History Main / DefaceOfTheMoon

** There was a Disney comic from the 1950s where Mickey Mouse, Gyro Gearloose and Mickey's nephews were tricked into entering a theme park rocket ride which turned out to be an actual rocket to the moon. They were brought there by Pegleg Pete, who forced them to paint the moon black, as Pete was extorting money from a songwriting company who needed the light of the moon for inspiration. It says a lot that the fact that [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace everyone can breathe on the moon]] is the ''least'' ridiculous part of this story.

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]

** The accidental destruction of a large chunk of the moon is a major part of the back story in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' , and in an aversion of NoEndorHolocaust, an ensuing shower of moon debris makes the Earth barely-habitable in the process.
** And then there was MPU trying to ''re-''draw the Nazca Lines, which were no longer visible, across the majority of South America using satellite lasers. Edward follows this up by drawing a smiley.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** In ''ComicBook/TheLastDaysOfSuperman'', Superman believed he was dying from a Kryptonian virus, and among the preparations he made for his death was using his heat vision to write "Do good to others and any man can be a Superman. [signed] Superman (Clark Kent)" on the surface of the moon. When it turned ou that he wasn't going to die after all, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and Krypto removed his secret identity from the message; the rest of it, however, was apparently there to stay.
** At the end of the fourth issue of ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', Jimmy (as acting head of P.R.O.J.E.C.T.) orders a "cosmetic, short-term alteration of the moon's surface". It's a note saying "I Love Lucy" - which he uses as a backdrop when he asks his girlfriend (Lucy Lane) on a date. You better ''believe'' she appreciated it.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanRebirth'', the Man of Steel and his family take the fight against the Eradicator to the Moon, specifically a moon base built by Batman. The fight ravages the cave and shakes up the moon - Superman fixes up the moon damage and even suggests he can help with the lost base.
** In ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'', Joker reshapes the moon to resemble his face.
* A variation was done by ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' villain Terminus, who used a giant energy beam to carve his name across North America.
* ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'': In the story ''Z comme Zorglub'', [[MadScientist Zorglub]] wants to prove he's a [[WhosLaughingNow genius]] by advertising on the moon, using temporary ink that will fade after a few months. Unfortunately, his "unorthodox" method for recruiting henchmen - abducting random policemen and brainwashing them until they can only speak "Zorglang" (backwards words) - ends up screwing up his plans: his men do write a brand name on the moon, except it's "acoC-aloC".
* Inverted in the Creator/GarthEnnis comic ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', where Jesse Custer meets a man who was kicked out of NASA's Astronaut Candidate Program after he'd faked the paperwork to be selected for training despite being two or three heads shorter than the others, and devoted the rest of his life to blasting the words 'fuck you' into the Arizona desert in letters large enough to be seen from space.

* Todd Ingram of ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' uses his amazing Vegan powers to punch a gigantic new crater into the moon for his then-girlfriend Ramona. He repeats this later with Envy Adams; apparently, it's the most flattering thing he can do. It comes back to bite him in the ass though, [[spoiler:as Envy puts two-and-two together and realizes it means he cheated on her with Ramona]].
* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse:

* ComicBook/WerewolfByNight dreams about several large companies using the moon as the world's largest billboard; it upsets him tremendously that someone would deface "his love" like that. He is glad when he wakes up because he's sure such a thing could never happen in real life, apparently oblivious to the newspaper with a headline reading "NASA says ads on moon a possibility" lying on his bed.
* Volume One of ''ComicBook/GIJoeIDW'' had Cobra developing teleportation and using it to establish a secret base on the moon. At the end of the volume, the machine is destroyed, leaving any troops in the base stranded. The last image of the final comic is them using a bulldozer-style vehicle to carve "HELP US" into the surface.

* Koro-Sensei of ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' destroyed almost all of the Moon prior to the story beginning. Whatever he did, it rendered the Moon into a permanent crescent. What he did was eventially revealed late in the manga: [[spoiler:nothing. What actually destroyed the moon was an experiment involving a mouse infused with antimatter cells GoneHorriblyWrong. Koro-sensei didn't destroy the moon, but took the blame to hide the truth behind his origins, which is another related matter]].

** Gets taken UpToEleven in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtaXu28O8bs&feature=related where the Nirvash Spec 3 has a dynamic kill animation doing this.]] [[InferredHolocaust Note that there are people and important installations on the moon.]] [[FridgeLogic How does the]] [[Anime/AfterWarGundamX satellite cannon]] [[FridgeLogic still work, after that?]]

* TabletopGame/MutantChronicles: During their first assaults on humanity The Dark Legion carved the symbols of the Apostles Muawijhe and Semai into the moons Phobos and Deimos orbiting Mars

* Dr. Wily in the ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' cartoon tries to "Pull za ''moon'', out of its or''bit''!" in one episode.

** Later, The Tick goes to the Moon on a mission to carefully plant explosives so that the CHA will be removed... and botches it, of course. The resulting explosion causes everyone to believe he's dead, and only the C is removed--so the Moon's lettering now reads "HA". Later that episode Omnipotus (a parody of Creator/{{Marvel| Comics}}'s Galactus) ''takes a bite out of'' the Moon (after The Tick gives him a PatrickStewartSpeech to protect Earth). The half-eaten, scarred Moon is then [[{{continuity nod}} seen regularly throughout the series]].

[[caption-width-right:350:[- Chairface Chippendale's plan to write his name on the moon, though foiled by the heroes, was doomed from the start by his own poor font-spacing.-] ]]

* Not for evil, the the opening for ''Series/TheHoneymooners'' showed Ralph's (Jackie Gleason's) face on a rising full moon.

* at the climax of the first season of ''Anime/SenkiZesshouSymphogear'', [[spoiler:a chunk of the moon is blown off, then destroyed by the heroes shortly after, leaving the moon with a colossal crater about the size of the Gulf of Mexico, and a ring system made up of the debris.]]
* ''LightNovel/RestaurantToAnotherWorld'': Similar to ''[[Anime/SenkiZesshouSymphogear Symphogear]]'', a huge chunk of the moon is blown off in the fantasy world, an artifact of the a war between the 8 great dragons amd other godlike beings.

** In Creator/DonRosa's ''Scrooge McDuck'' story ''Attack of the Hideous Space-Varmints'' Rosa plays some amusing BitingTheHandHumor as the ducks accidentally deface the far side of the Moon with three craters that produce a perfect WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse silhouette, and worry if they're going to get sued for it.

* There was a Disney comic from the 1950s where Mickey Mouse, Gyro Gearloose and Mickey's nephews were tricked into entering a theme park rocket ride which turned out to be an actual rocket to the moon. They were brought there by Pegleg Pete, who forced them to paint the moon black, as Pete was extorting money from a songwriting company who needed the light of the moon for inspiration. It says a lot that the fact that [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace everyone can breathe on the moon]] is the ''least'' ridiculous part of this story.

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]

* In ''[[Manga/SpiritOfWonder Spirit of Wonder: Miss China's Ring]]'' resident inventor Doctor Breckenridge invents a machine which warps space in such a way that a person can interact with the Moon as if it were within arm's reach and roughly the size of a beach ball. While both the moon and the person remain where they are. Don't think too hard about it. First the Doctor's assistant Jim carves the name of the titular Miss China on the Moon to impress her. Next day they are surprised that nobody in town mentions anything about the Moon, and when they directly ask them if they have noticed anything, they become uncomfortable and evasive. Apparently a psychological WeirdnessCensor kicked in: People think that writing appearing on the Moon overnight is impossible, so they go on like it doesn't exist. Well, Miss China certainly noticed, and after some discussion with the help of the invention they have her kick the Moon so hard it shatters, and forms a ring around the Earth. Bet you didn't think ''that'' was going to be her ring!

* In UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} ComicBook/{{Superman}} story "The Last Days of Superman", Superman believed he was dying from a Kryptonian virus, and among the preparations he made for his death was using his heat vision to write "Do good to others and any man can be a Superman. [signed] Superman (Clark Kent)" on the surface of the moon. When it turned out (surprise surprise) that he wasn't going to die after all, Supergirl and Krypto removed his secret identity from the message; the rest of it, however, was apparently there to stay.
* At the end of the fourth issue of ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', Jimmy (as acting head of P.R.O.J.E.C.T.) orders a "cosmetic, short-term alteration of the moon's surface". It's a note saying "I Love Lucy" - which he uses as a backdrop when he asks his girlfriend (Lucy Lane) on a date. You better ''believe'' she appreciated it.
* A variation was done by Marvel Villain Terminus, who used a giant energy beam to carve his name across North America.
* This trope appears in ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'', in the story ''Z comme Zorglub''. MadScientist Zorglub wants to prove he's a [[WhosLaughingNow genius]] by advertising on the moon, using temporary ink that will fade after a few months. Unfortunately, his "unorthodox" method for recruiting henchmen - abducting random policemen and brainwashing them until they can only speak "Zorglang" (backwards words) - ends up screwing up his plans: his men do write a brand name on the moon, except it's "acoC-aloC".

* In Don Rosa's [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck story]] ''Attack of the Hideous Space-Varmints'' Rosa plays some amusing BitingTheHandHumor as the ducks accidentally deface the far side of the Moon with three craters that produce a perfect MickeyMouse silhouette, and worry if they're going to get sued for it.

* In ''ComicBook/SupermanRebirth'', the Man of Steel and his family take the fight against the Eradicator to the Moon, specifically a moon base built by Batman. The fight ravages the cave and shakes up the moon - Superman fixes up the moon damage and even suggests he can help with the lost base.
* In ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'', Joker reshapes the moon to resemble his face.
* Volume One of [[ComicBook/GIJoeIDW IDW's G.I. Joe series]] had Cobra developing teleportation and using it to establish a secret base on the moon. At the end of the volume, the machine is destroyed, leaving any troops in the base stranded. [[NightmareFuel The last image of the final comic is them using a bulldozer-style vehicle to carve "HELP US" into the surface]]
* There was a Disney comic from the 1950s where Mickey Mouse, Gyro Gearloose and Mickey's nephews were tricked into entering a theme park rocket ride which turned out to be an actual rocket to the moon. They were brought there by Pegleg Pete, who forced them to paint the moon black, as Pete was extorting money from a songwriting company who needed the light of the moon for inspiration. It says a lot that the fact that [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace everyone can breathe on the moon]] is the ''least'' ridiculous part of this story.

* When visiting the past in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', Riker mentions it's strange to look at the moon and not see Lake Armstrong. Implying that future colonists have made a lake that's visible from Earth.

* According to the Qu'ran, Mohammad performed a miracle in which he briefly split the moon in half.

* UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} has the splitting of the moon legend, mentioned in Literature/TheQuran as a miracle attributed to UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad.

** "Go out into your back garden. There's a great Darsh face hanging over your garden wall."

* A more serious example in Heinlein's ''Literature/TheStarBeast'', the Hroshii threaten to burn an incandescent mark a thousand miles long on the face of the Moon to show they "'aint foolin'" when there were delays in recovering Lummox for them.
* In Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Buy Jupiter'' a race of aliens wish to purchase the atmosphere of Jupiter but negotiators for Earth refuse to sell it to them until they finally admit they want it to use as a billboard advertising their product for passing starships. Then Earth starts thinking about how much the competitors will pay for Saturn...

* The Creator/ArthurCClarke short story ''Watch This Space'' (part of a series of short stories talking about a single moon journey) had astronauts releasing gases into the lunar environment to analyze their reactivity when unfiltered sunlight hit them. Somebody sabotaged the chemical release tube so that, instead of being released as an amorphous cloud, they formed the [[spoiler: Coca-Cola]] logo (he isn't explicit about whose logo it was, just that it [[spoiler:had some Cs and Os in it, as well as Ls and As]]). It didn't ruin the experiment (they analyzed the reactions anyway), but the guy was fired. He didn't care, though, because the company was so grateful for the advertising coup that he was pretty much set up for life.
** The reason the image wasn't messed up by atmospheric turbulence is because there isn't any on the moon.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheManWhoSoldTheMoon'', DD Harriman gets some of his financing for his moon trip by approaching rival soft drink companies and getting them to pay him ''not'' to paint their rival's logo on the face of the moon.
** And also by convincing another businessman, deeply opposed to Communism, that the Russians were planning to send up a mission to paint the Hammer and Sickle on the moon.

* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''TheManWhoSoldTheMoon'', DD Harriman gets some of his financing for his moon trip by approaching rival soft drink companies and getting them to pay him ''not'' to paint their rival's logo on the face of the moon.

* Just in time (2019) to 50 years of the moon landing, a joke from the space race era. "Mr. President, the damn Communists have painted the moon red!" "So there. Fetch some white paint and write Coca-Cola on it!"
** Other variants include writing "Marlboro", wherein the soviets then painted the warning about smoking underneath.

* The 2002 Remake of ''[[Film/TheTimeMachine2002 The Time Machine]]'', after some [[SarcasmMode bright spark]] decided to mine lunar caverns with nuclear weapons, by 2037 the the moon's orbit has become disrupted and leaving the Earth barely habitable for the next several aeons, signalling the end of all human civilisation and major technology. When Alexander sees the moon again in 802,701, it is shown to have been split into several chunks and surrounded by an asteroid field of former debris.

* In ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', the entire face of the Moon is regularly used for ''advertising'' by extremely powerful projectors. Aficionados of romantic moonlit walks need to finish by 9 PM or risk severe MomentKilling.

* In ''ComicBook/BaloonVendor'', a 1970-era psychedelic underground comic, inventor Cecil Quill develops a high-powered laser which he uses to project Creator/LaurelAndHardy movies on the new moon.

* Gets taken UpToEleven in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtaXu28O8bs&feature=related where the Nirvash Spec 3 has a dynamic kill animation doing this.]] [[InferredHolocaust Note that there are people and important installations on the moon.]] [[FridgeLogic How does the]] [[Anime/AfterWarGundamX sattelite cannon]] [[FridgeLogic still work, after that?]]

* The accidental destruction of a large chunk of the moon is a major part of the back story in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' , and in an aversion of NoEndorHolocaust, an ensuing shower of moon debris makes the Earth barely-habitable in the process.
** Not to mention MPU trying to ''re-''draw the Nazca Lines, which were no longer visible, across the majority of South America using satellite lasers. Edward follows this up by drewing a smiley.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': [[spoiler: Madara's master plan involves turning the moon into, essentially, a giant hypnotic eyeball.]]