Octopus with a ray gun

It's a bit of a change of pace from the autumnal/Halloween theme, but I started this awhile ago and finished it while watching Doctor Who (The Androids of Tara). I didn't really have a good idea of what an old fashioned diving bell should look like, but as luck would have it I bought some old juvenalia adventure books this summer from the 1930s or 1940s and in one of them -- "Don Sturdy in the Land of Volcanoes" -- there is a frontispiece with a variety of strange pulp adventure novel drawings: a blimp, a volcano, a shark and a diving bell, and I was able to get a quick idea of what a suit might look like.

Of course, once you have an underwater volcano and are fraught with danger at every turn, such as a giant octopus, you need something to battle it, like a trident. Imagine our hero's surprise then when the octopus reveals that it wields an underwater raygun! Well I think I have all my adventure novel cliches covered with this one. I also included a turtle, as a tribute to the two turtles that we have as adopted pets.

For more about juvenalia from the early 20th century I recommend the Violet Books web site. Although the site no longer sells books, there are lots of essays and images that I've found to be a valuable resource for something like 10 years now. When there was a catalog listed I would print it out and use it as a wish list when I went to used book stores.