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Mystery (Star Trek: TOS art)
| Fan Art | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Mystery |
| Artist: | Shelley Butler |
| Date(s): | 1993 |
| First Published: | |
| Medium: | |
| Genre/Style: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Mystery is art by Shelley Butler.
It was printed as the front cover of Charisma #18 in 1993, and reprinted as interior art in Amazing Grace #4.
In "Charisma," it was created for for the story: They are Immortal, All Those Stars.
Who Is It?
In 2000, there was speculation on who the legs behind Kirk belonged to:
[a fan]: Amazing Shelley. Of course, it's Kirk sitting behind Spock, but what if it is someone else and Spock is thinking of Kirk? Beautiful, just plain beautiful.
- note from Shelley: It is someone else! In the story, it's the Vulcan Adept Setaykh.
- In the original, it's a mystery man — hence, the title. I think it caused a mild controversy, back then. Uh, oh! [1]
Reactions and Reviews
1994
Do you believe in destiny? This picture is a perfect representation of J-S. Cavalcante's story "Answers," which is printed in this zine, yet Shelley drew it without knowing that the story even existed. Talk about coincidence! And it's a lovely picture. Has anyone noticed that much of Shelley's art hides the faces of her subjects? In the beginning I wondered whether she could draw faces. Now I know she can, and the Kirk in this picture is wonderful, right on, with just the right shading and air of detached melancholy. But look! Spock is hiding his face! And whoever has my favorite Vulcan between his legs sure has long toes! A really nice picture filled with emotion. A story all by itself. [2]
2000
MYSTERY - Shelley Butler has a very lovely pencil of a Spock sitting between powerful thighs in the bottom half of the picture and a pensive Kirk face in the upper half of the picture. I knew I had seen this one before, and in the introduction you discover that it's a reprint from CHARISMA 18. I'm glad the editor credited the picture; otherwise, I would have worried for weeks about where I had seen this before. The art reproduction quality of this is very nice. It's printed on one side, so you could even tear it out and frame it if you wanted to.[3]
2001
What a wonderful front cover! A love Shelley's art and writing. Kirk's face is wonderful. Of course, the rest of the cover is great, too. [4]
References
- ^ from The K/S Press #50
- ^ from Come Together #2
- ^ from The K/S Press #49
- ^ from The LOC Connection #59