ok historians of such things: what comes before the METALUNANS of THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955) in ref external brains, exposed brains, giant disembodied brains etc
http://www.theweaponshop.com/metaluna2.JPG
(plug: i am huntin down material for the upcomin ep of tracer hand's and my <a href="http://freakytrigger.co.uk/slugoftime/";>radio show</a>, as we are talkin with guest dave q abt donald wandrei's 1927 short story THE RED BRAIN) (which you shd all listen to obv)
― mark s, Thursday, 24 April 2008 13:23 (sixteen years ago) link
Think this predates THIS ISLAND EARTH - the artist is Wally Wood
http://www.comic-art.com/media/jpegs/woodsf03.jpg
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 24 April 2008 17:53 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.stomptokyo.com/badmoviereport/pics/B/arous2.jpg
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 24 April 2008 19:48 (sixteen years ago) link
(not really a comic) http://www.ovo127.com/zines/ovo004.html
― chiquita, Friday, 25 April 2008 17:06 (sixteen years ago) link
What about the aliens in War of the Worlds (1897)? The original illustrations show them as basically brains with tentacles (as shown not very clearly in the bottom-right of this image from the original magazine publication...
http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/illus/DSCN8280.jpg
There are clearer images of the Martians from that version, but I can't find them online.
― James Morrison, Monday, 28 April 2008 00:28 (sixteen years ago) link
That's an amazing image!
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 28 April 2008 14:47 (sixteen years ago) link
james i think yr right -- it's years since i read war of the worlds, but i think it's maybe hinted that them martians are an over-evolved etiolated race who need their machines to move and do stuff?
"Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us."
― mark s, Wednesday, 30 April 2008 17:23 (sixteen years ago) link
so that's where crooked timber got it from :o
― thomp, Wednesday, 30 April 2008 18:56 (sixteen years ago) link
probably via the voiceover of the 50s film version, but yes indeed
― mark s, Wednesday, 30 April 2008 19:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Here we go: a better image from the original magazine publication... http://davidszondy.com/future/Dystopias/WAROFTHEWORLDSPAUL.jpg
And here's Wells' own sketch from his notebooks of what he thought they should look like... http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/6521/f2-07wlz.gif
― James Morrison, Wednesday, 30 April 2008 23:37 (sixteen years ago) link