SPACE WARS (1977-1980) Cover Gallery - Part 2

Issue #8

Join us as we once again venture into the domain of the downscale genre mags of publishing mogul Myron Fass' Stories Layouts and Press Inc., purveyors of cheap newsstand fodder, with a second batch* of the lurid Space Wars covers that beckoned seductively to our adolescent eyes from the newsstand racks and tempted our meager allowances out of our pockets. Starting with issue #8, Fass' editors/art directors switched away from painted covers to garish, sloppy photo montages, as you can see here....

Issue #9

Issue #10

Issue #11

Issue #13

Issue14

Issue #15

 * Check out the first Space Wars cover gallery HERE.

SPACE WARS (1977-1980) Cover Gallery - Part 1

Issue #1

Once again, we're braving the downscale genre mags of sleazy publishing mogul Myron Fass' Stories Layouts and Press Inc., purveyors of cheap newstand fodder. A while back, we reviewed the short-lived sci-fi mag, Star Encounters, but this time around, we're looking at his company's longest-running cheapo Starlog imitator - Space Wars.

Like its companion magazines, Space Wars was printed on the cheapest possible newsprint, with little-to-no interior color, and ugly, cluttered layouts. Still, for young genre fans back in those pre-home video/pre-Internet dark ages, Fass' 'zines helped sate the appetite for behind-the-scenes stories and sci-fi news between issues of Starlog and Fantastic Films.

Here's a gallery of some of the lurid cover layouts that caught our eyes from the newsstand racks and lured our meager allowances out of our pockets...

Issue #2

Issue #3

Issue #4

Issue #5

Issue #6

Issue #7

One of these days, I'll post the remaining Space War covers. How many of these did you have?

SPACE WARS Magazine (1978) - Original Cover Art

Here's a very cool art find (thanks to Anthony Taylor): the original cover painting by an uncredited artist for the December 1978 issue of Space Wars magazine, one of the many Starlog imitators, published between 1977 and 1980 by the imaginatively-named "Stories Layout And Press Inc." I don't believe that I had this particular issue, but I'm pretty sure I had a few Space Wars mags in my stash at one point or another. If I recall correctly, Space Wars was all black & white, printed on the cheapest newsprint, with terrible photo reproduction and poor layout. Still, I read my copies over and over until they fell apart.

From the likenesses, it's obviously heavily photo-referenced, so it's odd that artist is so off-model on the Vipers. Still, I'm kinda tickled by the liberties taken with the design of the Colonial fighters - the changes are actually pretty damned cool!

ADDENDUM: As Tim pointed out in the comments, this art also appeared on a Dynamite magazine cover - with considerably less obscuring copy. I thought I'd seen it before!