Cos Story Transcript - Skygack
In 1908 a strange figure made its way across the ice of a Cincinnati skating rick, putting into motion the first ripples of what would grow to be a global, cultural phenomenon. This alien presence was the start of a century’s worth of creative innovation and passionate devotion to worlds beyond our own, through science-fiction, fantasy and pop culture.
Despite this, you will probably know nothing about this unusual event, even if you feel its impact in all areas of nerd culture. Let us delve into the Mr and Mrs William Fell and the extraordinary extra-terrestrial, Mr Skygack from Mars.
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Cos Story; stories of cosplay and pop culture.
Episode 1: Skygack
Mr Skygack from Mars was the title and titular character of what many reckon to be the first alien centric comic strip. In fact it is believed that Mr Skygack was the first ever alien character to appear in a comic at all.
Created in 1907, and running in the Chicago Day Book until 1917, Mr Skygack was a curious Martian who found his way to Earth in a meteorite, bringing with him shenanigans a plenty to the people of this little blue planet.
The strip was popular amongst the Chicago Day Book audience, as they enjoyed the somewhat hapless adventures of Skygack as he muddled along making a naïve record of the people and occurrences on Earth. An extra-terrestrial Gulliver, Skygack made it his business to understand the human until he could work out his own way home.
In an issue from 1912, Mr Skygack was described as an…
“inoffensive stranger [who] landed on this terrestrial sphere with no luggage but a notebook. Since then he has tarried with us, pussyfooted and unobtrusive as a…spy, picking up information and knitting his intellectual brow over the incomprehensible things so different from those of his own planet.”
However, the comic was in part a satirical commentary of the day by cartoonist A.D. Condo, as well as way for the socialist leaning Day Book to put across their ideas in a more humorous and palatable to their readers.
Dressed in a outfit that would fit right in with the Jetsons or an early episode of Doctor Who or Star Trek, Mr Skygack’s look was clearly a forerunner of 50s futurism and, by the looks of it, 80s shoulder pads. A look that caught the eye of the readers.
While this is a fascinating journey into early sci-fi, it is the not the part of Mr Skygack’s important yet forgotten, place in the history of popular culture that brings us to an ice rink in Cincinnati. That would be Mr and Mrs William Fell and their creation of a Skygack costume. This is the first record of a science fiction fancy dress costume, making Mr Skygack the first ever cosplay.
During the turn of the 20th century masquerade or masked balls were incredibly popular. People have always liked dressing up and now with a cemented middle class, people beyond the aristocracy and wealthy could partake in the enjoyment of fancy dress. While characters from stories or literature did appear, costumes at these events were more often from historical, mythological or even religious backgrounds and the newly appearing genre of science, or speculative, fiction had yet to it make its mark on the populous at large in the form of costume.
It was one of these masquerades that Mr and Mrs Fell decided to attend in the guise of Mr Skygack and, another character from the Chicago Day Book and creation of A.D. Condo, Mrs Dillpickles.
Their costumes caused quite a stir, with Mr Fell walking away with “best costume” for Skygack, as well as inspiring another attendee to dress as Skygack two years later which prompted the skating rink to take on the character as a mascot of sorts.
In a report for the Spokane Press, the couple’s costumes were described as having “closely followed those of the comic characters made familiar with the public” under the headline “Skygack and Dillpickles on skates”, immortalising Mr and Mrs Fell and their costumes, not simply with a photograph but with a cartoon in the style of the comic strips themselves.
Unfortunately, only William’s name is recorded to attached to these costumes, his wife, and more likely the creator of the costumes side-lined, but this pair were pioneers of cosplay and modern nerd culture; taking the first steps that would create a new subculture with a helping hand from a curious Martian.
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Scripted, read and produced by Holly Swinyard
Information for this episode came from Kotaku, Gizmodo and Planet Cosplay by Paul Mountfort, Anne Pierson-Smith and Adam Geczy.
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