1 Martian 2: Dang. That Earthling Mars rover is still wandering around out here. It's been what, nearly a year now?
2 Martian 3: It's spotted us! Quick! Pretend to be a rock formation!
3 {Rover approaches "hiding" Martians}
4 [sound]: Griiiind!!! (rover uses rock abrasion tool on Martian}
4 Martian 2: Oww!!

The rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still going strong up there on Mars (at least, as I write this), and sending back reams of data and images. The background is an image taken by Spirit.

Although the rovers have now been operating on Mars for well over one Earth year, they haven't quite made it to a full Martian year yet (a shade under 689 Earth days). Here's hoping they get to celebrate a first Martian birthday!

---

2014-10-06 Rerun commentary: I didn't add shadows under the Martians or the rover in this strip, which makes it look obvious that they've been pasted in over the background. If I had made this strip now, I would have added shadows and tried to make it look more realistic.