MARTIANS
Classification: Extraterrestrial (Martians, 1950s era)
Location/Base of Operations: Roger Crane's home, somewhere in America; originally from Mars
Known Members: At least six (none identified, see comments)
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Earthlings (including Ben Bowles and Roger Crane)
First Appearance: Uncanny Tales I#26/5 (November, 1954)
Powers/Abilities: Although intelligent and technologically advanced (in comparison to Earth), these Martians apparently possessed no paranormal physical abilities.
Traveling to Earth in flying saucer spacecrafts, the members of their invasion scouting team were equipped with delayed explosives; the leader of the team carried a peculiar red staff, possibly an unspecified weapon.
Traits: Having stocky bodies, they had a pair of horn-like antennae protruding from their foreheads--these may have indicated that they possessed the ability to communicate telepathically (...which would explain how they could speak English).
These bird-like Martians also had beak-like noses and mouths, along with what appeared to be either shaggy green hair or feathers covering their arms and the backs of their heads; however, they did not demonstrate the ability to fly on their own.
Type: Semi-humanoid
Average height: 5'6" (by approximation)
Eyes: Two (on head)
Fingers: Four (including opposable thumb)
Toes: Four
Skin color: Green
History:
(Uncanny Tales I#26/5) - After
learning that newspaper writer Roger Crane had turned in a hoax story
about a flying saucer landing, these Martians scouts took advantage of
the situation by using Crane's house as a command base for an invasion;
they allowed Crane to remain because they figured no Earthlings would
believe anything he told them after his hoax story.
While the invaders set up their command post, Crane telephoned Ben Bowles, his editor, and told him there really were Martin invaders in his home--although Bowles didn't believe him, Crane's phony story had captured the public's interest and increased the paper's circulation figures, so he requested for Crane to write more of his "science fiction".
Crane continued to turn in feature stories about the Martians, but the public at large believed them to only be fictitious. So confident were the Martians that no one would ever believe Crane's claims, they let him overhear their invasion plans; they even allowed him to accompany them on their sabotage missions, such as when they planted delayed explosives in utility tunnels, to destroy cross-continental telephone lines once their invasion began.
Crane was frustrated, because nobody believed him about the impending Martian invasion. But when he overhead the scouting team's leader mention that their entire invasion fleet would be arriving the next morning, Crane checked his files for a big event scheduled on that day--he found something that gave him an idea how to stop the invaders; he subsequently wrote a story about how the the rest of the Martian invasion force would reach Earth by flying over Dead Man's Desert at 11:00 AM--after reading Crane's story, the Martian leader decided it would be the safest route for the fleet to take, because no one would believe it, thus no Earthlings would ever witness their surprise attack.
(Uncanny Tales I#26/5 - BTS) - The leader of the scouting team presumably contacted Mars and advised them to land in Dead Man's Desert at 11:00 AM.
(Uncanny Tales I#26/5) - The next morning, at precisely 11:00 AM, a huge fleet of Martian spacecrafts came flying low over Dead Man's Desert and prepared to land, for no humans were there to see them...
...because at that exact moment, as Crane had learned, the "big event" was the scheduled detonation and testing of the most powerful H-bomb ever created--as a result, the Martian invasion fleet was destroyed in the nuclear holocaust...
Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Sid Greene.
...and with their entire invasion fleet destroyed, presumably the six-Martian scouting team gave up and returned to their homeworld in defeat...
...or its always possible that the six of them boarded their flying saucer to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet, and they were killed as well (take your choice).
In this 5-page story--Saucer Scare!--only these six Martians were seen; presumably there were many more, considering the number ships destroyed in the nuclear blast.
It remains to be explained how so many different races/beings allegedly originated from Mars.
Profile by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
These Martians have no known connection to:
Roger Crane has no known connection to:
Ben Bowles has no known connection to:
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These flying saucers were capable of at least interplanetary travel, and transported invaders from Mars to Earth. The first such spacecraft landed by Roger Crane's house, and a scouting team of six Martians emerged to conduct a reconnaissance/sabotage operation for an impending invasion of Earth. |
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Later, the entire Martian invasion fleet arrived, but reporter Roger Crane had tricked them into arriving at Dead Man's Desert, where a scheduled H-bomb test destroyed the entire fleet. --Uncanny Tales I#26/5 |
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A writer for the Daily Times newspaper, Crane was under pressure from his boss, Ben Bowles, to come up with a newsworthy headline--unfortunately, the hottest news item of the day was a local garden club's successful crossing of roses.
As the deadline approached, the desperate reporter suddenly thought up the perfect attention-grabbing headline: FLYING SAUCER LANDS. At his typewriter, Crane concocted a fake news story about "Homer Brent," a farmer who saw an alien spacecraft landing in his fields while he was plowing, and included a description of the weird creatures that emerged; Crane even added an ambiguous tag to cover himself if his boss ever caught on to him: The final line of the story read, "Only in his imagination, Mr. Brent stated, could he have pictured creatures like those!"
Crane handed his story in, and the sensational banner headline got worldwide release. Minutes after the papers hit the stands, the public read the incredible news, and fear and rumor took hold. But as more and more papers called for additional facts, Bowles learned the truth--that Crane had only made up the story--and he called Crane into his office; but Crane pointed out the ambiguous tag in his story to clear himself, so Bowles didn't fire him, although he did suspend Crane for two weeks without pay.
But that night, when Crane drove home, he saw a real Martian spacecraft land by his house! The Martians even told Crane about their invasion plan, because they were confident that no one would ever believe him after his hoax story, and they began to set up their command base in Crane's house.
Crane telephoned Bowles and tried to convince him about the extraterrestrial invaders; although Bowles didn't seriously believe him, he told Crane that his "science fiction story" had captured the public's interest and the paper's circulation had greatly increased, so he requested that Crane write some more episodes. Crane continued to write more feature stories regarding the Martians' plans for conquest; Bowles laughingly accepted each one, but always added an editor's note at the bottom: "The above material is purely fictitious, and any resemblance to Martians living or dead is purely coincidental!"
Crane even went to a newsstand and tried to convince people buying the Daily Times that his stories were true, but no one believed him. Frustrated that his pleas fell on skeptical ears, Crane returned home and overheard the Martians say that their entire invasion fleet would come to Earth the next morning. But Crane tricked them into having the fleet land in Dead Man's Desert, where a test was being conducted for a powerful H-bomb; the Martian invaders were subsequently destroyed in the nuclear blast.
--Uncanny Tales I#26/5
(Comments: "Homer Brent" was likely just a fictional creation of Crane's. And Crane's home was probably in an isolated rural area, otherwise his neighbors would have seen the Martians landing, too.)
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The editor of the Daily Times newspaper, he unknowingly published Roger Crane's fake story about a flying saucer landing. After he learned that Crane's story wasn't true, he suspended him for two weeks without pay. But Crane's hoax story had increased the paper's circulation figures, so Bowles requested additional episodes of the fictitious story; Crane continued to send him more stories regarding a Martian invasion. Bowles was unaware that real Martians were using Crane's home as a command base for their planned invasion of Earth. --Uncanny Tales I#26/5 (Comment: Although he never actually saw the Martians, and didn't even believe they existed, Bowles is listed as their enemy in the sense that the Martians regarded all Earthlings to be such.) |
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images:
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p4, pan4 (main image - Martians plan invasion in Roger Crane's home; Roger Crane [background])
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p3, pan7 (headshot - Martian speaks to Roger Crane)
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p3, pan6 (Martians first meet Roger Crane)
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p4, pan7 (Martians plant explosives by telephone lines; Roger Crane [background])
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p3, pan4 (Martians' spacecraft lands by Roger Crane's home)
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p3, pan5 (Martians disembark from their spacecraft)
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p5, pan6-7 (Martian invasion fleet flying over desert; Martian fleet destroyed by H-bomb blast)
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p1, pan1 (Roger Crane at work)
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p4, pan1 (Roger Crane; Martians [background])
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p1, pan3 (Ben Bowles)
Uncanny Tales I#26/5, p2, pan4 (Ben Bowles rushing with Crane's hoax flying saucer story)
Appearances:
Uncanny Tales I#26/5 (November, 1954) - unidentified writer, Sid Greene (pencils/inks), Morrie Kuramoto (letters), Stan Lee (editor)
First Posted: 11/30/2025
Last updated: 11/30/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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