ASI: Tell us about one of your collaborations with Ron.

CARTIER: I remember the Doc Methuselah stories very well, the Soldier of Light. I love that story about Hippocrates, the little creature. I remember Campbell saying that Ron loved that little figure that I drew and said that it fit right into what his story was. The fellow with the four little arms.

When I illustrated “Ole Doc Methuselah,” the story itself led me right into doing this little character. Hubbard seemed to love my illustrations and he told me so. “They’re very simple in a way, but they are direct and I love the way they look.” The humor that came into it wasn’t my own humor, but I think that they were built on the humor that was in his stories. It just came out naturally in my illustrations. You couldn’t help but think of what little creature would be roaming around space with Ole Doc Methuselah, the Soldier of Light. That was all part of reading the stories of Hubbard and it came out of my own imagination that I could evolve these illustrations.

Hubbard told me that he loved the creature and he wrote to me one time thanking me for making his little creature come alive.