Image Credit: Aaron Gronstal

I admit it: I'm a science-nerd-wannabe. I'm that soft-science fan who listens to Science Friday on NPR or reads Oliver Sachs articles and gets all excited and then immediately forgets whatever it is I was supposed to learn, because my spongey brain didn't really completely get it. So I'm always happy when interesting yet complex science lessons are presented in palatable forms. Like comics.

That's right. For here is a little present for anyone who ever stuck a comic book inside a science textbook and now regrets missing the lesson: astrobiology graphic novels, brought to you by NASA.  Issue #2 of Astrobiology has just been released (you can download the PDF or get the mobile app), and its focus is the history of our exploration of Mars.

It looks pretty, is full of slick illustrations, and contains a lot of good information, so that even I can now say things in casual conversations that will make me seem smart, such as, "Well, you know it was the images returned from NASA’s Mariner 4 mission in 1965 that finally put to rest speculations about the famous 'irrigation canals' on Mars so popular in the 1800s," and, "Of course, NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, launching in late 2011 will bring us closer to determining if there was ever life on Mars," at which point I can perhaps sing a bit of David Bowie's "Life on Mars." Or maybe not that last part. I don't know, I'm feeling awfully inspired.

Download the graphic novel here, and keep checking the Astrobiology blog for Issue #3.

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Meet 3 science rock stars.
Brilliant teens' science fair projects.