Cover for Mark Reinsberg’s Ad Astra fanzine, January 1940, by Julian S. Krupa. Newly colourised.

Julian S. Krupa (b. 1913) was an American illustrator from a Polish family. He trained at the Bauhaus in Germany, but left for America with his family. There he produced a science-fiction “serial illustration” titled Adventures of Richard Arnold / Przygody Ryszarda Arnolda which appeared in a Polish newspaper. He worked with the Ziff Davis Publishing Company from 1938, and had a good deal of artwork in Amazing Stories circa 1939. He also contributed to Ad Astra and probably other fanzines. He served in the Marines during the Second World War. In 1946 he was noted in the press as having the “JSK Recording Studio” in his basement at home. His grandson has left a short memoir of him which reveals he was also a talented violinist, performed at a World Fair, and did a radio show from his basement. After the war he worked for a company that made illustrations for training films used by the Navy and NASA. He later moved into doing marketing work for Radio Shack’s audio equipment, before retiring.