Comic master Jack Kirby showed us the mysterious "Face on Mars" decades before it was imaged by the Viking 1 orbiter in 1976 and ultimately became an iconic example of pareidolia or proof of an ancient civilization on the red planet.
The Secret Sun explores Kirby's terrific "Face on Mars" comic, another prior Kirby story called "'The Great Stone Face,' about an ancient astronaut cargo cult" and draws links to John Carter and the high weirdness of Philip K. Dick.
"Mindbomb: John Carter, PKD and "The Face on Mars" Revisited" (via Daily Grail)
And for more on the "real" face on Mars: "Unmasking the Face on Mars" (NASA)
