Thread by @70sscifi

For 2021, I'm doing Space Skeleton Saturday! Every Saturday, I'll post a skeleton in a spacesuit from a retro science fiction illustration.

First up is the GOAT: Angus McKie's 1976 cover to 'The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 8,' edited by Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison

It’s been reused many times since, appearing in the Terran Trade Authority book 'Spacewreck' and as the cover to a 1982 French translation of 'Dune.' In 1984, a poster artist swiped it for the movie 'Def-Con 4'

Happy Space Skeleton Saturday! Continuing the "half buried in sand" theme, here's Jim Burns' 1977 cover to Stanislaw Lem's 'Futurological Congress'

For Space Skeleton Saturday: What appears to be a fast-moving, flesh-eating crystal on Ian Kennedy's 1983 cover to 'Starblazer #96'

John Harris has more epic landscapes to his name than personal scenes like this one, but he still easily crafted one of the top Space Skeleton Saturdays with this 1989 cover to James P. Hogan's 'Inherit the Stars'

Two for one Space Skeleton Saturday: Here's Fred Gambino’s 1974 cover to Harlan Ellison’s ‘Dangerous Visions 1’ on the left, along with Fred Gambino's 1979 interior art for Stewart Cowley’s ‘Spacewreck,’ on the right.

The cult of Space Skeleton Saturday is back in session with this 1981 “Mystery in Space” cover by Jim Starlin

Here's the first uncredited artwork of Space Skeleton Saturday, used as a 1975 cover to Stanislaw Lem’s ‘The Invincible.’ (Thanks to @SFRuminations for the scan)

Time for a surrealist Space Skeleton Saturday, with Charles Moll’s 1975 cover for 'Possess & Conquer,' by Wenzell Brown

Space Skeleton Saturday returns with a couple subtle examples woven into another compositionally surreal cover, this time from Don Maitz in 1979, for 'Beyond Apollo,' by Barry Malzberg

Another cover to James P. Hogan's 'Inherit the Stars' for Space Skeleton Saturday, by Darrell K. Sweet for the 1977 1st edition.

This era of sci-fi covers tended to focus more on machinery/landscapes than on human figures - Sweet bucks that trend with his dynamic characters

A low-key pen-and-ink Space Skeleton Saturday, with Richard Weaver’s cover for the 1976 edition of Lester del Rey’s 'Badge of Infamy'

Richard Corben's back cover art to 'Anomaly #4,' from November 1972 makes the case that I should have called this series "Space Skeletons Submerged in Sand Saturday." Deserts were a popular theme.

Space Skeleton Saturday goes to the 50s, with Ed Emshwiller's 1952 cover to “Thrilling Wonder Stories”, Vol. 40, #3

Dutch-Italian painter Karel Thole nabs a Space Skeleton Saturday entry with this 1978 cover to 'Lo scheletro impossible,' Urania magazine’s Italian translation of James P Hogan’s 'Inherit the Stars'

Okay, this one’s a stretch for Space Skeleton Saturday, but, uh, there’s a skeleton in there somewhere. Probably. Brian Lewis’s April 1977 cover to The House of Hammer #5

Happy Space Skeleton Saturday! Joseph Lombardero's trippy 1974 cover to 'The Worlds of Poul Anderson' is a great one.

Here's the rarest Space Skeleton Saturday: It's from a 1991 cover to a Russian edition of Clifford Simak’s ‘The Autumn Land,’ but I've never found the artist credit, or even a good quality version -- I had to upscale this image from a pretty small one.

Update: The artist has been found! It's Mikhail Larkin (Михаил Ларкин). Thanks to @SpecterOwl's work:

Happy Space Skeleton Saturday! Here's Michael Whelan's 1976 cover to 'The Trouble with Tycho,' by Clifford D. Simak

For Space Skeleton Saturday: This 'Urania' cover art by Milton Luros. It's at least as old as 1953, when it showed up on a cover to 'Future' magazine. isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi…

Space Skeleton Saturday! Technically, this spacesuited figure on Ray Feibush's 1974 cover to George Zebrowski's 'The Omega Point' isn't a skeleton, just an evolved human called a Herculean. But Feibush loved adding skulls to covers, so he went with a loose interpretation.

Michael Gross's back cover to 'Heavy Metal' magazine's January 1982 issue proves, once again, that deserts are a popular locale for Space Skeleton Saturday

Space Skeleton Saturday here again to tell you: If you're preserving your brain and eyes in a crystal ball of fluid, don't forget to keep your skull front too, just to lock everything in place. From Paul Alexander's 1977 cover for a F&SF magazine anthology.

Let's keep the "head preserved in crystal ball" theme going for this week's Space Skeleton Saturday: Bob Pepper's stylized 1983 cover to Philip K. Dick's 'A Maze of Death'

It's Space Skeleton Saturday! This head is not nearly as preserved as the last two. Paul Sonju's bloody 1983 cover to 'Songs the Dead Men Sing,' a George R. R. Martin anthology.

Next up for Space Skeleton Saturday is this uncredited cold-war-themed skull, used on the 1973 cover to Allen Drury's 'The Throne of Saturn'

Halfway through the Space Skeleton Saturday year! Here's Barry N. Malzberg as a space skeleton in the far-off future of 1986, as depicted by Stephen Fabian for the November 1973 cover to fanzine 'The Alien Critic'

Stephen Fabian went back to the "Famous sci-fi author as a space skeleton" well for another 'Alien Critic' cover the next year, for the August 1974 issue. Fabian's distinct style was a bit of a throwback to older pulp artists like Virgil Finlay and Hannes Bok.

Here's a great Space Skeleton Saturday: Davis Meltzer's surreal 1971 cover to Barry N. Malzberg’s 'The Falling Astronauts'

A vintage Space Skeleton this Saturday, with Alex Schomburg's cover to the December 1954 issue of 'Fantastic Universe,' depicting an astronaut coming across an oddly familar corpse.

(The entire issue's online over here: archive.org/details/Fantas…)

Even the world's most famous skeleton got into a spacesuit at one point. Here's Howard Chaykin's depiction of Death, the CryptKeeper-style host of DC comics' 'Weird War Tales,' from a 1978 issue. #SpaceSkeletonSaturday

Here's a great desert-set Space Skeleton Saturday with this piece by German artist Johnny Bruck

Spacesuited skeletons are a popular visual trope in sci-fi cover art, and reflections in space helmets are another. This 1974 cover art by Michael Gross for Roger Elwood’s 'Future City' anthology combines the two.

For Space Skeleton Saturday: Kevin Cullen's cover art for 'Vision of Tomorrow' #8, the May 1970 issue.

Skeletons in aviation suits are just as welcome to this thread as those in spacesuits. Here are two of them just hanging out on a cover by Don Lawrence to 'The Genesis Equation,' a 1995 installment in his long-running 'Storm' comic series.

Here's a fifties Space Skeleton Saturday with Ed Valigursky’s October 1956 cover to ‘Amazing Stories’

Ed Valigursky returned to the spacesuited skeleton theme 16 years later with this head-on version for a 1972 edition of 'The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein'

Slow Death #2, 1970, with cover art by underground comix artists Jaxon and Dave Sheridan. Ironically, it looks like this floppy-limbed astronaut's death was not at all slow.

I'd hoped to include this cover in my upcoming art book, as an example of the spacesuited skeleton trope appearing in comix/fanzines. But I haven't been able to get in touch with the artists' estates.

There's also a variant with a white skull. Purple one's my favorite, though.

Space Skeleton Splashdown Saturday: The prolific Dutch author and artist Tais Teng created this cover art for a 1980 edition of 'Raumschiff der toten Seelen,' by Clark Darlton. Don't miss the beautiful detail on the sea water.

#SpaceSkeleton Saturday: The uncredited cover to 'No Way Back' by Karl Zeigfried (pseudonym of the married writing team Patricia and R. L. Fanthorpe).

I'm surprised to find out it's from 1964 — the style looks older to me. Maybe the 1800s-diving-suit-looking outfit threw me off

An old-school Space Skeleton Saturday, the March 1954 cover for ‘Science Fiction Adventures,’ by Mel Hunter. Thanks to @SFRuminations for this one!

Melvyn Grant's album art for Iron Maiden's 'The Final Frontier' might be from 2010, but Grant's career in sci-fi cover art started back in 1977, so this #SpaceSkeletonSaturday has that authentic retro feel.

NASA's not doing so well on this cover to a Hibari Hit comic, "Intro to SF Horror," likely from mid-to-late 70s. I couldn't find artist information on this one, so any insight is welcome.

Artist credit for that last image!

Johnny Bruck’s 1983 cover art for 'Perry Rhodan-Heftserie' #1145 is an example of the confrontational head-on view that comes up more than a few times in the Space Skeleton Saturday oeuvre

Double Space Skeletons today! I've just been alerted to the existance of the gloriously colorful Brazilian March 1989 cover to 'Adventure and Fiction No. 16,' by artist Jose Claudino Gomes. Just when I thought I'd seen them all...

For Halloween weekend, a particularly great Space Skeleton Saturday entry: A one-page 1972 comic “Bias,” by Jeffrey Catherine Jones, complete with trademark morbid sense of humor.

A very early Space Skeleton this Saturday: Earle Bergey's cover to 'Thrilling Wonder Stories' dates back to April 1948, and features some amusing suit designs that include cube helmets and dental headgear.

Living astronauts finding skeletal ones were popular covers for 50s/60s pulp magazines. Here’s Karl Stephan’s 1961 cover to German dime novel series 'Utopia Zukunftsroman,' #299. My May 8 entry is another example from the same mag.

Another "living astronaut finds space skeleton" by Karl Stephan: His 1967 cover art for German sci-fi magazine 'Terra Utopische Romane,' #534. The hair is a nice touch. I hope he completed his diary entry.

A weather-beaten Space Skeleton Saturday: Katsuhiro Otomo’s June 1979 cover to Japanese magazine ‘Monthly Comic Again.’ Thanks to @otohime20000 for this!

Happy Space Skeleton Saturday! Here’s Al Feldstein’s July 1953 cover for 'Weird Fantasy #20', along with Feldstein’s own recreation a half-century later in 2005.

This clip from 1981 movie 'Heavy Metal' has both a skeleton in a spacesuit and a reminder to go easy on pondering your orb

This June 1970 'Perry Rhodan' cover is another desert setting, with no shortage of orange. I believe the artist is Massimo Belardinelli.

Okay, that last one is probably Johnny Bruck, as Belardinelli likely just did the interior art.

It’s Space Mummy Saturday! Hm? No, no, that’s always been the name. Here’s Peter Gudynas’s 1978 cover to ‘The Martian Inca,’ by Ian Watson.

I'm doubling up my tweets since the end is near for Space Skeleton Saturday… here’s a final Starblazer cover, an algae-covered one by Keith Robson for a 1984 issue, ‘Starblazer 132′

One of the last entry in my Space Skeleton Saturday series is a mysterious one: I couldn’t find any information about the artist or what this image was created for. Anyone know more?

It's a 1974 Perry Rhodan cover by Johnny Bruck! perrypedia.de/wiki/Die_Invas…

I’ve been pitched this HR Giger concept art for 'Alien' as a Space Skeleton Saturday entry. I’m sold! It is indeed a skeleton in a spacesuit.

Happy final Space Skeleton Saturday of the year! Douglas Chaffee was a sci-fi artist since 1967, though these space skeletons come from his concept art for 1995 video game Mission Critical. Looks like he slipped his own name on a nametag.

I’m saying goodbye to Space Skeleton Saturdays with an off-brand Friday post with no spacesuits, this WWII-era scene by the great Noriyoshi Ohrai. Happy new year, everyone!