![[Mars Attacks]](newlogo2.gif)
MARS ATTACKS was a bubble-gum card set produced
by "Bubbles, Inc." (an alternate company name for Topps) in 1962.
The cards were the idea of Len Brown and Woody Gelman. Some of the early
pencil roughs were done by Wally Wood, a well-known artist for E.C. Comics.
The final cards were pencilled by Bob Powell, and the painting was done by
Norm Saunders. Norm was one of the most prolific and creative artists of the
pulp era. Len has recently retired after over 40 years at Topps.
The cards, according to Len Brown, were
inspired by a combination of an old "Weird Science" comic book
cover showing a large-brained alien coming out of a flying saucer and H.G.
Wells' "War of the Worlds" story. Due to Brown and Gelman's earlier
success with a historical but gory card set called "Civil War News" that the kids loved,
they knew they had the formula for a smashing success.
They would combine the sci-fi Martian scenario with the graphic gore of a kind
of interplanetary civil war. Instead of North vs. South, it would be the Martians
vs. the Earthlings. The Mars Attacks set consisted of 55 cards (54 pictures plus
a checklist) depicting the invasion of Earth by desperate Martians, whose home
planet was about to explode due to pressure building up in the planet's core.
Although they had superior advanced technology, the Martians couldn't stop the
inevitable destruction of Mars. Therefore, the Martians needed to find a new
home planet. Their obvious choice: Earth!MARS ATTACKS cards depicted sadistic Martians
in amazing spaceships attacking defenseless humans with super weapons.
Freeze rays, heat rays, shrinking rays, and gigantic robots decimated the
Earthlings. The Martians also unleashed bloodthirsty Earth-insects that had
been enlarged to 500 times their normal size. Whole cities were destroyed in
the blink of an eye. The Earth was doomed. But after almost total destruction,
the never-say-die Earthmen somehow mustered enough strength to launch a
counter-attack on Mars. When the physically stronger Earthmen landed on
Mars, they easily overcame the puny Martians and retaliated with a vengence.
The Earthmen were finally victorious and escaped back to Earth just as the
planet Mars exploded into millions of tiny asteroids!The cards, which sold for 5 cents a pack in
1962, were quickly denounced by parents who were shocked by the bloody,
gory, graphic (cool!) pictures, and were pulled off the market after a very
short time. The cards that survived the years are now worth up to about
$2000 or more for a mint set! A single wrapper (the first thing that was
thrown away when an eager 8-year old ripped open the pack to see the
fantastic cards) may be worth $1000 or more now!
In 1980, Darkstar Marketing produced a limited
set of reprints of sketches called "The Mars Attacks
Portfolio of Roughs". They were pencil drawings done by Bob Powell & Wally Wood
in the early stages of card production. Some of the sketches made it to the
final version of the card set; some did not. Some of the drawings depicted
Martians with a third eye sticking out of the middle of their large
brain-like forehead. Although not in the original cards, the
"third-eye" Martians were to be seen later in the comic book
series.In 1984, Rosem Enterprises produced a limited
edition set of 13 cards. These were cards from the original set that had
been retouched to tone down the gore or sex. (Some of the original cards
showed sexy women being trapped by Martians or giant spiders-- parents found
these quite objectionable!) The women were repainted as men or boys, and
people's heads were repainted intact so as to not show their open skulls!
Also in 1984, Renatto Galasso, Inc. produced
a reprint series of the original 55 cards plus a 56th card depicting the
wrapper. The set was available for collectors who admired Norm Saunders'
beautiful artwork, but who couldn't afford the original cards. In that year
the company also produced a set of 4 premium cards depicting
5" x 7" reprints of 4 original paintings of cards #10, 25, 34 and
35.In 1988, a company called Pocket Comics started to
produce a series of tiny (3" x 4.5") comic books based on the 1962 Mars
Attacks set. The mini-books elaborated on the original cards, and had a 6" x 4.5"
reprint of the card in the middle pages. There was going to be 54 mini-comics in all,
one book for each of the original cards. The first books sold well. However, low orders
for subsequent books forced the company to decide to curtail production after the first
4 comics.
In 1994, Topps released a new 100-card "archives" set
comprised of a reprint of the 55 original cards, plus 45 new cards from a number of different
artists. The new cards are interpretations by many differerent artists, so the styles are quite
varied. Norm Saunders' daughter, Zina Saunders also did the artwork on
the title card #0, as well as some of the other cards.In 1994 Topps also released their 5-part comic
book series. Written by Keith Giffen, drawn by Charles Adlard, lettered by
John Workman, colored by George Freeman & Digital Chameleon, Gelman and
Brown's story came to life in another medium, crossing over into the comic
book mainstream. In 1995, the 5-part second series comics "Counterstrike"
began. Two more episodes were later released as were a Baseball Special, two
4-part crossover mini-series with Image Comics, and a 2-part " Mars
Attacks High School" mini-series. See the "
Comics " section for more details.
Mars Attacks Fanatics: e-mail me at
zelda999@hotmail.com