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Comic strip, taking War of the Worlds literally
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War of the Worlds taken literally
I know some people might think this strip is a humorous exaggeration, but War of the Worlds did literally fool thousands if not millions of people. It wasn't the book itself that did it, because I think readers might be too knowledgeable to be fooled, it was a radio broadcast.
Orson Welles on Halloween night, 1938, did his version of War of the Worlds as if it were a live news broadcast. There were no commercial breaks and the show would break from the news reporting to some intermittent music as if something terrible was happening behind the scenes.
Orson knew exactly what he was doing and caused an alien invasion panic. It helped catapult him into fame even as he was heavily criticized for the prank. People claimed to see UFOs, smell poison gas, see flashes of light...kind of like hardcore UFO believers do now. Sometimes it's too easy.
If there are aliens, I'm sure they laughed from afar that night. As for Stan, hopefully Isaac will keep his wild imagination in check.
