o_O?

[ratcreature]

The weird things you see when browsing Fanlore... I looked at scans of the wraparound cover of the K/S zine T'hy'la #12 (front and back) by Marilyn Cole, and looking at this I have no idea what is going on in this cover, especially on the Spock side of it. I mean, okay, I assume that's some kind of savage or pre-Reform Spock, and I can ignore that the very muscled body doesn't look all that Spock-like (maybe pre-Reform Vulcans work out a lot). But why is his hand transforming into a gross sticky web? (or is it tentacles?) It looks extremely creepy to me.

I keep wondering, is this a literal thing, illustrating a story in which Vulcans have weird biology and this is some kind of shapeshifting hand-sex-organ, what with it capturing Kirk, or metaphorical somehow, maybe symbolizing bonds via touch telepathy? Or maybe it is just decorative. I tried to figure out what it illustrates a story from the zine's TOC, but nothing stands out as an obvious match.

Comments

[sherrold]

I don't think it illustrated a story -- I think Spock is just freeing him from...uh...magical pretty stuff, designed to hold him prisoner as prettily as possible!

(And oh, those were the days.)

[ratcreature]

those were the days

I'm having a lot of fun looking at all the zine art. What I found freaky is not so much the motif per se as why Spock's hand morphs into the net like that rather than just holding it.

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Y'know, if you hadn't told me that was supposed to be Kirk and Spock, I'd've assumes it was supposed to be some kind of elf throwing a net.

[ratcreature]

The really weird thing for me is that he isn't holding the web in his hand, but it somehow grows. It's like a horror movie or something.

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

It looks to me like he's holding a small fold of the web-net in his hand, tossing it outward to catch Jim. It's still very odd, though.

[ratcreature]

But if you look at his index finger, the lines from the finger continue directly into the web.

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Yeah...I think I was reading that as fingertips curled through holes in the net, but it could also be a Spider-man webbing coming out of his fingers thing. Very odd.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

I can't remember the included stories very well, but it was the usual practice (in zine ST fandom in general, I believe) for the covers to not necessarily have anything to do with a specific story.

In this case, knowing the tropes of the fandom and this particular zine, I believe you were supposed to imagine a weird AU where Savage!Spock is capturing his mate, bwa-ha-ha!

[ratcreature]

I still find the shapeshifting tentacle/web hand disturbing, Savage!Spock or not.