Daily Archives: August 23, 2020

Masks have emerged as unlikely fashion heroes as the COVID-19 pandemic has developed. Every conceivable colour and pattern seems to have become available, from facehuggers to Darth Vader to bejewelled bridal numbers.

Many show how brevity and style can combine to protect the wearer, offsetting the fear the sight of a respiratory or surgical mask usually inspires.

Some, like those produced by not-for-profit enterprises including the Social Studio and Second Stitch, use on-trend fabrics and benefit both the wearer and the makers. Meanwhile, an Israeli jeweller has designed a white gold, diamond-encrusted mask worth US$1.5 million (A$2.1 million).

Yet, masks remain fundamentally unnerving. Mostly intended to either protect or disguise, they are designed to cover all or part of the face. In societies where emotions are read through both eyes and mouth, they can be disorienting.

In many places around the globe, masks have played an important role in conveying style, spirituality and culture for thousands of years. They have been a part of western fashion for centuries. Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of masks as fashion items.

Read more: How should I clean my cloth mask?

And make our faces vizards to our hearts/Disguising what they are Macbeth

One of the most bizarre accessories in 16th-century fashion was the vizard, an oval-shaped mask made from black velvet worn by women to protect their skin whilst travelling.

In an age where unblemished skin was a sign of gentility, European women took pains to avoid sunburn or significant sun tan. Two holes were cut for the eyes, sometimes fitted with glass, and an indentation was created to accommodate the nose. Disturbingly, they did not always have an opening for the mouth.

To hold the mask in place, wearers gripped a bead or button between their teeth, prohibiting speech. To the contemporary feminist, the mask raises associations with the scolds bridle: a method of torture and public humiliation for gossiping women and suspected witches.

During the following century, masks continued to be fashionable although the guise of protection gave way to mystique and desire. The small domino mask seen in a 17th century Netherlands example below and still worn by superheroes from Batman to Harley Quinn covered the eyes and tip of the nose. It was usually made from a strip of black fabric. For warmer months, a lighter veiling could be substituted.

Read more: Beware of where you buy your face mask: it may be tainted with modern day slavery

Venice has long been associated with masks, thanks to its history of carnival and masquerade. Their theatrical nature might lead to an assumption masks were always worn to deceive or seduce. Travellers expecting a masked amoral free-for-all in the early 18th century were surprised at how innocent the accessory really was in everyday life.

When worn at a masquerade, masks encouraged safe contact between the sexes bringing them close enough to mingle but maintaining the social distance between strangers that etiquette required. In this scenario, masks also encouraged a kind of egalitarianism by allowing people of disparate social classes to mix a freedom never allowed in normal social gatherings.

The gnaga mask, with its cat shape, allowed men to dress as women and skirt Venetian homosexuality laws. Venetian prostitutes were at various times prohibited from wearing or required to wear masks in public, yet married women were required to wear masks to the theatre, fostering an association between masks and sex.

Conversely, the infamous Harriss List of Covent Garden Ladies, published annually between 1757 and 1795, provided a catalogue of prostitutes to hire in London. One entry from 1779 described a woman who

by her own confession has been a votary to pleasure these thirty years, she wears a substantial mask upon her face, and is rather short.

John Clelands controversial 1748 book Memoirs of Fanny Hill describes Louisa, a prostitute, being made violent love to by a gentlemen in a handsome domino as soon as her own mask was removed.

A mask tells us more than a face, wrote Oscar Wilde in his 1891 dialogue Intentions, yet by the 19th century the mask as fashion accessory was dmod. Masks were generally only mentioned in newspapers and fashion magazines when referring to fancy dress and masked balls, which still took place in the homes of the wealthy.

Society is a masked ball, wrote one American columnist in 1861 mirroring Wildes famous quote, where everyone hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding.

Although masks were no longer recommended for maintaining a pale complexion, womens faces were still covered by veiling in certain situations: including, for the first time, weddings. Ironically, one Australian fashion column in 1897 decried the fashion, stating:

Veils are largely responsible for poor complexions This fine lace mask for it is nothing else hinders the circulation but does far more injury by keeping the face heated.

As if this were not enough, veils blew dust from the street into open pores and retained dirt, redistributing it onto the skin every time it was worn.

Veiling still had some fans, who touted its health and beauty benefits, and connotations of intrigue and excitement. It suggests such charming possibilities beneath it, a columnist in The Australasian wrote in 1897.

Fashionable or not, some masks were still worn behind closed doors. Enter the most bizarre masked accessory since the vizard: the toilet mask or face glove.

Devised by a Madame Rowley in the 1870s-80s, the rubberised full-face covering was advertised as an:

aid to complexion beauty treated with some medicated preparation the effects of the mask when worn at night two or three times in the week are described as marvellous.

Advertisements for these precursors to todays sheet mask beauty treatments contained testimonials from women who claimed to be cured of freckles and wrinkles.

The advent of the automobile in the early 20th century brought a whole new fashion range into the public arena. Motorists needed protection from weather, dust and fumes, so accessories had to be practical. For women, protection took the fashionable form of coats and face coverings.

Veils and hoods were wrapped around stylish large hats of the day, and fastened under the chin so that the entire face was safely covered.

Advertisements in the early 1920s describe a complete face mask for drivers ostensibly men as the accessory buttoned to the cap and [is] equipped with an adjustable eye shield against glaring headlights.

A design for women in 1907 was described as a window hood, which completely engulfed the hat beneath and closed with a drawstring around the neck. It had a gauze window for the eyes and another smaller opening at the mouth.

By the swinging 1960s, the cultural and sartorial landscape couldnt have been more different and yet, masks made an unlikely appearance in space age fashion championed by designers such as Andr Courrges and Pierre Cardin. Metallic mini dresses and one-piece suits were topped with space helmets that left an opening for the entire face or eyes.

More commonly adopted were plastic visors worn separately or as part of a hat, sometimes covering forehead to chin and taking on the appearance of a welders shield or indeed, the face shields worn by health workers today.

Sunglasses, a kind of mask in their own right, were taken to the extreme by Courrges with his infamous solid white shades with only a slit for light. Life described this as a built-in squint in 1965 - a design that dangerously narrows the field of vision.

Read more: The fashionable history of social distancing

Discussions during the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic around whether masks would be a fad, how long they would be required, and how to create your own at home, seem eerily prescient now.

This darkly comic mask from 1918 demonstrates the same wish for ingenuity and levity that exists today:

Lebanese fashion designer Eric Ritter has sported a similarly macabre aesthetic. He was already thinking and writing about masks on Instagram in January before coronavirus spread around the world

On growing up without a mask

On being forced to wear a mask

On ecstatically removing a mask

On picking a mask back up

In Australia, entertainer Todd McKenney has launched an online marketplace for costume designers to make and sell one-of-a-kind masks directly to the public.

Face masks dont have to be created by artists, designers or couture fashion houses to make them appealing. But a look through our fashion history shows that ingenuity and humanity have long influenced our face wear whether for the purposes of allure, space travel or pandemic protection.

Continued here:

Friday essay: vizards, face gloves and window hoods a history of masks in western fashion - The Conversation AU

One Season Wonders, Weirdos And WannabesOne-Season Wonders, Weirdos, And Wannabes considers the merits of short-lived TV shows.

Paul Feig created an ideal binge watch for today that ended four years ago. His sci-fi sitcom, Other Space, which debuted April 14, 2015, on the ill-fated streaming service Yahoo! Screen, is perfectly suited to a mini-marathon in these quarantimes. At just four hours (eight half-hour episodes), you could watch the season-one travails of the crew of the UMP Cruiser, led by Captain Stewart Lipinski (Karan Soni), in less time than it would take you to make sourdough bread (we assumethats one stay-at-home hobby we never picked up.) The cast is full of bright comedic talents, including newer (at the time) talents like Soni, Eugene Cordero, and Milana Vayntrub. And with Joel Hodgson and Trace Beaulieu in its crew, Other Space even boasts a mini-Mystery Science Theater 3000 reunion.

Its great escapist fare, even if this band of misfits isnt especially adept at space exploration. Other Space starts off with a premise similar to Star Trek: Voyagers, but instead of accidentally riding an energy wave way off into the Delta Quadrant, the Cruiser crew unknowingly enters a wormhole or ripple on their first trip out of port together and ends up in uncharted lands or some other space. Stewart, whos dreamed of being on a starship since he was a kid, sees this as a great opportunity, while almost everyone else views it as an inconvenienceespecially Tina (Vayntrub), who left her great love Ted (Spys Bjrn Gustaffson) behind when she was ordered to board the Cruiser. Over the course of the season, away missions go awry, robots rebel, and conspiracies are uncovered.

Despite the setting, the series doesnt quite inspire a desire to live vicariously through the exciting adventures of Stewart, his first officer and sister Karen (Bess Rous), and science officer/science experiment Kent (Neil Casey). Other Spaces combination of close quarters, questionable food supply (even in the future, fudge doesnt make for a good breakfast), and a foreboding outside will instead feel awfully relatable. You might not have a wisecracking robot named A.R.T. (voiced by Beaulieu, with some puppeteering help from Sherry OConnor) negotiating to use your bathroom, but the growing sense of cabin fever and the blurring line between home and work space will still hit close to, er, home.

Now Other Space is once again available to stream, thanks to yet another new and free streaming service, Dust, ready to be discovered by anyone who didnt have the chance to watch the show on Yahoo Screen or the Tumblr page created and proselytized by Feig himself. The Freaks And Geeks creator is no stranger to the one-season wonder and having the rug pulled out from under by network executives. But in an interview with The A.V. Club, Feig says its not hyperbole to describe the cancellation of Other Space as the greatest disappointment in my career.

I was so proud of that show, Feig says of Other Space, which he first conceived of in 2004. We put so much work and time into it. Something I created years before and spent years trying to get made was suddenly something that came out but didnt really get the chance for anybody to see it.

When Other Space premiered in 2015 on Yahoo! Screen, it represented, among other things, the potential of new and niche streaming services (another element relevant to todays expanding programming landscape.) The sci-fi/workplace comedy hybrid had something to offer fans of Star Trek and The Office alike. Sonis Stewart is a Jimmy Stewart type: A well-meaning everyman with an idiosyncratic inflection (though a Jimmy Stewart character never fantasized about a pansexual threesome.) As his overly ambitious sister Karen, Rous is fierce but also racked with insecurity at coming in second to her less competent brother. Hodgsons burnout engineer Zalian is a standout, especially in concert with his robotic buddy A.R.T. (theres even a moment when the two riff while watching TV footage), but hes only one of several reliable sources of laughs. Vayntrub and Cordero make Tina and Michael, respectively, into beautiful fools with untapped resourcefulness. Conor Leslie more than holds her own as the ships computer Natasha, who is effectively sequestered from the group. (Feig remains grateful to Allison Jones, who cast both Other Space and Freaks And Geeks: Anybody you like in comedy was basically found by Allison Jones.)

But Feig believes its fundamental appeal is even broader: Having a group of people stuck together who dont really know each other and may not even really get alongthat to me is just a recipe for fun, relatable stories. That idea has been part of his oeuvre from the beginninghigh school is nothing if not a place where people from all walks are thrown togetherand continues to run through even the mismatched pairings at the center of The Heat and A Simple Favor. The conflicting personalities and competing energies just happen to also make for great workplace comedy, because everybody can relate to the idea of being stuck for a big part of your day with people you either kind of know or maybe you dont really like. Other Space is that to the nth degree, the filmmaker says, because now youre trapped with those people for eternity, in a very confined space.

Though it didnt set out to compete with more action-packed or heady sci-fi franchises, Other Space manages in some ways to be even more forward-thinking. As Brandon Nowalk wrote for The A.V. Club in 2015, Other Space flies past the real final frontier into a future where bisexuality is the norm. Gender norms are tweaked throughout: Male officers at Universal Mapping Project (the corporation that funds space travel in the show) wear skirt suits like they came off a Jean Paul Gaultier runway; collar balls have replaced neck ties; and instead of a golf course, its implied that girls night out is the setting for backroom deals and the exchange of insider knowledge. Sexual orientation is a spectrum, but there are no Very Special Episodes or even moments dedicated to queerness. That information is just a part of characters like Stewart, Karen, and Tina.

That sense of fluidity was important for Feig and his team, including showrunner Owen Ellickson and writers like Shelby Fero (a former A.V. Club contributor). That was a big thing for us, Feig says. We loved the idea that the future is very fluid. Even when I wrote the pilot back in 2004, I loved the idea that all the men are wearing dresses. I just wanted to kind of go, Yeah, in the future, it doesnt matter. Youre whatever you are. That should be cool. The fact that theres no judgment is one of the ways the show carries on the speculative traditions of science fiction. Feig was inspired by the President George W. Bushs (and Karl Roves) opposition to marriage equality, and the way LGBTQ+ rights regularly become a wedge issue. They all got in on it, scaring everyone with this ridiculous bogeyman of gay marriage. That was part of the influence in creating the show, but it was always something that weve wanted to do. We love that idea that everybodys very fluid on the show, because I do see that in the future. You see it already, especially in younger generations.

So what happened to bring about Other Spaces precipitous end? Feig says that Yahoo did put a very decent budget into the show that allowed us to have those sets and cool special effects. While Other Space doesnt have the same visual panache as say, Star Trek: Discovery, which launched only two years later in 2017, its still a great-looking show. 2015 certainly felt like the right time for a humorous yet earnest look at the rigors of space exploration, especially when new platforms like Yahoo! Screen were creating space for innovative comedies, including Community. Other Space was mostly well received by critics, though The New York Times Neil Genzlinger found it trucked in far too familiar territory. Feig still feels the sting of that review, but notes that a significant part of the problem was the fact that the platform changed promotional tacks after picking up the series. In a meeting before the launch, Feig was told, Were actually not going to do traditional marketing, were gonna go more through the site and do it through Yahoo and our algorithms. And I was just like, Oh no, I smell trouble. [Laughs.] Because the marketplace is so tough; you have to get known, you gotta get the word out.

Feig is still trying to get the word outespecially now that you can stream Other Space on Dust. With audiences exploring new streaming options and making their way through ever-expanding catch-up lists, theres no better time to binge a sci-fi comedy that remains an incisive reflection of the present day, five years after its premiere (and 16 years after Feig first started writing it.) And the series creator still holds out hope that hell be able to create new adventures for the not-quite-fearless crew of the Cruiser; hed bring the show back in a heartbeat if it ever got picked up again. But as with Freaks And Geeks, Feig can already trace the legacy of his short-lived series. Other Space served as a launching pad for great performers like Soniwhos since moved on to steal scenes opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Miracle Workersbut it also gave Feig a chance to work with and expand his repertory players, including Neil Casey, who co-starred in 2016s Ghostbusters. My wife and I never had kids, Feig says, so these actors are are my children in a way, I feel very parental towards them. [Laughs.] Seeing all of these people, from Freaks And Geeks and Other Space, going on to have great careers you get so happy that their talent was seen, and you get really happy that you were able to see what the rest of the world was going to see in them before anybody else got to see it. Just another one of the ways Other Space was prescient.

Read the rest here:

Paul Feig still wants you to make room for Other Space - The A.V. Club

NUTTY conspiracy theorists tirelessly scan photos of Mars in search of objects that are out of the ordinary.

While the vast majority can be put down to mistaken identity, some mysterious finds have never been explained by Nasa.

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From beer bottles to "alien statues", here are some of the weirdest findings reported by eagle-eyed internet users in recent years.

Back in 2017, alien-hunters claimed they'd found evidence of an ancient Martian "soldier" frozen solid on the Red Planet.

Images captured by the Curiosity rover appeared to show a humanoid creature wearing a space suit and carrying a weapon.

The creature was spotted by Paranormal Crucible who postedthe video on Youtube.

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The video description states: "Intriguing object which I spotted while going through the NASA archives.

"This one definitely looks artificial in nature and in my opinion is an ancient statuette.

"The odd thing about this one is that it does resemble an alien grey or possibly an insect type species of alien."

It seems more likely, however, that the "alien" was simply an unusual pile of rocks on the Martian surface.

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He's one of history's greatest minds, but Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates also dabbled in space travel, according to conspiracy nuts.

The dubious find was made last year by Scott C Waring, who runs the crackpot website UFOSightingsDaily.

Scott found the thinker's face on Mars in photos taken by Nasa's Spirit rover 15 years ago.

"This is Socrates the great greek philosopher and teacher. Every detail about the face matches perfectly. Was Socrates from Mars? Perhaps.

"That would explain his advanced and organised way of thinking and how he tried to influence the world with it."

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Notorious conspiracy nut Scott C Waring claimed he'd spotted signs of a sarcophagus embedded in the red planet's rocky surface last August.

Scott said his "discovery" proved that Ancient Egyptians came from Mars.

"I've got an interesting discovery on Mars that is going to rock archaeology," Scott said in a YouTube video about the find.

"There is an Ancient Egyptian tomb of sorts carved into the side of this mountain on Mars.

"Are ancient Egyptians from Mars? Did they then move to Egypt? Egypt is very similar in appearance and weather to that of Mars. No other place on Earth looks much like Mars."

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Apparently, the Martians are cracking open a cold one whenever we're not looking.

A self-described Mars "anomaly hunter" found what he claimed was evidence of a green beer bottle on the Red Planet's surface in 2017.

The image was snapped by Nasa's Spirit rover during a mission on the surface of Mars in November 2007.

Thomas Miller, 64, who unearthed the "anomaly", admitted he couldn't be sure it was a beer bottle.

However, he said the idea that astronauts could one day share a brewskie with ET was a pleasant one.

"If someday we visit their planet it would be nice to think we could sit down and have a beer with them," Thomas told MailOnline.

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Some batty Mars-fans think they've found evidence of Earth-like wildlife on Mars.

A "bear and its cub" were found by basement-dwellers in Curiosity images snapped back in 2016.

YouTube user Mister Enigma posted the image in a video in which he claimed it may be a creature or even a statue of a creature.

He added: What is even more odd is that right next to it on the left we see what looks like a small creature or cub.

Although the faces look different it is possible the creatures are similar to what we have on earth.

There are many theories of the origins of life of Earth coming from our next door neighbour Mars so it is very well possible that these could be a type of Martian bear.

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Conspiracy kooks had a field day following the landing of Nasa's Insight Mars lander in November 2018.

The contraption sent back some of the most detailed images of Mars yet, providing plenty of fodder for whacky alien-hunters.

One image snapped by the machine showed a human-like figure on a rock that conspiracy theorists claimed was an alien statue.

Other said it was an alien life form in the flesh. We're not so convinced.

Mars facts

Here's what you need to know about the Red Planet...

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KID 'LIFESAVER'New sensor will tell when a child has been left unattended in a hot car

EYES TO THE SKIESWhich planets can you see from Earth with the naked eye?

ROCK AND A HARD PLACEVolcanic rock raft bigger than Paris has crashed into Australia

In other space news, Nasa's manned mission to Marscould be delayed by 25 yearsas experts warn of radiation, health scares and food shortages.

Japan is ready to mine Mars's largest moonafter successfully completing all of the compulsory space contamination paperwork.

Nasa managed to record the incredible sound of a Marsquake -which you can listen to here.

What do you think of the bonkers Mars sightings? Let us know in the comments!

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk

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Bonkers conspiracy theorists spot mysterious objects on Mars from alien statues to a bottle of BEER - The Sun

During the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the formation of the African Union in May 2013, African Heads of State and Government signed the 50th Anniversary Solemn Declaration. It symbolized the re-dedication of Africa to the attainment of the Pan African Vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its citizens, representing a dynamic force in the international arena. Agenda 2063 is the concrete manifestation of how the continent intends to achieve this vision within 50 years, from 2013 to 2063.

This declaration culminated in the Agenda 2063. One of the flagship programs of the Agenda 2063 is the African Space Policy. The policy is anchored on Strengthening Africas use of outer space to bolster development in critical sectors such as agriculture, disaster management, remote sensing, climate forecast, banking and finance, defence and security. This policy resolve led to the adoption of the African Space Policy and Strategy, as the first of the concrete steps towards realizing an African Space Agency.

The policy focuses on mobilizing the continent for institutional and capacity development towards achieving the four pillars of space technology, namely; Earth Observation (EO), Navigation & Positioning, Satellite Communication, and Space Science & Astronomy for socio-economic benefits. This article focuses on how Non-Governmental Institutions play an essential role in the execution of these goals.

Non-Governmental Institutions are institutions that are not government-owned. They include Private firms in the space sector, private schools and research institutes. The realization and execution of the Outer Space Program requires a certain focus and will that governments cannot provide. This is only natural because national governments have to attend to the structural problems still plaguing most African nations. It is arguable that a working indigenous space sector would play an important role in the alleviation of these underlying problems; however, it would seem that these problems are urgent and need immediate attention.

Nonetheless, this shift in focus and priority creates a chasm that can quickly be filled by purpose-created and driven private firms. Because these firms and companies deal with space issues, they are the best fit to seal the chasm consequent to national governments distracted focus. The ailing political will of several governments is propped up by the need to make a profit nature of these private firms.

Furthermore, the relative stability of private firms, especially companies with perpetual succession and unalterable object clauses in their memorandum of association, provide a fix to the bane of political instability, which, according to the Space-Strategy mentioned above, constitutes a block to the execution of the Outer Space Program. This potential for a sudden change in Africa causes a problem fixable by the relatively more stable mechanism of companies in the space sector. It is not difficult to perceive the importance of these non-governmental institutions in this regard.

Additionally, the Space Strategy realizes the lack of innovation in delivering relevant space services and products as one more of the threats facing the execution of the program. This is because it is evident that innovation is not any governments strong suit. The capacity to innovate is directly related to the ability to make a profit as well as to outwit competitors. It is thus an essential skill in most private companies and firms. This innovative ability, it could be argued, played a considerable part in SpaceXs mastery of the reusable rockets, which has significantly reduced the cost of space travel. This same innovation will equally positively affect the fruition of Africas Outer Space goals.

In Africa, the education system faces many challenges, especially concerning public and foundational educational institutions. According to the International Finance Corporation, Governments are relying increasingly on the private sector to help fulfil public policy objectives in education, as well as to regulate providers appropriately, integrate them with the public system, and increase access to students at all income levels. This is also why, according to Lisa Vives, New York-based Africa American Institute, in its State of Education in Africa report, private institutions are increasingly stepping in to educate children who lack access to an education and to fill the gaps in a countrys public education system.

This issue, the Space Strategy admits, is one of the weaknesses of the program. It posits that inadequate core skills in several areas of space science may be one of the challenges the continent has to deal with to achieve its space goals.

It is only natural that the inculcation of these core space science skills primarily occurs in the early stages of a young persons educational sojourn. However, African governments do not yet have the funding to provide for the schools and other learning institutes capable of ensuring the effective and efficient inculcation of these skills. Thus, this critical duty falls on the private sector. The private sector has taken the initiative as regards the provision of quality education in Africa, as can be deduced from the referenced articles. Thus, it is no gainsaying that the private educational sector would be significant in availing critical space science skills to learners in the continent.

In conclusion, the private sector arguably has one of the most critical functions concerning the success of Africas Space Programs. However, this is not to disregard the necessity of public-private partnership in the realization of the goal to mobilize the continent to develop the necessary institutions and capacities to utilize the four pillars of space technology, for socio-economic benefits.

See more here:

Importance of Non-governmental Institutions in the Implementation of the African Space Policy & Strategy - Space in Africa

Trusted retailer Zavvi is currently offering the LEGOCity Rocket Assembly & Transport for $119.99 shipped when codeLC10has been applied at checkout. Typically fetching $150, todays offer saves you 20%, marks one of the first discounts weve seen, and brings the price down to a new all-time low. This 1,055-piece creation brings space travel to your LEGO City setup with an over 16-inch tall rocket ship, transporter, and plenty of other accessories. Alongside a launch control room and rover garage, this creation also comes packed with minifigures including two astronauts, a pair of ground crew technicians, Launch Director, scientist, and a lab mechanic.Learn more in our launch coverage, and then head below the fold for more LEGO deals from $12.

Over atBest Buys official eBay storefront, were tracking the LEGO Star Wars Resistance Y-Wing Starfighter for $45.99. Down from its $70 going rate, todays offer amounts to 35% in savings, beats Amazons sale price for the all-time low there by $10, and marks the best weve seen to date. Assembling the latest rendition of Y-Wing starfighter from the Star Wars universe, this578-piece set measures 17-inches long and includes five minifigures.Dive into our hands-on review for all the details.

Earlier today, we checked out all of the details on LEGOs upcoming Braille set, which offers a more educational spin on its usual bricks. Then dont forget to dive into our recent review of LEGOs NES kit, which we found to be a must-have for Nintendo and retro gaming fans alike.

Give young space adventurers a treat with a NASA-inspired rocket launch set, which is great for independent play. This incredible LEGO City 60229 Rocket Assembly & Transport kids toy containing 1055 pieces, features a large multi-stage rocket launch control room with rotating satellite dish and a rocket assembly crane with winch.

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Save up to 40% on LEGO City, Star Wars, Marvel, and much more starting at $12 - 9to5Toys

Hedra, a one-shot comic by Jesse Lonergan recently republished by Image, follows an astronaut as she searches the galaxy for signs of life after the Earth is decimated by nuclear war. All of the comics fifty-some pages are visually gripping, poignant, and silent. While silent comics (aka those devoid of text) arent nonexistent the graphic novel Space Bear was another silent sci-fi that hit shelves in July they certainly arent the norm. Silent comics give comic artists a way to flex their abilities as storytellers, and to show audiences that a picture can unquestionably be worth one thousand words. Even if this were a larger genre, it wouldnt take away what a beautiful book Hedra is.

Lonergans artistic style in Hedra is unapologetically diagrammatic mathematical and exacting. Hedras layouts arent traditional, frequently relying on concentric circles and rows of squares in combination with more industry-standard rectangular panels. This layout, in relation to massive nightscapes, creates the feeling of reading star charts and using them to plot ones course. Even white boundaries between panels, which normally act as a sort of pause between images, are at times part of the image themselves as the movement of a bomb or spaceship through the dark blue void of space. Hedras cover is rendered in the same style and acts as a satisfying taste of whats to come. While simpler, its still striking.

Almost every page of Hedra could easily be printed and treated as a poster or fine art print. It is a book which is incredibly pleasing to the eye at the page level, even when isolated from its narrative sequence or story.

That said, shapes more specifically polyhedra (three-dimensional shapes with flat polygonal faces) also play a significant, almost metaphysical, role within the comic. This theme feels easy to associate with the medieval astrological concept of the music of the spheres and the astronomer Johannes Keplers Harmonices Mundi (which discusses polyhedra and astronomy as they relate to that concept). For Hedra, polyhedra become part of the way one finds their place in the universe and finds hope for a new world.

Hedras core feels fundamentally retrofuturistic, both in the aesthetics of things like spaceship and spacesuit shapes, but in its focus on nuclear apocalypse, and its optimism towards space travel. Its a playful book with a Gulliver-vs-the-Lilliputians moment and at moments Hedra is filled with a sense of wonder.

Hedras emotional core feels ballsy, especially in a time when the Doomsday Clock is set to one hundred seconds to midnight and the coronavirus pandemic is sweeping the globe. Lonergans narrative doesnt shy away from the possibility of a reality where the human race faces catastrophe. Hedra takes one of the most what ifs and instead of offering the optimistic it will never come to that pulls from annihilations ashes a forceful and then. And then, life finds a way. And then, we find a way forward. And then. With this rarer breed of optimism, Hedra becomes a story about seeking (and finding) rebirth and renewal in a world where that seems impossible.

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Hedra (One-Off): Its The End of the World (And I Feel Fine) - Comic Watch