Comet Madness

Halley’s Comet visits the earth every seventy-five years. Since the dawn of civilization, humans had believed comets were evil portents. In 1705, Edmond Halley liberated humanity from these primordial superstitions (or so it was thought), proving that Newtonian mechanics rather than the will of the gods brought comets into our celestial neighborhood. Despite this scientific advance, when Halley’s Comet returned in 1910 and astronomers announced that our planet would pass through its poisonous tail, newspapers gleefully provoked a global hysteria that unfolded with tragic consequences. In Comet Madness, author and historian Richard J. Goodrich examines the 1910 appearance of Halley’s Comet and the ensuing frenzy sparked by media manipulation, bogus science, and outright deception. The result is a fascinating and illuminating narrative history that underscores how we behave in the face of potential calamity – then and now. As the comet neared Earth, scientists and journalists alike scrambled to get the story straight as citizens the world over panicked. Popular astronomer Camille Flammarion attempted to allay fears in a newspaper article, but the media ignored his true position that passage would be harmless; weather prophet Irl Hicks, publisher of an annual, pseudo-scientific almanac, announced that the comet would disrupt the world’s weather; religious leaders thumbed the Bible’s Book of Revelation and wondered if the comet presaged the apocalypse. Newspapers, confident that there was gold in these alternate theories, gave every crackpot a megaphone, increasing circulation and stoking international hysteria. As a result, workmen shelved their tools, farmers refused to plant crops they would never harvest, and formerly reliable people stopped paying their creditors. More opportunistic citizens opened “comet insurance” plans. Others suffered mental breakdowns, and some took their own lives. Comet Madness reveals how humans confront the unknown, how scientists learn about the world we inhabit, and how certain people—from outright hucksters to opportunistic journalists—harness fear to produce a profit.

"In Comet Madness, author and historian Richard J. Goodrich examines the 1910 appearance of Halley's Comet and the ensuing frenzy sparked by media manipulation, bogus science, and outright deception. The result is a fascinating and illuminating narrative history that underscores how we behave in the face of potential calamity - then and now"--

Based on the global sensation Magic: The Gathering card game, this softcover edition is the first of two volumes collecting the entirety of BOOM! Studios MAGIC comics–the longest continuous run of Magic comics stories ever–plus extras for hardcore fans! The powerful avatar Marit Lage’s incursion was a distraction from the machinations of an evil in their midst. The metal mage Tezzeret learned of a Planeswalker whose powers could amplify magic, Isona Maive. Though the necromancer Liliana Vess tried to mentor her, Maive fell under Tezzeret’s control. After infiltrating the guilds of Ravnica, Tezzeret plans to use the resources of the Ecumenopolis to bend powerful sites of magic across the Multiverse--and Maive--to his ultimate goal: casting the Elderspell and becoming a god. Chandra Nalaar, Garruk Wildspeaker, and Niko Aris join the Ravnican planeswalkers to call for more allies and stop Tezzeret, whatever the cost. Across the vast Multiverse, only Planeswalkers, those gifted with a “spark,” can tap into the raw power of Magic and travel across realms. Three Planeswalkers from rival guilds in the city world of Ravnica–Ral Zarek, Vraska, and Kaya–band together to investigate a cult intending to restore the ancient being Marit Lage to full power. To prevent Lage’s influence from driving every world in the Multiverse to madness and death, many Planeswalkers must fight together, but only one will make the ultimate sacrifice! Included within are the main series by writer Jed MacKay (Moon Knight, Avengers), and artist Ig Guara (Silk), as well artist French Carlomagno. Collects Magic #1-10.

Across the vast Multiverse, those gifted with a “spark” can tap into the raw power of Magic and travel across realms – they are Planeswalkers, and they are being targeted. When coordinated assassination attempts on Guildmasters Ral Zarek, Vraska, and Kaya rock the city of Ravnica leaving Jace Beleren’s life hanging in the balance, a fuse is lit that threatens not just these three Guilds, but the entire plane of Ravnica. With tensions already high in the city as a comet slowly approaches, the cabal of Planeswalkers will race against time to discover who is behind the attacks, leading them to the only Planeswalker who survived through the Ice Age of Dominaria and discovering who and what lies entombed in the comet's icy core...

A new beginning for the pop culture phenomenon of Magic starts here from Jed MacKay (Marvel's Black Cat) and Ig Guara (Marvel's Ghost-Spider), perfect for new readers and long time fans. * Across the vast Multiverse, those gifted with a "spark" can tap into the raw power of Magic and travel across realms -they are Planeswalkers. * When coordinated assassination attempts on Guildmasters Ral Zarek, Vraska and Kaya rock the city of Ravnica and leave Jace Belleren's life hanging in the balance, a fuse is lit that threatens not just these three Guilds, but the entire plane of Ravnica. * Now these three must covertly infiltrate the wild plane of Zendikar and form a tenuous alliance to uncover why the targets of the assassins have all been Planeswalkers... * ...which will lead them straight to one of the most enigmatic characters in Magic history!

Individual issues originally published by Gold Key Comics from 1967 through 1979.

"[Gardner] zaps his targets with laserlike precision and wit."—Entertainment Weekly Martin Gardner is perhaps the wittiest, most devastating unmasker of scientific fraud and intellectual chicanery of our time. Here he muses on topics as diverse as numerology, New Age anthropology, and the late Senator Claiborne Pell's obsession with UFOs, as he mines Americans' seemingly inexhaustible appetite for bad science. Gardner's funny, brilliantly unsettling exposés of reflexology and urine therapy should be required reading for anyone interested in "alternative" medicine. In a world increasingly tilted toward superstition, Did Adam and Eve Have Navels? will give those of us who prize logic and common sense immense solace and inspiration. "Gardner is a national treasure...I wish [this] could be made compulsory reading in every high school—and in Congress."—Arthur C. Clarke "Nobody alive has done more than Gardner to spread the understanding and appreciation of mathematics, and to dispel superstition."— The New Criterion, John Derbyshire