A Star-Forged Ruby

Pulp sci-fi illustration by Italian artist, Aldo Di Gennaro (b. 1938).

This is probably the most culturally important thing I’ll ever seen in my lifetime if I’m being honest. I want this affixed over my mantle, embroidered into my denim, and emblazoned into my flesh so that generations to come may never forget this 1938 gem of an illustration. Put this on my gravestone and name my children after Alfo Di Gennaro. This is what it’s all about.

Artist was obviously a leg man, but I have never seen a female alien love interest designed as THIS alien before. She’s uniquely hairy, bugged-eyed, lines would indicate at least a partial exoskeleton, she has escaped being saddled with the mammories that a non-mammal being would not have, yet she’s got it bad for Space Force Leatherhead and he is so into her. I can practically hear his prose of her cabochon eyes of nebula violet, glowing with the passion to know and be known, in the starlight. The green of her body turning more vivid as discovery (and carnal knowledge) consume her conscious mind.

To suggest a red-blooded, human man could love Greedo’s cousin? Desire her??

This is fantastic, in every sense. How many lives did this change forever?

This is an INCREDIBLY thorough writeup that reveals the art for fifteen book-only entries – including the art for the absolute most complex entry in the entire book, Christine de Pizan:

I’ve referenced this piece here and there – it’s a double page spread that features every single woman in the book (and a Where’s Waldo-style camero from me). It took around 100 hours to complete. It’s all the diversity in the book in one image. I’m pretty damn proud of it.

Go to the link above and check out the rest of the pieces! Escaped Jamaican slaves, fierce samurai, scarred Moroccan folk singers, and itinerant gangs of Nigerian teachers await you!

(and full disclosure: the writeup does get a fair bit wrong. there’s 100 entries, not 200, in the book. it overstates how much my mom gave up to raise me and my brethren. but the core of it is there.)

“Marlowe is not based on the famous Raymond Chandler character Philip Marlowe but on the real-life African-American private investigator — a Jamaican immigrant and World War I veteran — who allegedly inspired him. Marlowe is a character-based procedural with a modern feel and contemporary soundtrack and follows Samuel Marlowe from the mansions and red carpets of Beverly Hills to the jazz clubs and back alleys of Little Harlem, where he navigates crimes, mysteries and social issues ripped from today’s headlines through the prism of 1937 Los Angeles.”

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Or in other words, “we’re not paying Raymond Chandler’s estate a dime, but thanks for the intellectual property!”

What part of “the real-life African-American private investigator" was difficult for you to comprehend?

ETA: http://graphics.latimes.com/finding-marlowe/

me trying to flirt

Well said, Anon, well said.