I stumbled on the first issue of this by accident at my local comics shop. American Gothic Press is relatively new, a comics off-shoot of the better-known Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine revival. As such, they’ve got some interesting new horror books, but of course they’re going to trade a bit on nostalgia. If you’re going to do it, do it right. American Gothic Press did.
Stumbling over completed but never produced scripts from the third season of [amazon text=Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space&asin=B011QLB4B0], the publisher has begun turning them into comics. A lot of baby boomers have fond memories of the show, which ran in the 60s, and was remade into a film starring William Hurt and Matt LeBlanc (your fond memories of THAT may vary). Artist Kostas Pantoulas has a nostalgic feel, too — his art is reminiscent of Dan Spiegle, the main artist on [amazon text=Gold Key Comics’ Space Family Robinson&asin=1595827242], which had been the original inspiration for Irwin Allen’s show. (Eventually, Gold Key even changed the name of their comic to Lost in Space.)
The only down side so far? The first arc doesn’t have any Dr. Smith in it (yet?). On the flip side, it also means this first arc pays attention to something that the show doesn’t get enough credit for — the strong father/son dynamic between patriarch John Robinson (Guy Williams) and Will Robinson (Billy Mumy).
And there you go — if you don’t know Lost in Space, you know the catchphrase, “Danger, Will Robinson!“
From American Gothic Press:
Last month, American Gothic Press officially launched IRWIN ALLEN’S LOST IN SPACE: THE LOST ADVENTURES with the first issue of what will be three-issue story arcs based on unfilmed teleplays by Carey Wilber. On April 27, the adventure continues, as the second part of “The Curious Galactics” episode hits comic shops.
On a routine radar expedition, John Robinson, Will Robinson, and Major Don West have encountered an eerie desert landscape that doesn’t seem to have an end or a way out. They are forced to make camp and fix their trusty Robot, all the while unknowingly the subjects of an alien experiment that is about to send some serious obstacles their way.
“The Curious Galactics”, alongside “Malice in Wonderland”, is a completed teleplay discovered in the Irwin Allen archives which was never filmed due to the series’ premature cancellation following Season 3. The episode has been adapted for comics by Holly Interlandi, with art by Kostas Pantoulas and colors by Patrick McEvoy. “LOST IN SPACE captured the imagination of an entire generation back in the 1960s,” says producer and supervising editor Kevin Burns. “Finding these scripts, and realizing them in the form of comic books, gives us a rare peek into what Irwin had in mind for the series’ much anticipated fourth season.”
