The Illustrated Man

Dust-jacket from the first edition
Author	Ray Bradbury
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction short stories
Publisher	Doubleday & Company
Publication date	1951
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	256 pp
ISBN	0-553-23096-4

The Illustrated Man is a 1951 book of eighteen science fiction short stories by Ray Bradbury that explores the nature of mankind. While none of the stories has a plot or character connection with the next, a recurring theme is the conflict of the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of people.

The unrelated stories are tied together by the frame device of "the Illustrated Man", a vagrant with a tattooed body whom the unnamed narrator meets. The man's tattoos, allegedly created by a woman from the future, are animated and each tell a different tale. All but one of the stories had been previously published elsewhere, although Bradbury revised some of the texts for the book's publication.

The concept of the Illustrated Man would later be reused by Bradbury as an antagonistic character in Something Wicked This Way Comes, the tattoos coming to represent the souls of sinful victims of a mysterious carnival.

The book was made into a 1969 film starring Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom. It was adapted by Howard B. Kreitsek from the stories "The Veldt", "The Long Rain", and "The Last Night of the World", and directed by Jack Smight.

A number of the stories, including "The Veldt", "The Fox and the Forest" (as "To the Future"), "Marionettes Inc.", and "Zero Hour" were dramatized for the 1955-57 radio series X minus 1. "The Veldt," "The Concrete Mixer," "The Long Rain," "Zero Hour," and "Marionettes Inc." were adapted for the TV series The Ray Bradbury Theater.

• "The Veldt" — Far into the future, two parents use a high tech nursery to keep their children happy. The children use the nursery's simulation equipment to recreate the predatorial environment of the African veldt. When the parents threaten to take the nursery away, the children lock their parents inside where it is implied that the parents are mauled and killed by the "harmless" machine-generated lions of the nursery.

• "Kaleidoscope" — A bitter astronaut feels he has accomplished nothing worthwhile in his life as he and the rest of his crew fall irrevocably to their demise in outer space because of a malfunction in their ship. The story illustrates the collapse of the sanity and logic of the crew members as they face their death. Ultimately, the lamenting narrator is incinerated in the atmosphere of the Earth and appears as a shooting star to a child after wishing that his life would at least be worth something for someone else.

• "The Other Foot" — Mars has been colonized solely by black people. When they learn that a rocket is coming from Earth with white travelers, they institute a Jim Crow system of racial segregation in which white people are to be considered second-class citizens, in retaliation for the history of wrongs perpetrated on their race by white people. When the rocket lands, the traveler tells them that most of the Earth has been destroyed in a war and asks for their help. The people realize that discrimination is harmful in all its forms, and reverse their planned segregation.

• "The Highway" — A husband and wife living by a highway in rural Mexico go on living their normal, idyllic lives as the highway fills with people fleeing a nuclear war. The story ends with some young travelers they help telling them about the nuclear war, and how the world is ending. After the travelers leave, the residents briefly wonder what "the world" is, and then continue on with their lives.

• "The Man" — A group of space explorers land on a planet to find the population living in a healthy state of bliss. Upon investigation, they discover that an enigmatic visitor came to them. Further description leads the two spacemen to believe that this man is Jesus (though he is never named, leaving room for other religious personas). One decides to spend the rest of his days on the rejoicing in the wake of the man's glory. The other continues in his spaceship, "chasing 'him' always a step behind, never fast enough to catch up to him, constantly trying to achieve the unachievable." Other members of the crew decide to stay on the planet to learn from the contented citizens, and are rewarded by the discovery that "he" is still on the planet.

• "The Long Rain" — A group of astronauts are stranded on Venus, where it rains continually and heavily. The travelers make their way across the Venusian landscape to find a "sun dome", a shelter with a large artificial light source. However, the first sun dome they find has been destroyed by the Venusians. Searching for another sun dome, the characters, one by one, are driven to madness and suicide by the unrelenting rhythm of the rain. At the end of the story, only one sane astronaut remains and manages to find a functional sun dome.

• "The Rocket Man" — Astronauts of this story are few in number, so work as they desire for high pay. One such astronaut goes off into space for three months at a time, only returning to earth for three consecutive days to spend time with his wife and son. The story is told from the perspective of the son, who holds an interest in one day also becoming an astronaut. Talking with his father, the son learns of the constant battle he faces with yearning for the stars at home while yearning for home while in space. Despite this he has several times attempted to quit, staying at home with his family as he realizes his constant absence has nearly destroyed his wife. At the end of the story the father takes off into space one last time, only to meet his end by the sun, and thus causing his wife and son to live their lives at night to avoid that reminder.

• "The Fire Balloons" — A group of priests travels to Mars to act as a missionary to Martians. Once there, they discover that the natives are actually entities of pure energy. Since they lack corporeal form, they are unable to commit sin, and thus do not need redemption.

• "The Last Night of the World" — In this story, the entire planet awakens to the knowledge that the world is going to end that very evening. Nonetheless, they go through their normal routines of going to work, eating, brushing their teeth, and falling asleep, knowing and accepting the fact that they will not wake up. This is in strong contrast to the looting and riots typically expected in this situation.

• "The Exiles" — Numerous works of literature are banned and burned on Earth. The fictional characters of these books are portrayed as real-life entities who live in a refuge on Mars. However, they are vulnerable, as when all the books on a character are destroyed, the character itself vanishes permanently. When the group of characters learn that some people are coming for them, they stage a counterattack, but are foiled by the astronauts who burn the last remaining books from Earth, unknowingly annihilating the entire colony.

• "The Fox and the Forest" — A couple from the future tires of the war in their modern lives, so they go on a vacation to the more serene past in an attempt to escape with the help of a company called "Travel in Time, Inc." They go to Mexico in 1938, but are pursued by a government agent who forces them to come back to 2155.

• "The Visitor" — This story takes place on Mars, which is used as a quarantine for people with deadly illnesses. One day, the planet is visited by a young man of eighteen who has the ability to perform thought transference and telepathy. The exiles on the planet are thrilled with his ability and a violent fight breaks out over who will get to spend the most time with their visitor and enjoy the illusionary paradises he can transmit. In the struggle, the young man is killed and the escape he provided is lost forever.

• "The Concrete Mixer" - A reluctant Martian soldier is forced to join the army as they prepare to invade Earth. However, when they arrive, they are welcomed by a world at peace, full of people who are curious rather than aggressive. The protagonist meets a movie director, and it becomes clear that the people of Earth have planned to exploit the Martians for financial gain. He tries to escape back to Mars, but is run over by a car and killed.

• "Marionettes, Inc." - A man attempts to escape his marriage by replacing himself with a robot to fool his wife into thinking he hasn't left and tells a friend about it. The man comes back and tells the robot to go back into the box, and the robot disobeys him saying he has fallen in love with the wife. The robot then proceeds to put the man in the box and goes to visit the wife. Later, the friend discovers that his wife has left and that he has been living with a robot version of her.

• "The City" — A rocket expedition from Earth lands on an uncharted planet to be greeted by a seemingly empty city. As the humans begin to explore, they realize that the city is not as empty as it seems. The city was waiting for the arrival of humans; the contingency plan of a long dead civilization, put in place to take revenge upon humanity after their culture was wiped out with biological weapons by humans long before recorded history. Once the city captures and kills the human astronauts, the humans' corpses are used as automations to finalize the city's creators' revenge; a biological attack on the Earth.

• "Zero Hour" — Children across the country are deeply involved in an exciting game they call 'Invasion'. Their parents think it is cute until it turns out that the invasion is real and aliens are using the children to help them get control of Earth.

• "The Rocket" — Fiorello Bodoni, a poor junkyard owner, has managed to save $3,000 to fulfill his lifelong dream of sending one member of his family on a trip to outer space. The family, however, finds it impossible to choose who will go because those left behind will inevitably envy the chosen one for the rest of their lives. Bodoni instead uses the money to build a replica rocket from an old mock-up, and sets up a 3D theater inside the cabin and convinces the children they are actually going through space.

The British edition, first published in 1952 by Hart-Davis omits "The Rocket Man", "The Fire Balloons", "The Exiles" and "The Concrete Mixer", and adds "Usher II" and "The Playground".

An edition published in 2001 by William Morrow omits "The Fire Balloons" and adds "The Illustrated Man" (a short story from 1950) after "The Rocket."

A film adaptation of The Illustrated Man was released in 1969. It was directed by Jack Smight and starred Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom, and others, including Don Dubbins. The film contains adaptations of "The Veldt", "The Long Rain", "The Last Night of the World"^[1] and expands the prologue and epilogue with intermittent scenes and flashbacks of how the illustrations came to be. A short documentary, The Making of The Illustrated Man^[2], details the process the filmmakers used to cover Steiger's body in mock tattoos and shows actors and filmmakers preparing for the movie.

A musical adaptation by Samuel Otten was released as a musical expression of the stories to go along with the reading.

Bradbury's "Kaleidoscope" inspired the 1974 science fiction movie Dark Star, which ends in a similar final scene.

Director Zack Snyder is attached to direct, at least in part, a film adaptation of three stories from The Illustrated Man: "The Illustrated Man", "Veldt", and "Concrete Mixer". Screenwriter Alex Tse is writing the screenplay.^[3]

• The song "Rocket Man" by Elton John and Bernie Taupin was inspired by the short story "The Rocket Man".
• Similarly, the band Pearls Before Swine had a song by the same title of the book's "The Rocket Man".
• Australian band Holocene's song "Rocket" was inspired by "The Long Rain" story from the 1969 film version of "The Illustrated Man".
• San Francisco hardcore band Light This City's "Wake me up at Sunset" and "Firehaven" are based upon "The Rocket Man" and "The Long Rain" short stories.
• The song "The Illustrated Man" by UK artist John Ray (previously of Malluka) was inspired by the 1969 film.
• In the film Almost Famous, the tour manager can be seen reading the book while on the tour bus.
• In the 2007 film Blades of Glory, Will Ferrell's character claims to be referred to as "The Illustrated Man".
• Numerous references to "The Illustrated Man" are made throughout an episode of "Criminal Minds" (episode 20, season 5, entitled "A Thousand Words") that deals with a serial killer whose body is covered in tattoos.

• Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 62. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.

• The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, reviewed by Ted Gioia (Conceptual Fiction)