This website began as a focal point for my interest in the War of the Worlds radio broadcast of 1938, the infamous event that saw Americans apparently gripped by panic as fictional Martian invaders devastated the New Jersey countryside. But H.G. Wells' seminal science fiction novel has been re-imagined many times. In books, on television and at the movies, and even in comics such as Killraven and musicals like Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, its extraordinary influence has resonated across the world and the years, most prominently in the 2005 War of the Worlds remake by Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. Learn more now at the War Of The Worlds Invasion, where you will find dozens of in-depth articles and reviews.

John Gosling

The Orson Welles broadcast

On the evening of October 30th 1938, Orson Welles and the players of his Mercury Theatre were preparing to broadcast the latest in their series of weekly literary adaptations. The Halloween production of H.G.Wells' The War of the Worlds should have been no different to any that had gone before, but before the hour was up, Welles would find himself at the centre of a perfect storm of controversy. What should have been a simple if innovative retelling of a tale of alien invasion had triggered what has been called one of the first great mass panics of the modern media age. Read more about the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast.

Books about Mars

The War of the Worlds is a book that has far exceeded its expected shelf-life. The invasion has been re-imagined so many times over the years and exerted such an influence on the genre that it is hard to imagine that science fiction would be quite the same without it. Writers such as Ray Bradbury in The Martian Chronicles have gone to Mars in search of Martians, others have brought the Martians here, in novels such as Robert Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land. Even Sherlock Holmes has locked horns with the Martians in Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds, but the common thread is a fasination with a planet that has in equal measure, forever tantilised and terrified human minds. Read more about The War of the Worlds and the many books it has inspired.

Comics about Mars

Don't turn your nose up at comics. Some of the most outstanding visions of Mars have been achieved in the pages of comic books. Comic books go where novelists fear to tread and confront taboos that the mere written word cannot do justice to. In The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore imagined a Victorian England where the greats of romantic fiction fought side by side against the aliens, and Roy Thomas unleashed a modern day hero against a second Martian invasion within the pages of Killraven. And these are just two of the great comic books about Mars and Martians, waiting to be discovered. Read more about Martian comic books.

Film and TV about Mars

George Pal was the first director to bring The War of the Worlds to the big screen in 1953 and in 2005 Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise re-imagined the invasion with a massive budget that brought the Tripods vividly to life for the first time. But the War of the Worlds has also graced our television screens and been the subject of mumerous documentaries and dramas. Did you know that George Pal contemplated a TV series in which humans would pursue the alien threat into space, and that the Orson Welles radio broadcast has been referenced many times in film and TV, even by Woody Allen and in The Simpsons? Read more about The War of the Worlds in film and TV.

Newly added...

Books

2010 The Japanese Devil Fish Girl and Other Unnatural Attractions by Robert Rankin. A very weird and wonderful spoof sequel to The War of the Worlds.

Comics

2011 Heavy Metal, War of the Worlds Goliath: Summer Special. An entire issue of Heavy Metal magazine devoted to The War of the Worlds.

Film and TV

1946 kitty Kornered. Porky the Pig fights a band of mischievous cats who re-enact The War of the Worlds radio broadcast to scare him.

Music

2006 The War of the Worlds by Jeff Wayne. Big stage version of the classic record that has toured the UK to great acclaim.

Radio

1968 WKBW War of the Worlds. A Buffalo radio station creates a minor panic with an updated version of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast.

Grovers Mill prints for sale

Only a limited number left. This wonderful print depicts a Grovers Mill War of the Worlds image inspired from the 1938 broadcast. Order your Grovers Mill print direct from the artist Robert Hummel.

Links open to Mars Times, the news blog of The War of the Worlds invasion.

La Guerra de los Mundos, a Spanish War of the Worlds comic
Monday, June 25, 2012

There have been plenty of War of the Worlds comics over the years adapting either the original novel , referencing the Orson Welles radio play , or indeed striking out in new and novel directions, for instance Killraven and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , but it has always seemed notable ... .. read more..

Ivor Montagu's unfilmed War of the Worlds
Thursday, May 3, 2012

I was recently privileged to hold in my hands the treatment for an unproduced War of the Worlds script from approximately 1932. The detailed story of how this came to be written is explained in my recent article for SFX magazine , but briefly, it was the brainchild of a British film director, wri... .. read more..

Topolino e la Guerra dei Mondi - Mickey Mouse and the War of the Worlds!
Sunday, April 1, 2012

Yes, it’s strange but true; Mickey Mouse really did fight the Martians in an Italian comic book version of The War of the Worlds, though in Italy he’s better known as Topolino. Introduced into the country in 1932, the title’s first publisher Mario Nerbini swiftly found himself in trouble with Dis... .. read more..

My review of John Carter
Sunday, March 25, 2012

It was a depressing experience to watch John Carter this weekend, not because it was a bad film, (it’s most certainly not) but because by my count, a total of 12 people turned out to watch it, and this at 8pm on a Friday evening, when you would have thought there was the potential for a good crow... .. read more..

My thoughts on the 2nd John Carter (of Mars) trailer.
Thursday, December 1, 2011

I was left feeling particularly underwhelmed by the first trailer to John Carter, so approached this second effort with some trepidation. It is then with cautious optimism that I can report myself much more impressed by the new trailer. It’s still seriously lacking in context – is it just me... .. read more..