If you missed the last one…
The idea that people will encounter aliens out in space that have wings is an obvious Christian-based concept. In fact, the first story to give us winged aliens was Honeymoon in Space: No. III.-A Glimpse Of The Sinless Star by George Griffith (Pearson’s Magazine, March 1900). When Lord and Lady Redgrave meet the Venusians they are without sin. They communicate through song and display Socialist values. Griffith makes them similar in their simplicity to H. G. Wells’s Eloi.
Other Victorian books to add to the idea include H. G. Wells’ The Wonderful Visit (1895) in which an angel comes to Earth. (Howard Fast’s “The General Zapped An Angel” (1970) would be a later example of such.) Wells has fun pointing out the faults of religion in this Fantasy.
I have not included any non-human winged creatures, or alien space bats. I don’t care if these winged humans have feathery or leathery wings, but they must be basically human in most other respects.
“Out of Time’s Abyss” (The Blue Book Magazine, December 1918) (reprinted in Amazing Stories, April 1927) by Edgar Rice Burroughs features the Wieroos. These humanoids are the future evolutionary forms of humans. On Caspak, individuals evolve, going from protozoa to dinosaurs to apemen to humans to Wieroos. These flying men are sterile, bald, evil and quite unlikable. They have to steal human women to breed. Burroughs seems to suggest the present human form is our best stage. Bradley has no trouble outsmarting these supposedly superior beings.
“Men With Wings” (Air Wonder Stories, July 1929) by Leslie F. Stone has the Mentorians, a race of scientific experiments that have crossed humans with birds. The Mentorians steal women to further their new race. They have a secret hideout in the Andes of Peru. The image of flying people versus airplanes must have been irresistible to Hugo Gernsback.
“Women With Wings” (Air Wonder Stories, May 1930) by Leslie F. Stone is the sequel to the last one. A strange disease nearly ends childbirth on Earth so the Mentorians go to Venus to steal women.The winged men defeat the warrior women called the Zoltans, who need stronger men. Problem solved!
Tama of the Light Country (Argosy, December 13-27, 1930) Ray Cummings is an Edgar Rice Burroughs imitator for this one. He was most likely inspired by the flying device in The Moon Maid. The humans in that novel aren’t winged but used low level flying equipment. Cummings does a similar thing for Mercury. With much less gravity than Earth, flying women become more practical. For on Mercury, only the gals get to take to the air. This was the first of three pieces.
Tama, Princess of Mercury (Argosy, June 27-July 18, 1931) by Ray Cummings has more Burroughsian adventure on Mercury.
The Pirates of Venus (Argosy, September 17-October 22, 1932) by Edgar Rice Burroughs features only briefly a flying race on Venus called the Klangan. These winged creatures steal Carson’s gal, Duare. They don’t appear in any of the other four books. The cover of Argosy 17, 1932 didn’t show them but Neal Macdonald drew them well for DC Comics. (Mike Kaluta did too, but another time.)
The Hawk Men in Flash Gordon (July 8, 1934) by Alex Raymond appeared for the first time on this date. The winged warriors made it into the 1980 movie with the wonderful Brian Blessed playing their leader. Raymond’s comic strip inspired many who came later especially DC’s Hawkman (The mace is a dead giveaway.)
“En Route to Pluto” (Astounding Stories, August 1936) by Wallace West was the first of a four part series that would be fixed up for a single novel in the 1960s. West gives us flying Martians. Their evolution of wings come from the harsh Martian landscape. The soft feathered wings help resist the cold and wind.
“He That Hath Wings” (Weird Tales, July 1938) by Edmond Hamilton is another classic that inspired those that followed. The story offers a young man who has wings but is socially pressured to get rid of them, be a normal human. Like H. G. Wells’s “The Country of the Blind”, the special ability acts as an analogy for the creative spirit among the banal throngs of humanity. Also like that story, the man possessing the gift dies rather than give up his ability. The story had no illustration but Gil Kane and Mike Esposito did a great job of it in Worlds Unknown, May 1973.
Almuric (Weird Tales, May June-July August 1939) by Robert E. Howard was a posthumous finale to Howard’s career. He wrote of many flying humanoids including the Winged Man in “The Garden of Fear”, the harpies in “Wings in the Night” and the Winged ape of “Queen of the Black Coast” but these were Sword & Sorcery tales. His only Science Fictional piece is this short novel. Esau Cairn is sent from our world into the brutal world of Almuric, where he leads a war against the winged rulers, the Yagas. To do this he has to take the “black citadel of Yugga, on the rock Yuthla, by the river of Yogh, in the land of Yagg”. The influence of Edgar Rice Burroughs is most evident in this novel.
“The Angel From Hell” (Marvel Tales, December 1939) by Jack Williamson as Nils O. Sonderlund has a pilot fighting invaders find a winged woman. Williamson’s tale is set on Earth and has A. Merritt style adventure in it unlike the other stories here. Jack wrote many tales under Merritt’s influence. Read about them here. The shadow of World War II hangs over this tale.
The Hawkman in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940) by Gardner F. Fox and Dennis Neville was the first appearance of this superhero, who was more weapons-oriented than most. This might be because of Alex Raymond’s Hawk Men as well as Fox’s love of Sword & Sorcery. The character would evolve over the years, eventually becoming an alien from Thanagor.
“Aerita of the Light Country” (Super Science Novels Magazine, August 1941) by Ray Cummings was the final segment in the Light Country series. Unlike the other two pieces, this one appeared in a low-paying Pulp rather than Argosy. An Earthman discovers Aerita in a carnival side-show on Earth. Before long they are back on Mercury where more Burroughs-style political action takes place.
“We Guard the Black Planet” (Super Science Stories, November 1942) by Henry Kuttner (and C. L. Moore, most likely) has a tenth planet beyond Pluto. It isn’t black so much as invisible. The aliens living there have wings. They brought their planet from another solar system like a space ship. Again the influence of A. Merritt insures the story has a tragic ending with the winged people losing their power of flight.
“The Winged Man” (Astounding Science-Fiction, May June 1944) by E. Mayne Hull (A. E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull) has Earthmen taken 24,999 years into the future to a war between winged humans and amphibians. The original tale was written by A. E. van Vogt’s wife, E. Mayne Hull then expanded in the 1960s by van Vogt to novel length.
“Way of the Gods” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1947) by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore as Henry Kuttner. (Thanks, Ake Rosenius.) Another Merritt-style adventure with winged mutants banished by humans, made into refugees. They have to defeat a mountain in an aerial battle to win a new home.
“Shadow Over Mars” (Startling Stories, Fall 1944) by Leigh Brackett (Reprinted in Fantastic Story Quarterly, March 1953) has an Earthman on Mars to fulfill a prophecy. He has Kyra of the Winged People to help him. Brackett describes his arrival at the winged folk’s city:
…The winged ones drifted out from the white towers, out across the little racing moons. They were light and indescribably beautiful, and their wings shimmered with soft secret fires like opals under mist…
“The Lure of Polaris” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1949) by Wallace West is the second part of the series though it appears thirteen years later. Harkness has Yahna the winged Martian gal to help him with his new problem: starvation on a remote space station.
“The Bird of Time” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1952) by Wallace West is the third piece in the series. This time only four years later. To make matters worse, it takes place chronologically before “Lure of Polaris”. Princess Yahna is being forced to marry someone other than the handsome Earthman.
“Captive Audience” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1953) by Wallace West is the final part of the series, and chronologically it appears before the last story. Mars and Earth are at war. Can an Earthman and a winged woman save two worlds?
“Cage of a Thousand Wings” (Planet Stories, Spring 1955) by Algis Budrys has Brandon on Mars to capture a “witch” for an earthly carnival side-show. The beautiful winged Martian girl has other ideas.
“The Man Who Counts” (aka “War of the Winged Men“) (Astounding Science-Fiction, February March April 1958) by Poul Anderson is one of his most popular early novels. The people of the planet Diomedes are winged and at war. Three humans end up on the planet, faced with starvation unless they can reach a lone Earth base.
The Bird of Time (1961) by Wallace West brought the four segments together in the right order.
Angel in X-Men #1 (Sept. 1963) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby is probably the most recognizable flying superhero after Hawkman. The poor mutant boy who is taken in by Dr. X has a very similar back-story to Edmond Hamilton’s “He That Hath Wings”.
Conclusion
Science Fiction has enjoyed the idea of humans with wings outside of actual religion. (As opposed to a tale like Robert Bloch’s “Hell’s Angel” (Imagination, June 1951) where real angels and Satan show up.) It quickly became a stock trope for writers of planetary fiction. Planet Stories inherited the idea as one of its common elements between authors, as it did with the desert planet of Mars (No, Frank Herbert didn’t invent that!), the jungle planet of Venus, etc. As with so many SF gimmicks, the original creator is often forgotten as more and more creators use the same idea.
Next time…Invisible!
