Bug Aliens in Love

It's Valentine's day week, and you all know what that means. That's right, we're talking about bug aliens. This issue, we'll be semi-debunking a popular Tumblr post about a human astronaut and his humanoid bug-headed girlfriend.

It started back in June 2019, when the (very good) Tumblr weirdlandtv posted this image with the caption "Pulp sci-fi illustration by Italian artist, Aldo Di Gennaro (b. 1938)."

This straightforward and loving depiction of an inter-species relationship, combined with the "1938" date, led a few Tumblr users to weigh in on the value of embracing the realities of love beyond the nuclear family hetronorm, particularly during decades past, like the '30s, which have since been whitewashed by history.

One of those users has deleted their original post since then, so I won't link, but here's the commentary.

It's a fun bit of Tumblr prose, and I endorse the general view. But there's a problem. As the "b." in the original post indicates, this artwork is not from 1938 – that's just when the artist was born.

The simple "rocket" style of spaceship here was most popular around the '40s-'60s (likely due to the V-2), but the general art style and colors really wouldn't have fit into commercial work prior to the '90s at the earliest.

I couldn't confirm this online, but one Tumblr commenter says it's from issue 124 of Almanacco del Mistero, published in the relatively unimpressive year of 2014. Aldo Di Gennaro was indeed illustrating the title during that year, and with the same style, so this seems to be the answer.

Granted, a 2014 interspecies relationship doesn't inspire as many Tumblr notes as a 1938 one does, but Di Gennaro was indeed born in 1938, making him 76 years old at the time he did the illustration, so that's cool.

Anyway, that's enough about that illustration. Let's take a look at all the other times bug-like aliens have messed around with humans in retro sci-fi art.

I'll leave it up to you how much love is actually happening. Does the giant fly on Ken Barr’s 1978 cover to Frank Belknap Long’s The Rim of the Unknown actually love that woman? Probably not.

These two, from a 1972 Eddie Jones cover for Klaus Fischer’s Leben aus Andromeda, seem to have, at least temporarily, put aside their differences to warm up by a fire.

The bug-aliens and the human are having a good platonic hang on Michael Whelan’s cover to With Friends Like These…, by Alan Dean Foster, published Dec 1977.

Michael Whelan has another great on-theme cover, too, with his 1982 cover to Alan Dean Foster's Nor Crystal Tears. Once again, though, it's a platonic meeting of the minds.

Not sure what the bugs on this 1989 cover art by John Higgins for C. J. Cherryh's Serpent’s Reach are up to.

But George Barr's Nov-Dec 1978 Asimov's cover, on the other hand? You can't tell me this isn't steamy.

And then there's Vincent Di Fate's 1987 cover art for Orson Scott Card's Wyrms, complete with one of the least hidden phalic symbols I've seen on a mainstream book cover.

Most of the time, though, giant bugs and humans are interacting exactly the way you'd expect in retro sci-fi. When they're not tearing Doc Savage's shirt to shreds –

– they're in a tense diplomatic stand off with Spock.

Or perhaps quietly judging each other, like in this Alan Guttierez illustration.

Okay, that's about as far as even I can milk this concept.

Wait, wait, one more thing: Let's end with a few examples of the adorable children we might expect from a bug-alien/human coupling.

Love is beautiful. Happy Valentine's, everyone! Here, have my favorite Valentine's Day card, this 1971 card by Jack Kirby.

Next Time: Trains