America’s Cold War paranoia bubbled over in the early sixties when a chewing gum company famous for making baseball cards added bloodthirsty aliens to its repertoire. The Mars Attacks card art, introduced in 1962, proved too graphic for gatekeepers of public taste and Topps Chewing Gum shut down production of the short-lived 55-card series after a Connecticut district attorney complained that the artwork was “unsuitable for children.”
This Mars Attacks: 50th Anniversary Collection cover art is based on the original 1962 trading card wrapper. Images courtesy Abrams ComicArts
Fifty years later, thanks to the Curiosity mission, we know what it actually looks like when human civilization touches down on Mars and it has nothing to do with the swollen-head psychopaths depicted in the “Earthmen Land on Mars” scenario pictured above. But the work produced by writer Len Brown and artist Norm Saunders, collected now in the anthology Mars Attacks: 50th Anniversary Collection — out Monday — continues to pass muster as a lurid snapshot of sci-fi paranoia at its most pulp-fictiony.
Win Mars Attacks Hardcover
Wired is teaming with Abrams ComicArts to give away three copies of Mars Attacks: 50th Anniversary Collection. The 224-page hardcover includes four exclusive bonus Mars Attacks trading cards, commentary by co-creator Brown and Zina Saunders, sketches, concept art and test-market materials. To qualify for the contest, check out the card art in the gallery above. Then, in the comments section below, tell us: If and when aliens finally present themselves to the human race will they look anything like the ones pictured in Mars Attacks?
Deadline to enter is 12:01 a.m. Pacific on Oct. 8, 2012. Three randomly selected winners will be notified by e-mail or Twitter. Winners must live in the United States.
Note: If you do not have an e-mail address or Twitter handle associated with your Disqus login, you must include contact information in your comment to be eligible. Any winner who does not respond to Wired’s notification within 72 hours will forfeit the prize.
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