Sunday, January 30, 2011

Carl Sagan and his Fully Armed Spaceship of the Imagination





Admiral Leo. An unidentified spacecraft is closing in on us.





On screen Commander Capricorn. Magnify.





OH NO!!! It's Carl Sagan and his Spaceship of the Imagination!!!!











Astrology... Your future looks............. Gloomy.





Quickly Major Pisces! Fire the Homeopathic Medicine Ray!!!





Direct hit Sir!





Admiral! The Homeopathic Medicine Ray is having absolutely NO measurable effect!





Hmmmmm....





'CLICK'











Incoming missile Sir!!!!





Sergeant Scorpio! Engage the Perpetual Motion Machine Powered Shield!!!!





Sir! There is no power at all coming from the Perpetual Motion Machine!!!





Uh... Okay. Quick! Everyone put on your Magnetic Healing Power Bracelet© before the mis-





BOOOOOM!!!!





MMMMmmmmm...




Crumbly.


-end

My hero Carl Sagan.

Go watch some Cosmos and fill your brain with awesomeness.

121 comments:

  1. In order to make apple pie, you must first vaporize astrology with photon torpedoes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is brilliant. Carl Sagan <3

    ReplyDelete
  3. As usual, your humor, art and wit make a great statement and a big laugh! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I. Love. This.

    You need to make it one big image with the captions in the image. People are GOING to repost this all over the place, you might as well make sure it has a link back to your site on it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Also, you might want to get rid of the "BOOOOOM!!!!".

    Science tells us that sounds can not be heard in the vacuum of space.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What about the ninjas? although great, maybe a separate site for your other work?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks everyone!

    Thanks for the suggestion Hypersapien. I went and dropped a link onto the last image. I still need to figure out the whole thing as one link situation. Hmmm.

    Anonymous, I did consider making a separate blog for non Ninja stuff but it turned out I was way too lazy. I think of this blog as a place to just put whatever I feel like putting up at the moment. The Ninja stuff will be back soon.
    ml

    ReplyDelete
  8. Awe.
    Some.

    I haven't laughed that hard in moons.

    ReplyDelete
  9. HAHAHA put on these bracle-

    great timing to this piece.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What happens if he presses the pi button?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just awesome.

    Now I want apple pie.

    ReplyDelete
  12. That doesn't look like apple pie he's eating. What is that? Strawberry?

    ReplyDelete
  13. @JayW

    Where do you think he got the pie from?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love Carl Sagan and this made my day. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  15. That's great! Very well done!

    Major Pisces reminds me of Scooter and Poe from Christopher Moore's Fluke....

    Meep!

    ReplyDelete
  16. But they were all okay, because they had on their magnetic bracelets, right?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Right, Hypersapien. Maybe replace BOOOOOM!!!! with *SILENCE*

    ReplyDelete
  18. That was just delicious. Thank you for cheering up a day currently engloomified by toothache :-)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love the apple pie reference at the end!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

    And great. Really great.

    Oh, it's awesome too. Totally awesome.

    I like it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Your drawings are fabulous - I especially like your portrayal of Carl Sagan and I love the rockets and stars.

    More please. :))

    ReplyDelete
  22. I....I love you. I love you. Carl Sagan is amazing and you totally did him justice. <3

    ReplyDelete
  23. I couldn't help but read Sagan's parts in his voice. Simply brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  24. if only they had turned down the power of the homeopathy ray 1:100,000 times, it might have worked...

    ReplyDelete
  25. Well, whether or not there's a boom depends on the position of the microphone in-comic :)

    After all, even though their ship is currently being blown up by SCIENCE, there's still atmosphere present - if you were measuring sound from (say) the bridge of the Astrology, you'd definitely pick up a boomish noise.

    ReplyDelete
  26. This is so full of AWESOME I'm on the verge of tears. Thank you SO much!

    ReplyDelete
  27. The only way to combat superstition. Go Carl, go!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Excellent.

    http://sagansbrain.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  29. Simply great! A great tribute to Carl Sagan!

    ReplyDelete
  30. This is quite possibly the most badass thing I've ever seen. Evar.
    I love the apple pie at the end...

    ReplyDelete
  31. http://postcardstotheether.blogspot.com/2011/01/postcard-1-to-carl-sagan.html

    ReplyDelete
  32. Made of sugar, win, pastry, and awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Excellent in billions of magnitude. :)

    ReplyDelete
  34. Who doesn't love science? And Sagan is such a great man. But I wonder... are you all laughing at this because you actually think it's funny or are you forcing yourselves to praise it simply because it's pro-science?

    Heaven forbid that a pro-science cartoon is simply not funny.

    ReplyDelete
  35. What happens if he presses the pi button?

    He just keeps going in circles.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Wonderful! Brilliant!


    I miss Carl (and Richard Feynman too). Their science as a "candle in the darkness" wisdom is greatly needed.

    It's good to know that the "truth IS out there" -- and it is Carl in his ship of the imagination.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Thank you so much for not having anyone say "How are you gentlemen!" ;)

    ReplyDelete
  38. I think the cartoon is very well done and hilarious... and sad. I am currently doing some reading about how the scientific method came into life (Galileo, Bacon, Descartes) and what it has done. For example, land a man on the moon. For example, create weapons that destroy starships (ficticious example, I have absolutely no idea how this got into my head ;) ).
    It surely is the most powerful thing we currently have. But is it necessarily the best thing? And should we make fun of everything else, because it is less efficient at making war?

    I do not want to destroy anyones enjoyment of this cartoon. It's still very funny. I just wanted to point out this aspect about it because I am currently reading so much about it and I think it deserves mentioning.

    ReplyDelete
  39. All I can say is "Thank you for keeping Carl alive".

    Would it be OK if I translate it to Spanish and post it with proper credits?

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hilarious, and I love the panel for Scorpio.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Where was Private 3rd Class Ophiuchus in all of this?

    ReplyDelete
  42. Wow! I've never had such a reaction to one of my web-comics before!

    I welcome translations. It's already been translated into German and Portuguese. Just throw a link back to Ninjerktsu so if people dig it they can find some more comics.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  43. What fantastic fun!
    Thanks very much for posting this up on yer blog, magnificent stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  44. You have brightened an otherwise gloomy day. Thank you, Michael.
    Can't wait until Carl takes on Chuck Norris and the Texas school board.

    ReplyDelete
  45. And spanish version too ;)

    http://www.drgen.com.ar/2011/02/carl-sagan-contra-pseudociencias/

    Congrats Michael!!!

    ReplyDelete
  46. This is the most fabulous thing ever. Hilarious and lovely drawing style.

    ReplyDelete
  47. That is hilarious. Always a fan of all things Sagan, seeing I named my son after him! :)

    ReplyDelete
  48. Absolutely amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  49. that is hilarious!! I love it. Bad Astronomy sent me.... aaaand so I found myself flipping through all of your stuff for the past hour. I am pleased. :P

    ReplyDelete
  50. Words cannot express how happy this has just made me.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Hail from Bad Astronomy. Your comic inspired a lot of fans I am sure. Enjoy. I have posted to facebook and will come visit if this is the quality of material to expect. We need a comic book hero like Carl Sagan. You did him justice!

    ReplyDelete
  52. Hysterical. Added to the blogroll and passed on to others.

    ReplyDelete
  53. mmmm... apple pie. posted this on my blog too btw, it's pure genius, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  54. I stumbled upon this Dutch blog, badly translated by google, which adresses the same matter in a different way. http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=nl&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jifonline.nl%2Fjif6%2F2011%2F02%2F01%2Fplanckschaaltherapie%2F

    ReplyDelete
  55. Hypesapien emailed me this with his suggestion. I've turned it into a single jpg file for you, but have no idea how to get it to you so I've just posted it on
    my own blog, Divide By Zero.

    You can just right click and save it from there, then re-post it as a single image link.

    ReplyDelete
  56. I loved especially the whole Khan Noonian Sagan characterization!

    SAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  57. Sagan rules!

    No I mean, Sagan followed rules and thus triumphs over ignorance and wooly thinking!

    Imagine no religion.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Man, you rock! Greetings from Brazil.

    ReplyDelete
  59. That is perfect, but I have to ask. Is that a "pot" pie? (I had to indulge myself, sorry. My lame joke gland was swollen and needed to be drained a little.)

    ReplyDelete
  60. Thanks for rememberig Dear Carl. I still remembre when I saw Cosmos for the first time in TV (I have a copy in VHS and a bad copy in DVD, the book and the music in a 33 rpm-vinile). I still enjoy reading his books (like Rama or Brocca's brain). Greetings from Buenos Aires. Rodolfo.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Mike, you're killing me! I was still laughing at the puppet one... jeez... !

    ReplyDelete
  62. Seriously, I almost fell of my chair when they fired that homepathic ray. ^^

    +rep! very well done.

    ReplyDelete
  63. The last panel is my favourite. I laughed so hard at the whole thing, it's brilliant.
    Sagan is a hero of mine and I'm always trying to get people to read The Demon-Haunted World. In many cases, they come back for more. We need more people who can write like that.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Very very very glad!

    Very very nice!

    Laugh and glad!

    A funny spice!

    Thanks for Carl!

    Thanks Michael Lester,

    thanks and thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  65. Laughing so hard, it hurt. The Pie was the perfectpunch line XD. Ow! XD

    ReplyDelete
  66. "Mmmm Crumbly." I laughed so hard, I hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Sir, you've made the Internet a much better place in all respects!!

    ReplyDelete
  68. Just discovered that COSMOS is available for streaming on Netflix! You bet that sh*t's in my instant queue!

    ReplyDelete
  69. haha that was amazing. but those people with the deer are insane. my emotions are now conflicted

    ReplyDelete
  70. Nice cartoon, but it needs a follow-up. Those who worked with him might say that Carl Sagan is better remembered than experienced, and that aspect of his personality gets lost as the myth building continues.

    ReplyDelete
  71. I still think he should have ended with, "Remember, we're all made of starstuff. Especially those guys."

    ReplyDelete
  72. Well I posted it, people generally seem to like it. On Facebook also :)

    ReplyDelete
  73. Absolutely love this, but I have a quick question

    "Astrology... Your future looks............. Gloomy."

    'Gloomy' seems to be emphasized here, is this deliberate? Has Carl Sagan got a quote with claiming Astrology to be gloomy? Or is there another reason?

    Sorry, not trying to discredit, just wanted to know the thought process behind the word 'gloomy'.

    ReplyDelete
  74. There is a part in Cosmos where Carl Sagan says, "Gloom" and "Gloomy" I liked the way he drags it out. Glooooom. :)

    ReplyDelete
  75. Absolutely brilliant! A missile marked "science" XD

    ReplyDelete
  76. Hi there! Just to let you know that I've translated your comic to portuguese, given you full credit, of course.

    It's in here:
    http://astropt.org/blog/2011/02/19/carl-sagan-nave/

    Keep up the good work ;)

    ReplyDelete
  77. Hey thanks for checking out my blog. Yours is damn hilarious! Awesome awesome drawings, funny stories, and I love Carl Sagan!

    ReplyDelete
  78. Okay, this definitely made my night. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  79. BRILLIANT! I hope you make more!

    ReplyDelete
  80. So awesome. I want this animated, STAT!

    ReplyDelete
  81. Absolutely brilliant - Had me in stitches! I'm a big fan of Carl Sagan, and now a fan of your blog. You have quite the knack for storytelling, clearly!

    ReplyDelete
  82. I used this to introduce a Vet friend of mine to Carl Sagan's works. He loved it(and regrets not hearing of Carl Sagan earlier).

    ReplyDelete
  83. To robinlux - so because science has been used to create destruction as well as good things we should perhaps spend more time on things that provide nothing other than a way for charlatans to part the gullible from their cash? How did you get to this being about making fun of things because they're not efficient at making war (since it seems you're going with war involving people killing each other)? It's a metaphor - things like astrology and homeopathy are unable to defend themselves in the face of rigorous investigation. The metaphor is for a real war, though, it's just not a war which involves people killing each other, it's a war against those charlatans which I would think makes it in the interests of the vast majority of people. The only casualties will either be science or a section of pseudoscience.

    ReplyDelete
  84. This is awesome, except for one thing. You need to learn the simple rule of a comma before a direct address, because there's a HUGE difference between "Let's eat, grandma" and "Let's eat grandma".

    Thus:
    On screen, Commander Capricorn.
    Quickly, Major Pisces!
    Incoming missile, Sir!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  85. Really awesome comic!

    I was linked to it by a friend who said it was very similar to a song/video I just put out on the subject of astrology. The title is "Astrology is Wrong", so we're not exactly mincing words here.

    Unfortunately, Carl Sagan eating pie does not make an appearance, but it is a fun catchy song with a piano ballad breakdown.

    http://youtu.be/-mQi_hl6rgA

    -Jim of The Long Holidays

    ReplyDelete
  86. Top fukken notch!

    ReplyDelete
  87. A fully armed spaceship of the rational imagination is a terror to behold.

    And... he finishes off his victims while eating a pie he made from scratch.

    Carl Sagan is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Absolutely brilliant! Made me laugh a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  89. God I'm tired of this stupid, repetitive attack on Homeopathy without any real cause or actual knowledge of it. It's just parroting the pharmaceutical companies propaganda. Aside from that it's a fun cartoon.

    ReplyDelete
  90. slow clap commence..the good kind.

    ReplyDelete
  91. OMG! I can hear his voice say each line. Brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
  92. "Sir! There is no power at all coming from the Perpetual Motion Machine!!!"

    They must have had their First-Law-Uncoupler, uncoupled.

    ReplyDelete
  93. You rock so hard for making that. Absolutely brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Hah, great comic. I really like the *No measurable effect* part for the Homeopathic Ray.

    ReplyDelete
  95. I bookmarked this more than a year and a half ago. It's good to come back to.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Brilliant. The only thing i could possible add is this: Needs to be a movie. ^^

    ReplyDelete
  97. Hey, I was thinking about adapting this into a short 3D animation and came here just to check with you, but then I saw that you work at Dreamworks and could probably do a better piece in a few hours than I would make in a few weeks. I'm still up for trying, next chance I get, though!

    ReplyDelete
  98. Absolutely Amazing!!!
    I love it!
    Well done sir

    ReplyDelete
  99. THIS NEEDS TO BE AN ANIMATED SERIES!

    Git yerself over to Kickstarter, STAT!

    (Oh, & come join us on INTJ's Google+!)

    ReplyDelete
  100. How dare you not have point defense!!!

    ReplyDelete