Amazing Stories 1920s

The issue October 1929, volume 4, number 7 was illustrated by Frank R. Paul. Paul had a distinct style and this style would be synonymus with the Amazing Stories brand for decades to come. Even though Paul will leave Amazing Stories after the year 1929, his art will set a precedent for the magazine. 

In this particular issue, the front cover illustrates what seems to be an expansive, high tech factory. There are two men in the foreground engaging in a conversation based off their body language: bodies turned towards each other, pointing at the same thing, mouths open, one of the persons' head is turned toward the other. One of the men is significantly bigger than the other, almost like he's a giant compared to the other man. The giant man seems to be a worker because there are identical men in the background of the drawing, working and engaging with the machinery and creatures. The creatures are massive, about 10 times the size of the giant man. The creatures seem to be modeled after lizards and are dinosaur-like. The men are feeding the creatures through the use of the machines, kind of like farmers crowding their pigs to eat.

The modern assembly line was created by Henry Ford the decade prior in 1913, by 1929 it must have been very common in the workplace to use similar machinery and methods of assembly. Industrialization of life was a phenomenon in the 1920s, there was a new mechanism on market everyday. However, 1929 was when the market began to crash and started The Great Depression. Unemployment reached an all-time high for the time and production started to slow down because of it. Also the weather wasn't kind to farmers and their businesses with the start of the Dust Bowl as well as long and cold winters, livestock would die from lack of food and water. 

This cover art seems to reference the jobs of a factory worker and farmers, bringing them into the same environment. Thus, taking common jobs of the time period and futurizing them as well as the workers.