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Sun Spots, v. 4, issue 3, whole no. 15, February 1941

Page 39

February 1941, SUN SPOTS, Page 35

"WAY BACK WHEN...."
By
George Wetzel

It's a far cry back to the days of the quarterlies of mamoth size, the 8" by 12" monthlies, the science fiction series. I know it, and that is my squawk. I realize that now S-F has made great strides in all directions, but in doing so it has forgotten some of the things that help put it on top of the heap. For instance, the high quarterlies that AMAZING and WONDER used to put out. The readers enjoyed it. Asked the ed. for more. Then the respective mags changed hands. The new owners have so far made them great in every respect. They have asked the reader for suggestions; sometimes the editors act on them, sometimes they ignore them. One such example is the quarterly. I'm sure all S-F fans would buy up every copy if any hit the stands. ((Ye gods, how many fans do you think there are? ---eds)) But, the pro-eds say no. Why? Do they consider it to great a risk? Perhaps...but the new trend in S-F now was it risk before the eds knew the readers would prefer it, wasn't it? The eds won't be taking a risk if they put out a new quarterly, because the quarterly idea was tested years ago by Gernsbach. 
At present one ed did try a quarterly on the fans but what happened? To begin with it wasn't really a quarterly , in the sense that most of us think. True, it is supposed to appear 4 times a year, but its make-up!!! It was stinky, not to mention the visual reaction (Please understand that this criticism is not personal, but is to be taken as a comparision.) The ish contained only 144 pages as compared with the old Qs of the same number of pages, but the pages were twice as big, which would give you about 288 pages if the big size page was cut in half. The main novel of the ish, was a 100 page reprint which I had read sometime before. I'll wager that the majority, no almost 99% of the fans have read the same thing years ago. And the fans where the ones to whom the Qs was slanted. The rest of the material contained in the ish were short stories in a Q which features novels; and the stories with the exception of one were puny! The only redeeming thing about the rag was the cover by Jack Binder; his cover was the exceptional kind that you see now and then when an artist takes his time. That clears that up. 
My next bone of contention is the argument about which S-F artist is best equiped to illustrate. Back when AMAZING was getting into its full stride; Wesso and Morey were tops. Morey slipped horribly since then. Remember his pics for "Jamison Satellite", "The Last War", "South Polar Bertillium, Limited," and also the other pics he did for the "Profes or Jameson" series? His art work was very suggestive of Wesso at his unbeatable best. Now he does just slop! ANd Wesso (in my opinion) always has turned out an understandable bit of work. His stuff is modernistic in design, was even before people were aware of modernism. For a few years, now, he has been suppressed by eds for some unknown reason. Another of the old timers, worthy of a mention is Eliot Dold. He is conceeded to be best in the field by an art instructor, I know. Just look at the space-ships that he draws, and cyclopean machines. They are nothing like Wesso's type, but they are original. Even his human figures are naught but his own; are of his individual style. Yet he was uncerimoniously dropped from the art staff at ASTOUNDING; and no reason was given. I wrote the editor, asking what happened to Dold, but he did not elucidate. I have still to find out. 
Perhaps some are wondering why Paul is not mentioned. The truth of the thing is that I think Paul belongs to the days, those "glor

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February 1941, SUN SPOTS, Page 35 "WAY BACK WHEN...." By George Wetzel It's a far cry back to the days of the quarterlies of mamoth size, the 8" by 12" monthlies, the science fiction series. I know it, and that is my squawk. I realize that now S-F has made great strides in all directions, but in doing so it has forgotten some of the things that help put it on top of the heap. For instance, the high quarterlies that AMAZING and WONDER used to put out. The readers enjoyed it. Asked the ed. for more. Then the respective mags changed hands. The new owners have so far made them great in every respect. They have asked the reader for suggestions; sometimes the editors act on them, sometimes they ignore them. One such example is the quarterly. I'm sure all S-F fans would buy up every copy if any hit the stands. ((Ye gods, how many fans do you think there are? ---eds)) But, the pro-eds say no. Why? Do they consider it to great a risk? Perhaps...but the new trend in S-F now was it risk before the eds knew the readers would prefer it, wasn't it? The eds won't be taking a risk if they put out a new quarterly, because the quarterly idea was tested years ago by Gernsbach. At present one ed did try a quarterly on the fans but what happened? To begin with it wasn't really a quarterly , in the sense that most of us think. True, it is supposed to appear 4 times a year, but its make-up!!! It was stinky, not to mention the visual reaction (Please understand that this criticism is not personal, but is to be taken as a comparision.) The ish contained only 144 pages as compared with the old Qs of the same number of pages, but the pages were twice as big, which would give you about 288 pages if the big size page was cut in half. The main novel of the ish, was a 100 page reprint which I had read sometime before. I'll wager that the majority, no almost 99% of the fans have read the same thing years ago. And the fans where the ones to whom the Qs was slanted. The rest of the material contained in the ish were short stories in a Q which features novels; and the stories with the exception of one were puny! The only redeeming thing about the rag was the cover by Jack Binder; his cover was the exceptional kind that you see now and then when an artist takes his time. That clears that up. My next bone of contention is the argument about which S-F artist is best equiped to illustrate. Back when AMAZING was getting into its full stride; Wesso and Morey were tops. Morey slipped horribly since then. Remember his pics for "Jamison Satellite", "The Last War", "South Polar Bertillium, Limited," and also the other pics he did for the "Profes or Jameson" series? His art work was very suggestive of Wesso at his unbeatable best. Now he does just slop! ANd Wesso (in my opinion) always has turned out an understandable bit of work. His stuff is modernistic in design, was even before people were aware of modernism. For a few years, now, he has been suppressed by eds for some unknown reason. Another of the old timers, worthy of a mention is Eliot Dold. He is conceeded to be best in the field by an art instructor, I know. Just look at the space-ships that he draws, and cyclopean machines. They are nothing like Wesso's type, but they are original. Even his human figures are naught but his own; are of his individual style. Yet he was uncerimoniously dropped from the art staff at ASTOUNDING; and no reason was given. I wrote the editor, asking what happened to Dold, but he did not elucidate. I have still to find out. Perhaps some are wondering why Paul is not mentioned. The truth of the thing is that I think Paul belongs to the days, those "glor