Perry Rhodan #50

Back when I was a teenager in the 1970’s, I was a big fan of the Perry Rhodan series. The English edition was published by Ace Books, and edited by Forry Ackerman. Forry offered subscriptions to the series, and I started subscribing as soon as I found out about the series. The primary cover artist for the first 100+ issues was Gray Morrow. Morrow’s cover for #50, “Attack From the Unseen,” showed Perry posing heroically. In 1976, Ace ran a survey in the back of issue #s 86-91, offering a free poster of the cover for #50 if you cut out the survey and returned it to Ace. I filled out my survey the day I got #86 in the mail, and sent it back immediately. And then I waited. And waited. And waited. And no poster ever showed up. I’ve never seen one of these posters, have never heard of anyone who actually got one, and don’t think they were ever printed. My disappointment with Ace over this was deep.

Fast forward 28 years to the 62nd Worldcon, Noreascon 4, held in Boston. Prior to the convention, Deb and I visited our friend, Jerry Weist, and his wife Dana, who lived in the area. While going through stacks of art in Jerry’s flat files, I was astounded to find the original Gray Morrow painting for Perry Rhodan #50! He told me that he’d acquired it from Forry Ackerman on one of his visits to Forry’s Ackermansion. Jerry loved fanzine art, and after some frenzied negotiating, I traded him the original cover art for the 50th (and final) issue of Forry’s “Voice of the Imagi-Nation” -- or “VOM”, as it was often referred to, the fanzine Forry published with his friend Morojo for 50 issues from 1939 to 1947 -- as well as a wad of cash, for the cover for Perry Rhodan #50. I’ve acquired a number of other Morrow pieces over the years (including a few years later, the cover for Perry Rhodan #100, also from Jerry, who’d gotten it from Forry), but this one -- for me -- is the pinnacle.