663: Sagan-Man

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Sagan-Man

Title text: They laugh now, but within 10 years the city's entire criminal class will have quit to work on space research.

Explanation

Carl Sagan was an advocate for science, space and SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). He wrote the book Contact, which was later made into the movie by the same name. While Sagan did not emit anomalous radiation in his lifetime,^{[citation needed]} he did receive acclaim in the field of radiology, namely for using radiation to synthesize amino acids from simpler chemicals.

This comic is parodying Spider-Man, in which Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider to become Spider-Man. In this comic "a radioactive Carl Sagan" turns the person into "Sagan-Man". Apparently, Sagan-Man is able to stop thieves in their tracks by blowing their minds with inspiring scientific facts.

The title text implies that Sagan-Man's vivid imagery inspires the entire "criminal class" to give up their anti-social ways and turn to space research.

Transcript

[A yellow box extends across the top of the first 3 of 5 panels, introducing Sagan-Man:]

Bitten by a radioactive Carl Sagan in 1995, Sagan-Man possesses the powers and abilities of Carl Sagan.

[A Cueball-like character is standing on the left side of the panel, with a victim off-panel to the right.]

Victim (off-panel): Help! Thief!

[The Cueball-like character spins around, turning into Sagan-Man with a blue cape appearing on his back.]

[Sagan-Man runs to the right towards the direction of the victim.]

[Sagan-Man encounters the thief, who is holding a purse.]

Sagan-Man: Hey, you!

Thief: What?

[Sagan-Man and the thief are now standing facing each other.]

Sagan-Man: Do you realize just how crazy it is that we've BEEN TO THE MOON?

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Discussion

According to Wikipedia, Carl Sagan died at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, on December 20, 1996, of pneumonia, after suffering from myelodysplasia, which is similar to leukemia and treated with bone marrow transplants. It is thus entirely plausible that he was radioactive at some point in the year 1995.--68.230.167.173 02:49, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

Why exactly is it crazy that we've been to the moon? Just the general wonder that space travel is possible at all? Or that it was so long ago, or...? --Seanybabes (talk) 12:17, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

It's crazy in the same way that humans can build something like the Burj Khalifa, or when you think about the number of D-cell batteries in all the retail stores in the world at any given moment. Blows your mind, man... --BD (talk) 01:43, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

we're closer to 2060 than to the apollo 11 launch An user who has no account yet (talk) 00:29, 7 September 2023 (UTC)