VMs (f80v) critter identified

[Linda]

The "Apocalypse" image clearly sets the pattern, but does it have predecessors or contemporaries or other copies? 

Do you recognize that the image you are talking about is a depiction of the opening of the sixth seal? I gave a few examples earlier.

Revelation 6:12-17
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 
13 And the stars of the heavens fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 
14 And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand

The VMs artist then gets the three-part structure from the "Apocalypse" of some other <unknown> illustration with a similar structure. Then it would have been a matter of filling in the parts with something which apparently needs to be partly suggestive and ambiguous, without being completely contradictory. That's the question that has been continually asked about the VMS illustrations and the skill of the VMs artist; are the problems of identification due entirely to a lack of artistic skill or to something else?

The three part structure you see is not part of the tradition, it is the sun and moon and stars and wind and fig leaves and mountains and kings and men from the passage. They are all in that image, in many such images, but rarely are the ingredients for your structure all involved.