Mars attacks part ∞

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Given that August 27th was when Mars was supposed to be as big as the Moon, my old buddy Rob Sparks let me know that even cartoonists are in on the joke.

Tip o’ the cartoonist’s beret to Rob Sparks, duh.

August 30th, 2006 12:17 PM by Phil Plait in Astronomy, Debunking, Humor, Science | 13 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

13 Responses to “Mars attacks part ∞”

  1. 1.   Navneeth Says:

    That’s a good one! May be us non-spammers should start sending this around every August! :D

  2. 2.   Merovingian Says:

    Hahaha!

    The art style on that one reminds me of the The Far Side.

  3. 3.   Rob Harbison Says:

    That was cute. Was it from one of the … for Dummies books? It looks a bit like that style.

  4. 4.   Elwood Herring Says:

    Anyone got any Mars repellent?

  5. 5.   moonflake Says:

    back in ‘03 at the time of the actual closest approach there was a great cartoon with a telescope perched on top of earth and mars looming close, looking like a red Death Star. From the telescope came the caption ‘That’s no planet!’

    I wish i could find that cartoon again…

  6. 6.   ABR Says:

    Perhaps the cartoon suggests that the astrologers got it right for once…Mars IS in the seventh house. (Yeah, I know — the song says the Moon is supposed to be in that particular house.)

  7. 7.   Triangleman Says:

    I remember seeing that cartoon before in 2003 when the press were hyping the “Mars is going to be at its closest point to Earth than in the last upteen-bazillion-zillion years” stories. Wish I could remember the name of the strip.

  8. 8.   Supernova Says:

    Cute. It reminds me of this classic Onion article:

    New Solar System Discovered Four Feet from Earth

  9. 9.   Jeff R. Says:

    Thanks for the link to the Onion article, Supernova. I hadn’t read that one before, it really cracked me up!

  10. 10.   Wayne Reed Says:

    I’ll second the thanks for the Onion article! That was excellent. It is even more appropriate today than when it was published.

    Wayne

  11. 11.   Jack Hagerty Says:

    Triangleman Says: “I remember seeing that cartoon before in 2003 when the press were hyping the “Mars is going to be at its closest point to Earth than in the last upteen-bazillion-zillion years” stories. Wish I could remember the name of the strip.”

    It looks like “Close to Home”, a strip that is really funny, but I don’t especially care for because the art is so ugly.

    - Jack

  12. 12.   Scott Says:

    It is in fact a “Close To Home” cartoon…

  13. 13.   Rebecca Says:

    “And won’t you aaaalllll have a great big belly laugh on the day when Mars really DOES pay us a visit and chomps down on Earth like a cosmic Pac-Man. By the way, yer “8″ must’ve fallen over.”
    ——–

    Hmm. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Thanks for the great articles. When my email got gently pummelled by “fwd:CRAP” I included a link to your site with my reply. Even Snopes debunks it, but do people check that? And yep, I have to reply to these things, because I don’t want it on my conscience that I let a few friends and family members wallow in hogwash.

    I wonder what Ray Bradbury thinks? Bet he’s getting a good chuckle too.

    It’s great to see this issue addressed in the comics, where thinkers and non-thinkers alike congregate. If this is the ONLY WAY to get through to these folk…

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