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Mr. Skygack, from Mars was acomic strip by the American cartoonistA. D. Condo. It appeared in theChicago Day Book, aChicago working-class newspaper, from October 2, 1907, to April 1911[1] in about 400comic strips and single panels.[2] Like much of Condo's work in this period, theMr. Skygack feature was syndicated and appeared in many other papers, includingThe Seattle Star,[3]The Milwaukee Journal,The Spokane Press,The Pittsburgh Press,The Tacoma Times andThe Duluth Daily Star.
The comic followed the titular Mr. Skygack, aMartian, on his mission to study humans. Mr. Skygack's comical misunderstandings of Earthly affairs gave Condo the opportunity to comment on and criticize social norms.[2][4] Skygack subsequently appeared as a regular character in Condo's ethnic-humor comic stripOsgar und Adolf.[5] 'Osgar und Adolf' was itself the basis for a theatrical production which included Skygack as a character; it was described by Gertrude Gordon inThe Pittsburgh Press as a 'rousing good comedy'.[6]
In 1914, 'Osgar Und Adolph', still incorporating Skygack as a regular character, was drawn by a cartoonist signing themselves 'Macdonald'.[7] Between 1921 and 1922 the character was revived in his own right, once again in a single-panelled strip reporting on everyday American life, by another cartoonist, 'Lavery'.[8]
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Mr. Skygack, from Mars is considered by many to be the firstscience fiction comic,[9] and the first in comics history to feature an extraterrestrial character. It also gave rise to the first recorded sci-ficosplay when a Mr. William Fell was reported wearing a Mr. Skygack costume to a 1908 masquerade.[2]
In 1923, James W. Dean's syndicated column posited that 'Martian' characters with 'overdeveloped heads' played byMargaret Irving andGrant Mitchell in the filmM.A.R.S. (later known asRadio-Mania) were 'evidently... influenced by the old comic drawn by Condo, "Mr. Skygack from Mars."'[10]
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