Who designed the "Don't Panic" flying green guy from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

April 14, 2009 6:23 PM

Who designed the cute flying green "Don't Panic" mascot (seen here) from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and does the character have a name?
posted by waxpancake to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Best answer: The Cosmic Cutie.
posted by zamboni at 6:56 PM on April 14, 2009

Best answer: I've got a copy of HHG with that pic on the cover... illustrations are credited to Peter Cross. Can't say for sure, but some random Googling seems to confirm. And yeah, it's called the Cosmic Cutie. Douglas reportedly hated it. :-)
posted by captainawesome at 7:00 PM on April 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

AKA Jeremy Pacman. This old Wikipedia page also suggests the artist is Peter Cross.
posted by zamboni at 7:03 PM on April 14, 2009

Best answer: The douglas adams fan newsgroup has some pullquotes about it.

Adams: "I HATE the little green blob and have spent years locked in arguments
with my publishers with me trying to get rid of the obscene little thing.
I've finally secured its demise with the new Ballantine editons of the
soft cover backlist."
posted by jessamyn at 7:35 PM on April 14, 2009

i always knew it as the Great Green Arkleseizure.
posted by knowles at 9:19 PM on April 14, 2009

knowles: That was a creation myth, if memory serves - some thought it sneezed out the universe, & lived in fear of the coming of the Great White Handkerchief.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:48 PM on April 14, 2009

Huh. I always considered it to be Eddy.

Eddies in the Space-time Continuum. "Ah," nodded Arthur, "Is he. Is he. ... " What?" said Ford. "Er, who," said Arthur, "is Eddy, then?"
posted by HFSH at 2:04 AM on April 15, 2009

ditto knowles. I assumed that if a cosmic being were going to use a handkerchief, it was probably going to need hands.
posted by cosmicbandito at 5:49 AM on April 15, 2009

I asked Douglas Adams about it when he was promoting Mostly Harmless at Powell's in Portland. He said, with more than a little disdain in his voice, "the editors made me do it."
posted by Skwirl at 11:05 AM on April 15, 2009

Response by poster: You guys are so awesome.
posted by waxpancake at 11:42 AM on April 15, 2009