Billionaire Elon Musk blasts off on Twitter purchase in Mark Knight cartoon
Cartoonist Mark Knight says a rocket is the perfect symbol for Elon Musk’s career after the billionaire finally closed the deal to buy Twitter
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Elon Musk is one of the most interesting people on the planet. He is also the richest.
Of course, money doesn’t always make you interesting, but Mr Musk fits into that mould of “crazy genius”.
The South African born, Canadian and American educated Musk earnt bachelor degrees in economics and physics, but decided to go into business.
In 1995 he created web software company Zip2 with his brother, Kimbal. Four years later, they sold it to computer company Compaq for $307 million.
He then co-founded online bank X.com which soon became PayPal. This was then bought by eBay for $1.5 billion.
If that wasn’t enough, he soon followed with the creation of SpaceX and the development of the Tesla electric car company.
One of his most “crazy genius” moments came when he wanted to prove the capability of his Falcon Heavy rocket, so he decided the payload* should be his personal Tesla Roadster EV. The car was loaded into the Falcon Heavy rocket and was successfully launched into orbit!
His SpaceX company has put America back into space after NASA retired its shuttles and US astronauts had to hitch a ride with the Russians to get to the International Space Station.
Then there are his interesting and entertaining social media posts which amuse and/or enrage* the world. He obviously doesn’t sleep!
So when the news came through that Elon Musk had purchased the Twitter social media company this week for $44 billion I knew that would be my cartoon topic for that day.
When I draw a cartoon about a news event, I find myself sitting at my desk making notes, sketching possible concepts on the topic and reading up on related information.
With Musk’s acquisition* of Twitter I saw the cartoon idea immediately take flight in my mind’s eye. The logo of Twitter, that little blue bird, would feature in the cartoon, as would Elon Musk’s stellar* business achievements, particularly his exploits* with SpaceX.
The cartoon would be simple but fun to draw, and it would show the various stages in Elon Musk’s diverse* business career that led to him buying Twitter.
I thought the best way to symbolise* this was with one of his own rockets blasting off into space. As the rocket ascends*, the various stages of the spacecraft detach, symbolic* of all the companies he has created.
As the rocket reaches the limit of Earth’s atmosphere the SpaceX capsule separates. One would think this would be Elon Musk’s crowning* achievement. But the cartoon goes one stage further. It is about Elon Musk after all.
The nose of the capsule opens and out of it flies the blue Twitter bird with Elon Musk on-board, grinning.
The next stage of his seemingly limitless career takes flight. To infinity* and beyond!
GLOSSARY
- payload: the load or weight that a spacecraft carries that is not essential for its operations
- enrage: make extremely angry
- acquisition: the act of gaining possession
- stellar: extremely high in quality, excellent
- exploits: bold or daring feat
- diverse: having a great deal of variety
- symbolise: to represent something by using or showing something else
- ascends: climbs, gets higher
- symbolic: being a symbol of something through the use or showing of something else
- crowning: top, highest
- infinity: time or space that has no end
EXTRA READING
Could this be Twitter’s new logo?
Starman in a Tesla Roadster car flies past Mars
Powerful rocket sends car into space
QUICK QUIZ
- What web software company did Elon Musk start in 1995?
- How much did he sell it for four years later?
- What did Elon Musk load into a Falcon Heavy rocket and launch into space?
- How has Mark Knight symbolised Elon Musk’s diverse business career in his cartoon?
- Why had Mark Knight drawn Elon Musk riding on the blue bird?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What happens next?
Imagine this cartoon is part of a story that is made up of three cartoons. The three cartoons tell a complete story, and Mark’s cartoon is the start of the story. Think about what the story could be and draw the next two cartoons that tell the story.
Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Visual Communication Design, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
Being able to draw is only one of the skills needed to be a great cartoonist. Write a list of all of the other skills that you think cartoonists like Mark need to do their job.
Next to each skill, write a sentence that explains why that skill is important or helps them to do a great job.
Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social Capability, Media Arts, Visual Communication Design
VCOP ACTIVITY
Describe it
Look at the cartoon and make a list of five nouns that you see. Then describe those five nouns with five adjectives.
Add a preposition to those five nouns and adjectives.
Now choose your favourite bundle and put all the words together to make one descriptive sentence.