The Furry Extraterrestials Built From Functional Parts

One reason Frank R. Paul's aliens look strange today is because they are not designed as cohesive silhouettes but as collections of explainable, functional parts. Shown above, Paul's beings from Io, one of Jupiter's moons, are "heavily furred" to protect them from the moon's rapid temperature swings. Large lungs make them capable of "breathing a rarefied atmosphere." A shell-like head protects the creature's eyes from freezing while hands and feet are clawed for picking fruits from "towering cactus plants" (shown at left). Using Jupiter's red spot as a radioactive power source, the Ioian has "artificial heat, light, power" that support "city-communities quite well-advanced in science." Links to Fantastic Adventures, May 1940.