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19-516: The term is generic, as it is used for any unusual, threatening or strangely behaved individual whose appearance on the scene can be linked in some fashion with a UFO sighting. Several alleged encounters with the men in black have been reported by UFO researchers and enthusiasts. The "MIB" supposedly appeared throughout different moments in history. Stories about men in black inspired the science fiction comedy franchise Men in Black , and an album by

38-609: A division of Lerner Publishing Group ( Minneapolis , U.S. ) including Yu the Great , written by Paul D. Storrie, Sunjata: Warrior King of Mali (a 13th-century West African story), written by Justine and Ron Fontes. He also illustrated three graphic novels in the style of interactive storytelling : Terror in Ghost Mansion (Paul D. Storrie, writer), "School of Evil" (Marie P. Croall, writer) and "Peril at Summerland Park" (Paul D. Storrie, writer). Beginning in 2004, he worked on

57-462: A revival effort to bring back Charlton Comics . His art can be found in Charlton Arrow # 1, 2, and 3 with the reworking of Spookman (with writer Roger McKenzie and editor Mort Todd ), a public-domain character created by Pat Boyette in 1968. He illustrated "Travest: Spirit Talker ", a western he and Roger McKenzie co-created for Charlton Wild Frontier #1, and a horror story "Skin in

76-732: The Hogben series (about a family of mutant hillbillies). The former appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1943 and 1948 and was collected in hardcover as Robots Have No Tails (Gnome, 1952), and the latter appeared in Thrilling Wonder Stories in the late 1940s. In the 1950s, comedy became more common in science fiction. Some of the authors contributing to the sub-genre included: Alfred Bester , Harry Harrison , C. M. Kornbluth , Frederik Pohl , and Robert Sheckley . The Hitchhiker's Guide to

95-523: The science fiction genre's conventions for comedic effect. Comic science fiction often mocks or satirizes standard science fiction conventions, concepts and tropes – such as alien invasion of Earth, interstellar travel , or futuristic technology. It can also satirize and criticize present-day society. An early example was the Pete Manx series by Henry Kuttner and Arthur K. Barnes (sometimes writing together and sometimes separately, under

114-538: The Galaxy is a comic science-fiction series written by Douglas Adams . Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it later morphed into other formats, including stage shows, novels, comic books, a 1981 TV series , a 1984 computer game , and 2005 feature film . A prominent series in British popular culture , The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has become an international multi-media phenomenon;

133-467: The Meninblack featured alien visitations to Earth. James T. Flocker's 1979 film The Alien Encounters included Men in Black who harass a UFO investigator portrayed by Augie Tribach. The 1984 film The Brother from Another Planet features two Men in Black who try to capture the alien hero. One is played by the film's director, John Sayles. The 1995 album Masquerade (Running Wild album) , by

152-636: The New Spirit of Canada . Carruthers was born on May 11, 1962, in Halifax, Nova Scotia . He trained at Holland College between 1979–1981 in its Commercial Design Program, where he later taught full-time for 25 years until he retired in 2017. He also attended Sheridan College in Ontario , taking its Illustration program, and took a correspondence course with The Joe Kubert School . Carruthers first started working in comics at Malibu Graphics including

171-520: The Stranglers . Folklorist James R. Lewis compares accounts of men in black with tales of people encountering Lucifer , and speculates that they can be considered a kind of "psychological trauma". Men in black feature prominently in ufology , UFO folklore, and fan fiction. In the 1950s and 1960s, ufologists adopted a conspiratorial mindset and began fearing they would be subject to organized intimidation in retaliation for discovering "the truth of

190-726: The UFOs." In 1947, Harold Dahl claimed a man in a dark suit warned him not to discuss his alleged UFO sighting on Maury Island . In the mid-1950s, ufologist Albert K. Bender claimed he was visited by men in dark suits who threatened and warned him not to continue investigating UFOs. He maintained that the men were secret government agents tasked with suppressing evidence of UFOs. Ufologist John Keel claimed to have had encounters with MIB and referred to them as " demonic supernaturals" with "dark skin and/or 'exotic' facial features." According to ufologist Jerome Clark , reports of men in black represent "experiences" that "don't seem to have occurred in

209-472: The band Running Wild (band) has song called Men in Black. The song tells about a UFO sighting and the arrival of the Men In Black and the covering up of the sighting. The 1997 science-fiction film Men In Black , starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones , was loosely based on The Men in Black comic book series created by Lowell Cunningham and Sandy Carruthers . Cunningham got the idea for

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228-510: The comic when he and a friend saw a black van on the street and his friend joked about government "men in black". The video game franchise Half-Life features a character known as the G-Man, widely regarded as being inspired by urban legends associated with the men in black. Science fiction comedy Science fiction comedy ( sci-fi comedy ) or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits

247-600: The house pen-name of Kelvin Kent). Published in Thrilling Wonder Stories in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the series featured a time-traveling carnival barker who uses his con-man abilities to get out of trouble. Two later series cemented Kuttner's reputation as one of the most popular early writers of comic science fiction: the Gallegher series (about a drunken inventor and his narcissistic robot ) and

266-652: The illustration of The Men in Black , written by Lowell Cunningham , which would later be adapted into the Men in Black movie franchise . He also worked on Captain Canuck . He worked as the Editorial Cartoonist for the Charlottetown Guardian newspaper. He published a book of his editorial cartoons entitled Sh-It Happened . He has worked on several graphic novels for Graphic Universe,

285-424: The line: "Three men in black said, 'Don't report this.'" Their 1983 song "Take Me Away", about the singer's desire to leave Earth with "good guy" aliens, has the line: "The men in black, their lips are sealed." In 1979, British punk rock and new wave rock band The Stranglers recorded a song entitled "Meninblack" for their album The Raven , released that year. In 1981, their concept album The Gospel According to

304-425: The novels are the most widely distributed, having been translated into more than 30 languages by 2005. Terry Pratchett 's 1981 novel Strata also exemplifies the comic science fiction genre. Sandy Carruthers Sandy Carruthers is a Canadian artist best known for his work as the first illustrator of the original Men in Black comic book series, and as creator of the webcomic series, Canadiana:

323-525: The webcomic Canadiana , also known as the New Spirit of Canada . It drew heavily on the traditions of the superhero genre, centred on the adventures and personal life of the titular female superhero. Penciller Jeff Alward and scripter Mark Shainblum (known for Northguard and Angloman ) and artist Brenda Hickey have also worked on the series. Carruthers has worked with the Charlton NEO group:

342-472: The world of consensus reality ." Historian Aaron Gulyas wrote, "During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, UFO conspiracy theorists would incorporate the MIB into their increasingly complex and paranoid visions." Keel has argued that some MIB encounters could be explained as entirely mundane events perpetuated through folklore. In his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies , he describes a late-night outing in 1967, where he

361-571: Was taken for an MIB while searching for a phone to call a tow truck. In his article "Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker," John C. Sherwood claims that, in the late 1960s, at age 18, he cooperated when Gray Barker urged him to develop a hoax—which Barker subsequently published—about what Barker called "blackmen", three mysterious UFO inhabitants who silenced Sherwood's pseudonymous identity, "Dr. Richard H. Pratt." The 1976 Blue Öyster Cult song "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" contains

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