Mars New Year has an official comic book
Those who attended the previous Mars New Year celebration in 2023 may remember its official comic book, “Journey to Mars,” which told the tale of four teenagers making a voyage to the red planet.
For the upcoming Mars New Year, to be held Friday and Saturday, June 6 and 7, the comic will be getting a sequel, “Journey to Mars Volume 2: The Arrival.”
Overseeing the comic book project is Marcy Bogdanich, a retired art teacher who is currently serving as the arts chair of the Mars New Year Education Committee. Three students from Mars Area High School joined forces to write and illustrate the book in Bogdanich’s downstairs studio, working on the book for three months in their spare time away from school and other activities.
“It was really cool to be able to begin the comic book three years ago, and then to continue it this year,” Bogdanich said. “They’ve just been super-tremendous, three great girls.”
Of the four collaborators involved with the first Journey to Mars comic, two — Elizabeth Kelly and Addison Pangonis — returned to work on the sequel, with Vivien Miller also coming on board. Not only was the production of the comic handled locally, but so was the printing, which was performed at The Print Shop on Grand Avenue in downtown Mars.
Copies of both volumes of Journey to Mars will be sold during Mars New Year to raise money for the event organizers. Bogdanich says that there is no set price, but a suggested donation amount to purchase the comics.
“We’re going to ask for a donation,” Bogdanich said. “They can either purchase both volumes, or if they happen to have the first volume, they can purchase the new one.”
The comic book isn’t the only art initiative at this year’s Mars New Year, which will also showcase eight “travel posters” for the planet Mars from fifth- and sixth-grade students at Mars Area Centennial School. The eight winners were chosen as the best out of 40 entries.
According to Bogdanich, the project originally was pitched to the Mars Area High School’s art club, which had organized a student art competition for the 2023 Mars New Year.
“One of the high school students there thought that project would be good for lower-level,” Bogdanich said. “So she took it down to the Centennial School.”
Bogdanich credited that high school student, Gianna Mannella, with coordinating the whole poster contest.
“She was wonderful in contacting the teachers, setting up a time when we could go and talk to the students and explain the project, and she gathered the judges,” Bogdanich said. “So she did quite a bit of work.”
