'70s Influences on Fantasy Film

Here's a shot from the 1978 animated Lord of the Rings movie, directed by Ralph Bakshi.

Here's a John Howe illustration – Howe worked as a chief conceptual designer on the live action 2000s trilogy.

And here's a shot from the 2001 Fellowship of the Ring movie.

I love seeing these sorts of cross-medium influences in adaptations.

This one's almost as good as all the stuff Peter Jackson swiped from Army of Darkness for the Helm's Deep battle (the gunpowder joke is just the tip of the iceberg).

Speaking of Tolkien, I just learned about Eric Fraser's very cool 1981 cover and interior illustrations for Radio Times, done to mark the release of a serialized BBC radio drama of JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Brian Sibley has the fun story behind the illustrations at his blog – he was the one who adapted the story for the broadcast. He took the opportunity to get in touch with Fraser and buy the cover painting before it was even finished, leaving a laundry list of "very grumpy" bigshots unable to own it themselves.

Since then, Sibley has been buying up other interior illustrations Fraser did for all 26 installments of the show. Some examples:

Today, Sibley lacks just a single illustration – this one, for episode two.

That's right, this story ends with our hero desperate for little else but to find the One Ring and take for himself at last! Oscar Wilde was right; life really does imitate art.

Okay, that's it for Lord of the Rings art – if you really need more, check out my old Angus McBride post. We're moving on to Madeleine L'Engle and the Duffer brothers.

Here's a shot from the final season of Stranger Things.

That particular edition of A Wrinkle in Time is the 1976 Dell Laurel-Leaf, with cover art by Richard Bober.

Bober went uncredited until 2023, when art book author S. Elizabeth wrote a blog post about the mystery, which drummed up enough attention that art blogger Wallace Polsom noticed and correctly deduced it was Bober. Polsom's Twitter thread where he talks about it is currently locked, but if you want to follow him, he has a website and tumblr.

Anyway, I recapped it all for a podcast episode from Boston's public radio station, and you can see all the relevant cover art over at a blog post I wrote about the search at the time.

That podcast episode just landed me a mention in Vulture's pop culture easter egg guide to Stranger Things!

I should stress that I just recapped it! Shout-out to S. Elizabeth and Wallace Polsom, who actually did the leg work.

And the latest news about just how deep Bober's lack of credit went? Bober's family recently revealed that "In 1983, Richard's nephew bought a copy at his school book fair because of the cover, not knowing his uncle had painted it!"

I really enjoyed Guillermo del Toro's version of Frankenstein. Del Toro made no secret that he was heavily inspired by Bernie Wrightson's beautiful illustrated edition – he even thanks him in the film's end credits.

Wrightson's Frankenstein was a labor of love that took him 7 years, with the complete book eventually published in 1983.

On tumblr, Frankenstein superfan snowpaw23 put together a post looking at the many Wrightson quotations that del Toro included in his film.

I'm trying something new here as part of my plan to beef up my $5/month paid tier in 2026.

The big changes are yet to come, but for this issue, paying subscribers can read on for some great new phone lockscreen recommendations, cool links, and my music rec of the week.

Free subscribers: I love you just as much, happy new year, and I'll see you next week, when we'll talk about sleighs drawn by polar bears.

One of my most popular posts from last month – this 1993 Moebius version of "Nighthawks" – is my current desktop background.

That's it for desktops, though: the rest of the post is lockscreens. Here are all the coolest options to wow your friends with.

First, the stylish '60s one that I'm currently using: Jack Gaughan's The Universe Between cover, 1967.

Ed Emshwiller's "Starship Soldier" was the November 1959 cover to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. There's a certain glee to the way these bulbous soldiers are zipping around. And you barely notice the spider aliens!

This 1997 illustration by Tristan Elwell for Vivian Vande Velde's Curses, Inc. and Other Stories is a pretty incredible lock screen for anyone who loves cats and retro computers. I finally bought a print of it for myself, after telling myself I needed to for years.

These ones are all modified versions of Ralph McQuarrie illustrations and concept art. A few more are available over at this collection of Star Wars lockscreens.

Speaking of Star Wars, here's one that doesn't need any modifications: Noriyoshi Ohrai's Return of the Jedi poster art.

Finally, here's one that I found on tumblr over here.

Still need more desktop or phone backgrounds? Check out the collection I put together last year.

Cool Links

Tabletop roleplaying games and violence - Miniver Cheevy

The author recently linked to this old blog post on Bluesky - it's a collection of block quotes taken from RPG handbooks, all discussing how the concept of committing violence functions within their RPG. A fascinating read and a cool way to structure a blog post, to boot.

What editing magazine stories taught me about writing - Oliver Franklin-Wallis

I thought this was a concise, intelligent, insightful read. But perhaps you'd expect that from an editor.

Music rec: This YouTube playlist of Persian jazz

Next Time: Polar Bear-Drawn Sleighs