Illustration for 1952 Ray Bradbury story, The Rocket Man

A stunning two-page illustration by James Bingham from the February 1952 issue of Argosy magazine, for Ray Bradbury's short story "The Rocket Man." I like the futuristic dome shaped house, with tinted panes of glass, and the mid century modern/Googie furniture and decor. The only thing I don't like about it is the kid in the tight black shorts. The illustration would look much better with him removed from it!

UPDATE: Look -- artist David Grafe fixed it!

Illustration for 1952 Ray Bradbury story, The Rocket Man

• [UrbanUndead]

  Rocketman is looking pretty sleek, but I’m not so sure about the ensemble his sidekick, Hotpants Lad, is wearing :P

• [Stefan Jones]

  Don’t let him touch you, kid! Look at those electrons . . . he’s obviously highly atomic!

• [Stefan Jones]

  “I’m sorry, son. It’s 9 am and I’m out of here. And you’re not coming: Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise a kid.”

• [Hugh D’Andrade]

  I have a feeling the kid in the tight black shorts was the illustrator’s favorite thing…

• [Anton Angelo]

  As someone with a mostly absent father, the story really struck home for me as a kid: its still one of my very very favourites.  The kid needs to be there.  Hotpants are a feature, not a bug :)

• [robdobbs]

  I had to Google Googie.

• [Flesh of Sadie]

  You want to remove the kid’s shorts?

• [Rotwang]

  “Show me where the Rocket Man touched you, Tommy…”

• [carbonman]

  Jerry Sandusky, Rocket Man.

• [Sandi Carron]

  Can someone more capable than myself please just photoshop the kid some pants ….

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  Everybody wore those shorts until we were overcome by neo-Puritanism and men started wearing calf-length skorts.

  Here’s John Wayne.  Try telling him what you think of his outfit.

• [andyhavens]

  @Mark:disqus :

  Your wish, etc. http://www.flickr.com/photos/9000843@N04/6433072845/in/photostream

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Now he just looks like he’s staring at the spike on the front of the chair. That certainly makes it look less pervy.

  • [hogan]

    Gone! Except for his shadow. Don’t ever talk back to the rocketman! 

• [Jerome]

  Great illustration, but (to me anyway) does not at all match the feel of the story.

• [sockdoll]

  “The only thing I don’t like about it is the kid in the tight black shorts. The illustration would look much better with him removed from it!”

  Yeah, but then Captain Atomic would just look like a darkened lamp standing over there in the corner, waiting for someone to pull his chain.

• [liquidstar]

  I don’t want to put too fine a point on this.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg&ob=av3e

• [pipenta]

  And here I thought the kid with the shorts was the best part.

• [JhmL]

  That’d been so money as cover for the Elton John single.

• [liquidstar]

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GmkjnL4EYw&feature=related

• [Palomino]

  Actually, I believe the boy is the only original figure in this image. Put him in a 1950′s Norman Rockwell living room with a Santa Clause, then it all makes sense. 

• [Brian]

  You have to be obsessed with child pron to look at that picture and your first thought is about the kid’s shorts. And if you want to “fix” the art don’t remove the kid — it’s a Bradbury story, it’s all about the kid — just paint on some long pants over his legs….

• [Frank Diekman]

  So apparently in the future men will dress like Lady Ga-ga and wear  dildo helmets.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    So apparently in the future men will dress like Lady Ga-ga and wear dildo helmets.

    Future?

• [andyhavens]

  So I fixed the picture once. But it wasn’t quite enough. No… we need to double-dip into the meme pool on this one, I think:

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9000843@N04/6441192267/