Creativity Magazine

Attention: The World Mayan Today

By Mrstrongest @mrstrongarm

Mayan. Might end. How often do you get to do an apocalyptic pun?

Supposedly, the Mayan Long Count Calendar predicts the world will end today, December 21, 2012. Experts have debunked the idea, and even present-day Mayans don’t believe it, but the media loves the hype, and so do cartoonists.

I had a vision of a “Mayan pencil” and a regular pencil playing tic-tac-toe. Here’s the final. Oops– I hope no one was planning to attend a New Year’s Eve party…

cartoon satirizing the mayan calendar which supposedly predicts that the world will end on December 21, 2012 mayan pencil and regular pencil playing tic-tac-toe game using mayan faces with tongues stuck out and the phrase Happy New Year Mayans win game implying there will not be a new year, no 2013

If you google “Mayan calendar,” you’ll find images like the ones below. Left: the Aztec Calendar Stone, also known as the Aztec Sun Stone. The Aztecs came after the Mayans and adopted their calendar. Right: folk art based on the Aztec Calendar Stone.

Aztec calendar stone also known as aztec calendar and sometimes portrayed as mayan calendar with sun god in middle with tongue sticking out, and same image in color as folk art using mayan and aztec glyphs

I based my own little Mayan characters on the above folk art. Here’s a detail image.

detail image of cartoon satirizing the mayan calendar which supposedly predicts that the world will end on December 21, 2012 mayan pencil and regular pencil playing tic-tac-toe game using mayan faces with tongues stuck out and the phrase Happy New Year Mayans win game implying there will not be a new year, no 2013

If it looks a bit ragged, it’s because it’s just a souped-up rough sketch. I’m working on a New Year’s card for a client, and the gag line will be, “The Mayans were wrong– Happy New Year!” This was one of my ideas. I just cleaned it up a little and added some color. Here’s the original sketch.

rough sketch for cartoon satirizing the mayan calendar which supposedly predicts that the world will end on December 21, 2012 mayan pencil and regular pencil playing tic-tac-toe game using mayan faces with tongues stuck out and the phrase Happy New Year Mayans win game implying there will not be a new year, no 2013

It seems doubtful the world will end today, which may be a letdown for some people. But look on the bright side: the dire predictions inspired a lot of humor. I’ll leave you with a couple of very funny gags by cartoonist Dan Piraro.

Two cartoons by Dan Piraro creator of Bizarro comic strip on the Mayan calendar controversy and predictions that the world will end on December 21, 2012

What do you think? Have you been putting off your Christmas shopping– you know, just in case? I’d never heard of the Mayan Calendar until recently– had you? Ever played tic-tac-toe for really high stakes?? Hope you’ll leave a comment.

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