Here’s some more very vintage Roy G. Krenkel art, this time from E. E. "Doc" Smith’s Subspace Explorers. It’s part of an early 1950’s collection at Golden Age Comic Book Stories.

Krenkel’s later work is an indelible part of my memories of growing up – his covers, frontispieces and illustrations for the old Ace paperbacks, his work in Amra, and his collaborations with other artists like his friends Frank Frazetta and Al Williamson crop up everywhere in my memories. He had an enviable knowledge of real history, its artifacts and our archaeology that informed all his fantastic works and, I think, lent Frazetta a firm grounding for his own fantasy paintings and illustrations.

This illustration came early enough in Krenkel’s career that his signature inking, with its delicacy and spontaneity, hadn’t gelled yet. That’s one of the reasons that I like it. The catwalks, ray guns and mysterious machines don’t hurt either, of course.