's moon lab in the distant year of 1990. The Newtons share this space dwelling with three of his father's greatest scientific works: Grag, the robot; Otho, the shape-sifting biological android; and Simon Wright, family friend and scientist whose life is lived beyond his body in a small mechanized tank. Life was happy while everyone when about their amazing research projects until sceince criminal, Victor Kaslan, breaks into the moon lab and kills Curtis' parents. From that point on, Curtis is raised by Grag, Otho, and Simon to become a galactic crime-fighter. The four of them become known as the Futuremen.


His adventures were first published in 1940, by Thrilling Publications, penned by Edmond Hamilton. Interesting to note that the bickering Grag and Otho are largely considered to be the precursors of the two iconic droids, C-3PO and R2-D2. Also, Leigh Brackett, Hamilton's wife and sci-fi author in her own right, worked on the screenplay to Empire Strikes Back. So see, what inspires and excites people today is often built upon even earlier works which have all but faded from the public view. Dig through the sediment layers of pop culture, and there's no telling what you'll find.

Pulp Sci-Fi Week: Flash Gordon

Hello pulp-friends,

Welcome to the first edition of Pulp Sci Fi Week. I said first because we will get more sci-fi weeks in the near future, if you guys enjoy this one.
I couldn't start this edition without spotlighting the most famous sci-fi pulp hero of all: Flash Gordon!
Do I need to introduce him? Really? Ok, just a quick overview then ;) Flash Gordon is the "son" of Alex Raymond, one of the greatest artist of the american (and world wide) comics. Flash is athletic, tall, strong, and ready to action. He is "born" in 1934 to defend the men of Earth from the evil Ming (see below), emperor of planet Mongo, who wants to conquer the Earth and put it under his tyranny. The story and the characters were so strong that they jumped off the newspaper strips to become a radio show, a series of movies in the 40s, and to live until the modern days.


Some of the most recent "incarnations" of this character include the world famous De Laurentis big budget adaption for the big screen in the 80s and a tv series last year for the tv channel Sci-Fi. While a little cheesy in parts, the movie has lots to be enjoyed like the beautiful Ornella Muti as Ming's daughter, Ming himself played by a superb Max Von Sydow, the cool visuals and the rocking (pun fully intended) soundtrack by Queen. The tv show... well, that's completely another story ;)

Cheers,
Francesco