These were inspired by all the prehistoric sea creatures in my new book Dragon Bones: The Fantastic Fossil Discoveries of Mary Anning, written by Sarah Glenn Marsh, illustrated by me, and published by Roaring Brook Press. The book comes out on February 15, 2022 and what better way to show my love for the Jurassic seas (and skies…hello, Dimorphodon macronyx) then valentines? Feel free to print them out and share them - there’s a black and white version if you want to color in them yourself! And if you’re interested in learning more about ammonites, plesiosaurs, and ichthyosaurs (oh my!), check out Dragon Bones from your local library or pick up a copy at your favorite bookstore. 💙
Research, References, Recommendations and Inspiration for Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier
Books Edition!
(I’ll do a Web/Documentary Edition soon.)
I want share some of books that helped me (and Jim) make the book Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier. Even though I draw in a very cartoony style, I still have to do my homework when it comes making nonfiction comics!
I also want to share some space-related books that inspire me, or that were just really fun reads! Not everything that inspires me is nonfiction, and fiction has long inspired scientists and astronauts (and, well, lots of people). Just like Mary Cleave reading Robert Heinlein’s Have Spacesuit–Will Travel when she was a teenager!
Okay, books! First up, research:
I needed to see what it was like to be an astronaut candidate in the 1960s, so I read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. This also started me thinking about how the world was different back then, especially for women…
I will not forget the countless people who have lived before me that fought for equality. But even greater than not forgetting, I want to seek out stories about more of these people. Before working on Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier, I had no idea who the The Mercury 13 were. Now I do, and I’m hoping that our book will do the same for others as it did for me: open a door to a world of histories.
But what about the more recent days of the space program? Well, first I turned to one of my favorites:
I love this book. And Chris Hadfield’s videos were actually what got me re-interested in space as an adult. I think science communication is a skill in and of itself, and Chris is very good at it.
But I also knew that the internet had an incredible treasure trove of astronaut experiences:
Yes, I know, this is not a book, but it was one of the most engaging ways for me to see what it was like to be an astronaut today! There are SO MANY GREAT VIDEOS of astronauts showing us how they live and do science in space!
Back to books…another one of my favorites:
Mary Roach is one of my favorite writers of all time. Making science digestible and relatable is what she does best. This book is great because it’s research and inspiration for BOTH Astronauts and one of my current book projects (a graphic novel about life and science in Antarctica). You might be wondering “What do Space and Antarctica have in common?” The answer is “A LOT.” Read Packing for Mars if you want some more answers.
For many of the spacecraft (rockets, vehicles, satellites, etc.), I pulled from my existing collection of space books (plus I used this as an excuse to buy EVEN MORE space books):
I was also able to find a lot of references online (again, I’ll post more about those later).
How about inspiration? I’ve been interested in space, specifically astronomy, since I was a kid. I blame this book for starting it:
Have you ever had a book that you would sneak under the covers at night to read? This was that book for me. It came out when I was 8, and I still have my copy.
I still like astronomy and now I have my very own telescope (I took that photo of the moon on the right!):
Inspiration for both space and comics? I looked to Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin:
And sometimes, I just want to read a fun space adventure story (I mean, bonus for all the mech fights in this):
Last but certainly not least: recommendations! Did you like Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier? Are you itching to read more comics about space? Well, these are some of my favorites:
Were you interested in the technology in Astronauts? Do you like seeing stuff launch? Or maybe you’re just really into talking animals? This book is super-fun look at the history of space flight and a great introduction to how us humans managed to get into space.
Maybe you want to got further…maybe you want to travel the whole Solar System. In that case, I recommend:
Yes, I am a sucker for talking animals. This book is a great introduction to the planets and other celestial bodies in our solar system.
Maybe you’re interested in becoming an astronaut or working in a space-related field someday?
And that’s it…for now.
Mollusc Mondays
Hi all! If you don’t know already, I celebrate each Monday by posting comics and cartoons featuring a banana slug (that might just be a thin, slimy veil for myself) on Twitter and Instagram (@mariswicks).
I hope that you all are staying safe and healthy, and doing the best that you can to keep each other that way. Here’s a black & white version of the Banana Slug Split if you’d like to print it out and color it! (This way you can pick your favorite flavors.)
I’m going to be posting coloring pages from some of my books, as well as some related activities for any and all who are interested later this week!
Until then, take care!
Signed Bookplates!
Hi all!
I’m going to try something new. Given the fact that I already wasn’t doing many events for Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier, and that most of those events have now been canceled/postponed due to coronavirus/COVID-19 precautions, I’d like to offer you the chance to get a signed bookplate from both me and Jim Ottaviani!
What is a bookplate? It’s a sticker that you can stick right in your own copy of Astronauts!
I’ll also include two different Astronauts-themed stickers!
How do you get a signed bookplate?
1.) Email me (Maris) at dots.for.eyes@gmail.com
2.) Please tell me:
Who would you like me to personalize this to?
What space-themed drawing would you like?*
Where should I send the bookplate (and stickers)?
*Possible space-themed drawings may include (but aren’t limited to): tardigrades (see above), your favorite planet/star/constellation/celestial body, an astronaut you like, your favorite space vehicle, your pet cat/dog/snake/tarantula in a space suit, etc…
3.) One bookplate per household, and the only requirement that you’ve purchased a copy of Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier. (I’m going to use the honor system here.)
4.) These bookplates will be FREE and I’m going to cover shipping. Offering signed bookplates is a way for us to say “THANK YOU!” for buying the book and supporting our work; we would normally be signing books at events!
Right now, there are 45 bookplates. I’ll update as soon as they’re all gone (and hopefully offer more if this turns out to be something you all like).
Also, if we’ve already talked about sending you a bookplate, you do not have to email me! I’ll be sending them out shortly! <3
Thank you all for your support, and I look forward to sending some fun space drawings your way! And please take care!
Cheers,
Maris
Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier Events (UPDATED)
UPDATE: The Belmont Books event (3/11) and the Air & Space Udvar-Havy Center event (3/14) have been CANCELED due to coronavirus/COVID-19 precautions.
It’s not everyday that you have a book come out, and for me, it’s been 4 years (!) since my last book! (Comics take a looooong time to make...) Jim and I are doing lots of events to celebrate the launch (ha ha) of our new book Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier. If you’re at all interested in space history or what it takes to be an astronaut, well then, this book is for you!
Click on any of the links below to get more information about the event:
Please stay tuned for more events!
Comics x Science: Using Cartoons to Communicate Complex Ideas
Last month, I presented a lecture as part of the Lowell Lecture Series at New England Aquarium. The folks over at WBGH Forum Network did a fantastic job of filming and editing the event! A great big thanks to both the New England Aquarium and the WGBH Forum Network!
New England Aquarium Lecture!
Mark your calendars! I have the honor of giving a lecture at the New England Aquarium Thursday October 24th at 7 PM. It is FREE and open to the public - you just have to register (link here). If you’re interested in spreading the word, here’s the flier on 8.5 x11 (TWO fliers, techically! you’ll have to cut down the middle; I was trying to save on paper, plus I thought it’d make a nifty bookmark).
Hope to see you there!
Space x Antarctica x Comics: It's a Small World
What does Antarctica have to do with space? Sure, you can maybe see Antarctica from space…but it’s more than just that. Antarctica is one of the most remote, isolated, cold, and dark (or light, depending on what time of year) places on the planet. In some ways, it’s as close as you can get to going to space without leaving the planet.* So it’s no surprise that a few astronauts have had ties to Antarctica. Jessica Meir (@astro_jessica) is one of those astronauts, and she is headed to the International Space Station today!
*One could say the same for the deep sea…which is EVEN HARDER to get to!
Meir’s Ph. D. research looked at what happens to animals’ bodies when they experience low-oxygen events (like diving), specifically elephant seals and…wait for it…emperor penguins! Her post-doctoral work looked at another animal that experiences low-oxygen: the bar-headed goose. Bar-headed geese are the highest-flying birds in the world. (Check out this video as well as this article in the Washington Post if want to see a peek into this research…also BONUS BABY GEESE!!!)
Three years ago, I was headed to Antarctica. While on the ice, I happened to work with a team that was also studying the effects of low-oxygen, this time on Weddell seals (see more about my experiences here). This past summer, one of those scientists, Allyson Hindle, commissioned me to make a drawing for her friend:
Yup, that drawing was for Astronaut Jessica Meir! It was an honor to draw two of her research subjects (in my comical style). I also gave her a preview sample of Jim Ottaviani and my new book Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier (and of course, I signed it):
For me, the intersection of space and Antarctica comes from my work - Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier will be out in February, and I’m currently working on a graphic novel about life and science in Antarctica (based on my own experiences there). It’s nice to be reminded that the world can often feel quite small, but in a comforting, unifying way: it’s home for us all…including the astronauts on the ISS looking down upon it.
New Book Alert!
Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier, with Jim Ottaviani will be out 04 February 2020! More info (including preorder links): https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626728776
A2CAF!
I'll be at the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival June 16 & 17 in Ann Arbor, MI! I don't do many comics shows/fests anymore because I'm busy working on books, so I'm SUPER excited! (Yay! I get to see HUMAN BEINGS!!!) I got to design the poster for the fest, and I'll be having my first solo gallery show of artwork! Here's a little promotional art (for the gallery show):
I'll share the poster on here soon!
Cheers, Maris
Microbial Life Lecture
One of the best things about living in the Boston area is being close to lots of stuff. Especially science-y stuff. Between all the universities and museums, there are loads of public lectures! It's an all-you-can-eat buffet...FOR MY BRAIN. A few weeks back, I went to a lecture on Microbial Life at the Harvard Museum of Natural History; it kicked off the opening of their newest exhibit (conveniently of the same name). The lecture was given by Roberto Kolter and Scott Chimileski. Here are my notes (in cartoon-form, of course):
I only draw during the lecture, so this was about an hour of drawing (minus the time I spent ooo-ing and ah-ing over cheese mites and tardigrades. How had I never heard of cheese mites before? I love both cheese and microscopic organisms; I have no idea why these little critters stayed off my radar for so long. They are the best. Okay, cheese mite tangent: over.)
Interested in lectures around the Boston area? This is a pretty good list.
Human Body Theater Valentines
I started these back in 2016, soon after Human Body Theater came out. Better late then never, right? So here they are: Human Body Theater Valentine's Day cards. Please feel free to print them out and use them as Valentines! And if you're hungry for more, check out my book Human Body Theater!
2018 Hourlies
I skipped out on last year's hourlies because I was flying back from New Zealand (and figured people wouldn't be interested in 16 hours worth of me on a plane). I did fit them in this year though! Here they are, in their full-day glory:
Penguins: The Final Frontier
Okay, okay. I know it's supposed to be "space", but this is my last field camp trip before I leave Antarctica. I've spent the past few days at Cape Royds, about 15 miles north of McMurdo station. Cape Royds is home to the southernmost Adélie penguin colony; 2,000+ Adélies call this little chunk of land home.
Two people stay at a small camp for the summer season here: scientist David Ainley and education/outreach extraordinaire Jean Pennycook, and they've been gracious enough to show me around the colony, and share their knowledge of penguins. And I get to take notes (and draw)!
These little birds are so expressive; I'm learning so much about their behaviors and social dynamics just sitting and watching them for hours. They live in a colony, and it feels like a city of penguins. And I get to be their guest. Thanks, penguins (and David and Jean)!
Just like everything I've had the chance to experience during my time in Antarctica, it's truly a privilege to be here.
Cheers, Maris
Antarctica Lecture Series: Kim Stanley Robinson
Among the myriad of amazing opportunities I've had down here are the chances to attend the twice-weekly public lectures hosted by the scientists and researchers working on the station. The Sunday night talks are aimed at sharing science with the broad community, people who may not have an extensive background in the sciences, while on Wednesday nights the talks tend to be more technical and aimed more towards the science community.
One of the first people that I met down here was science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robison who was down for a week and half. Previously, he had visited Antarctica as part of the National Science Foundation’s Artists & Writers Program 20 years ago.
He gave a lecture on November 8 where he read a passage from his book Antarctica, a science fiction novel inspired directly from his experiences here some two decades ago. Set in a not-to-distant-future McMurdo, Antarctica touches on familiar issues: scientific research, management of natural resources, environmental conservation, as well as what it's like to live and work at the bottom of the world in a harsh, almost alien landscape. Afterwards, he showed a slide show of photos he took during his time in the Artists & Writers Program. His perspective, both from his present trip, and from his previous trip, made it very clear that his time in Antarctica had shaped his creative process and his life. 20 years later, the themes of Antarctica are not only persistent, but also exceptionally relevant. Where will we be in 20 years from now? How will my time in Antarctica shape my life and work?
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: nothing beats the experience of physically being down here. Hands-on learning has helped me to understand science that I would otherwise find a bit befuddling. Meeting folks with incredible skills and backgrounds from across the country, and even all over the world, has left me humbled. Frigid temperatures and whipping winds have made me appreciate my New England upbringing.
Thanks, Stan, for your reflections, both past and present. I look forward to reading Antarctica once I'm off the ice, so it can remind me of where I just was, and the place I had the incredible privilege to be.
Welcome to Fang Glacier Camp!
Mt. Erebus. This was one of the first times in Antarctica that I've felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. And not just in the middle of nowhere...I felt like I was on another planet. Fang Glacier Camp is set up for folks to acclimatize before they head up to Lower Erebus Hut (LEH). Fang is at about 9000ft (2740m), while LEH is at 10950ft (3340 m). There is less oxygen in the air at higher altitudes, and you need to give your body time to adjust. This usually takes a week or two, but the stop at Fang helps.
The accommodations at Fang are pretty bare-bones: 4 Scott tents. Three are for sleeping in; it's 2 people to a tent. The fourth tent is for...pooping and peeing! It's about as glamorous as you can imagine: a bucket (outfitted with a styrofoam seat) for pooping, and a barrel with a funnel for peeing. Everyone gets issued "pee bottles" (1 L Nalgene bottles), and they are for exactly what you think they are for: peeing in! Then you can dump your pee into the pee barrel. This isn't just for Fang Glacier Camp; you take a pee bottle with you anytime you're going out in the field, even just a day trip! I'll talk more about pee bottles later, but let's just say I've gotten pretty good at peeing in a bottle.
Acclimatization does not always feel great; it's not uncommon to have a headache, fatigue, shortness of breath, even the HAFEs (high altitude flatus expulsion a.k.a high altitude farts). So, at Fang, your orders are simple: rest, eat, drink lots of water and take it easy. Little hikes around the area are okay too. I've never really be ordered to relax, so it was awesome! I felt pretty good, but I basically slept for a whole day. I tried to read as much as I could, but my hands were too cold. The outside air temp was around -4ºF (-20ºC) in the sun, and in the tent, it was between 5º - 15ºF (-15º - -10ºC). Since it stays below freezing in the tent, you have to put anything you don't want to freeze in your sleeping bag...so I slept with my camera, a 1 lb. block of cheese, a radio battery, and some bars of chocolate.
After two days, some of the folks from LEH came down to get us on snowmobiles, and take us up to the hut. I thought Fang looked otherworldly, but the LEH camp really looked like another planet.
The hut itself is very cozy, with a Kuma stove and a camp kitchen (complete with a gas stove)! Mountain tents, a Scott tent, and a temporary rack tent. There's a garage, along with fuel, solar and wind power stations. More about Lower Erebus Hut soon!
Cheers, Maris
Some like it Hoth.
So, I'm here working on a nonfiction comic book about Antarctica. But the nerd in me can't help but notice how Antarctica feels so sci-fi. Star Wars is the most obvious correlation...Antarctica = Hoth, McMurdo = Echo Base, helicopters = x-wings, snowmobiles = speeder bikes (okay, okay, I know those were more of an Endor thing, but you get the picture). I know that sci-fi is often inspired by actual science, not unlike how my own work is inspired by actual science.
Instead of calling Antarctica very "sci-fi", I would wager that it's more appropriate to call sci-fi very "Antarctica". The Dry Valleys of Antarctica have been compared to the surface of Mars, polar gigantism produces marine invertebrates 100s of times larger than their tropical cousins, and thousands of meteorites have been collected from this continent's pristine, icy terrain, not to mention all the telescopes.
I guess what I'm getting at is...experiences that take you out of the everyday are incredibly important to creative work (and, I might argue, a healthy existence). I'm not suggesting that everyone try to visit Antarctica. But learning a new skill, building something, meeting a new group of people, cooking a new type of food, visiting a new town/city/state/country...all these things can add a little something. I'm definitely aware of limitations - budget, access, opportunity - many of those factors are why I create the comics that I do; to give people access to a place, process or perspective. And, maybe selfishly, to give myself that same access.
Cheers, Maris
Approval of seals.
Greetings from the sea ice of McMurdo Sound! First off, yes, I am kneeling on frozen ocean. The sea ice here this time of year is about 2-3 meters thick. Those big chunks behind me are part of a pressure ridge; they are jagged cracks with openings to the sea water formed by pressure from a nearby physical object, in this case, Big Razorback Island (seen right above me). The openings allow Weddell seals to come up onto the sea ice and relax (or alternatively, give birth to pups).
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to observe two different Weddell seal research teams (B-009 and B-267).
B-009 has been doing population ecology work with Weddell seals since 1968! They tag and monitor Weddell seals in the areas near McMurdo station, and this includes weighing pups at birth, 20 days old, and 35 days old. From all of the data they collect, they can learn about generations of seals (lineages), pup survival rates, average age of adults, and even where adult seals prefer to give birth. This long-term research can help us understand these animals' relationship to their environment, and how past, preset, and future changes might impact them.
B-267 is looking at how seals physically cope with diving. These remarkable animals can hold their breath for over 90 minutes! That means they are able to survive with very low levels of oxygen for a very long time. If we can understand how they are able to do this, maybe we can help people who have suffered from strokes or heart attacks (both things that involve oxygen deprivation). Their work involves looking at blood and tissue samples from seals.
It would be an understatement to say that I love drawing these blub-dubs*.
Cheers, Maris
*That's what I call seals.
It means something.
I've been making mashed potato volcanoes since I was a kid, but this one has a special meaning: it's modeled after an ACTUAL volcano! Mt. Erebus is the southernmost active volcano on Earth. Which means that my mashed potato volcano is the southmost active mashed potato volcano (I suppose it's dormant now, since I ate it). Happy Thanksgiving!
Cheers, Maris
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving from the bottom of the world!
This drawing is not scientifically accurate. (It's the leopard seal that would usually be eating the penguins.)