Comments on: The Invasion Begins

The Invasion Begins

quonsar — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 22:33:08 -0800

Mars Attacks!
"In 1962, Topps released the bubble-gum cards known as "Mars Attacks". They were the creation of Len Brown and Woody Gelman. They were painted by the famous pulp-comic artist, Norm Saunders. Presented here, for the first time on the Web, are scanned reproductions of their genius..."

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 23:04:53 -0800

Q: Link no workee...

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 23:14:21 -0800

d: link workee fine in IE6 and Firebird .70 on windows and linux. source lookee fine too. maybe browser brokee?

By: BartFargo

BartFargo — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 00:04:03 -0800

And to think Canada, Russia, France and Germany didn't want us to liberate Mars. Well now they're going to miss out on all the Martian reconstruction contracts. Serves them right I say...

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 01:03:04 -0800

And if Mars' attack isn't enough...Dinosaurs Attack!

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 01:13:25 -0800

I don't blame you for forgetting the movie ever existed....

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 01:19:26 -0800

You can certainly see the influence of that art in one of the best pinball machines of all time: Attack from Mars.

By: asok

asok — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 01:49:49 -0800

I heard that the sfx designers didn't have much time to design the aliens, but maybe that wasn't correct. Maybe they didn't have much time so they copied these cards. More likely seems to be that Burton, or somebody associated based the whole look on those cards, they read like a storyboard. Anybody know the answer?

By: iconomy

iconomy — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 02:55:09 -0800

What a great find. I can't get over how violent and creepy and these cards are. This page from the site details how the design came about, and how the cards were denounced by parents for the blood and gore and shock factor.

By: the biscuit man

the biscuit man — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 04:42:38 -0800

I was sorting through some old bookmarks and was going to post this, but quonsar beat me to it. Oh well, I'll have to post some of the other ones. asok: Yes, the movie was based on the old Topps cards.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 04:47:43 -0800

A guidebook on what Americans fear most.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 05:48:27 -0800

I was 5 years-old when those cards came out. They scared the absolute crap out of me. Nightmares and everything. I laugh at them now. Sort of.

By: MrBaliHai

MrBaliHai — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 06:18:17 -0800

I don't blame you for forgetting the movie ever existed.... Yeah, but Tom Jones performance as himself was truly Oscar-worthy. Considering how long these cards have been around, I'm surprised that it's taken until now for them to appear on the web.

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 07:53:39 -0800

The movie was pretty explict about being based on the trading cards in the credits BTW.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 08:06:32 -0800

:: also ::

By: pxe2000

pxe2000 — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 09:01:04 -0800

hey, i liked the movie! tom jones, nature man. classic.

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 09:37:13 -0800

Smells like McDonald's. "Aaak! Aak aak aakaak!"

By: LinusMines

LinusMines — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 09:53:26 -0800

[this is SO good]

By: Katemonkey

Katemonkey — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 09:55:40 -0800

They made the international sign of the donut!

By: Mick

Mick — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 10:23:29 -0800

* * * * * (5 stars!)

By: mikrophon

mikrophon — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 13:21:54 -0800

Interesting taste of xenophobia here. I find their mysterious, Oriental suffering inscrutable. I wonder just who the hell's idea this was? "I've got it! Trading cards, depicting the grim, violent destruction of the human race! The kids will like it!"

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 13:36:41 -0800

This would have been so up my alley when I was a kid. Or now. Excellent.

By: georgeTirebiter

georgeTirebiter — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 21:09:44 -0800

I collected several of these when they first came out. Card 12 pushed Boris Karloff and Claude Raines right off the top 10 nightmare list for a good while (at least until replaced by Anthony Perkins, who earned a permanent spot). My parents relieved me of my collection after a week of 2AM "it's OK, there are no Martians" duty. Thanks - now the nightmares start all over again

By: groundhog

groundhog — Sat, 13 Dec 2003 05:44:27 -0800

I have still have a bunch of my Outer Limits cards from the 60's. The garish color is wonderful, especially since the original tv show was in black & white. Not as gory as the Mars cards, but I was afraid to put my feet on the floor after watching this episode of the show.