Bubblehead Publishing
Creators: Bill Mumy, Michal Dutkiewicz, Thom Zahler and John P. Severin
Publication date: October 2005
We’ve been looking at some continuations of the “Lost in Space” television program in comic book form.
Four weeks ago, I wrote about a couple hardcover collections based on some unproduced scripts written for the fourth season of the television series that never happened. As discussed previously, these tales read and felt very much like episodes of the program, which was no surprise, being based on scripts from one of the television program’s writers.
Last time, we looked at the first 14 issues of the Innovation Lost in Space comic book series. This series launched in 1991, and I bought many of those first 14 issues when they were originally published. Many of those issues were very good, especially the ones written by Bill Mumy, the actor who originally portrayed Will Robinson on the show and who served as creative consultant on the Innovation comic. This series continued the adventures of the Robinson family — Professor John and Maureen Robinson; their three children, Judy, Penny and Will; Major Don West; Dr. Zachary Smith; and the Robot — picking up the story three years after the end of the television series.
I enjoyed this Innovation series when it came out, and my enjoyment was no less today, reading or re-reading the various first 14 issues (12 regular issues and two annuals) 30 years after their initial release. Issue No. 12 of the Innovation series, one of the several penned by Bill Mumy, was to serve as a bit of a turning point for the comic series, as discussed in my last post. Issue No. 12 depicted the Robinsons and company finally finding the correct route to their destination, Proxima 4 in the Alpha Centauri star system. It also gave a glimpse at the beings of Aeolus 14 Umbra, the original saboteurs of the Jupiter mission who enlisted Dr. Smith. These beings awaited the arrival of the Robinson crew so they could finish the job of killing the earthlings when their ship landed.
The plan was for Bill Mumy to be the sole writer of the next 12 issues, the entire second year of the series, and these 12 issues would tell the tale of the Jupiter 2 finally arriving on the fourth planet in the Alpha Centauri system and what became of the crew after. The subtitle for this year’s worth of stories was “Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul.”
In a text piece at the back of issue No. 12, Bill Mumy wrote about his thoughts on the comic series so far and where he thought it should go. He wrote:
“Well, we’ve learned a lot about our friends on the Jupiter 2 since Innovation began publishing this comic book: The Jupiter 2 was constructed from a crashed alien ship; the mysterious organization known as Aeolus 14 Umbra has been unmasked; the complicated Colonel/Doctor Zachary Smith has shown us his best and his worst; the loss of one Robinson child; Judy’s conflict with abandoning her professional career as an actress; Will’s frustrations as his sexuality awakens; Professor Robinson’s deep religious beliefs; Maureen’s ability to see the positive in all situations; and Don being the focus of not only Judy’s affections, but Penny’s, as well.
“... I personally wanted to take Lost in Space to the next level … change things … resolve things … take the characters to places I felt they needed to go. … We’re going to ‘stir the soup’ up here, quite a bit.”
The Innovation title had a rather erratic release schedule during its publication history. According to Mike’s Amazing World of Comics, it took 23 months for those first 14 issues to be released. The irregular release is why I stopped buying the title when it came out; I simply lost track of it. Issue No. 13, the first installment of “Voyage,” was released on July 13, 1993, again according to Mike’s Amazing World of Comics. Issue No. 18 was released a mere four months later, on November 1, 1993, according once again to Mike’s site. Simple math will tell you that issue No. 18 would have been “Voyage” part six of the planned 12.
And then Innovation went out of business.
I wasn’t buying any Innovation books at the time, but the closing came as a shock, according to Bill Mumy’s text piece at the beginning of this trade volume. And the story of the Jupiter 2 crew went unfinished for more than a decade.
As far as I know, Bubblehead Publishing — an obvious reference to the physical appearance of the Robot — has only one book in its publishing catalog. This volume was published in 2005, just in time for the 40th anniversary of Lost in Space, and it finally published the complete “Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul” storyline that Bill Mumy and Michal Dutkiewicz planned.
I came across what I felt at the time was a reasonably priced copy of the trade while trying to complete my run of the series over the years. But I confess, this was also the reason I was a little hesitant to re-read the Innovation series, culminating in my first reading of this story. As I said, I really liked what I had read previously of the series, especially the issues written by Bill Mumy. But I was nervous as to whether I would like this “final” story.
I needn’t have worried.
The story begins where issue No. 12 left off, with the Jupiter 2 and its crew entering the Alpha Centauri solar system. The Robinsons, West and Smith have been lost in space for nearly eight years by this point, and they are temporarily uncertain as to how to proceed. Did humans launch other missions that have already arrived and begun to colonize Proxima 4 as planned? Or did the disappearance of the Jupiter 2 spell the end of the Alpha Centauri mission? Lacking any concrete information, the decision is made to follow the original plan and find a place to land on Proxima 4.
The Jupiter 2 crew is unaware that the Aeolians are waiting for them, but readers learn for the first time that not all the Aeolians are in agreement on how to proceed. The Aeolians are not native to Proxima 4, but they have been there for more than 100 years and seek to exploit the seemingly abandoned technology they discovered on the planet. One of the Aeolians, J’Ahl, has manipulated events to lead the humans to their destination so he can torture and kill them. He believes all humans are responsible for the death of his son.
Shortly after the Jupiter 2 lands on Proxima 2, the Aeolians disable the robot and capture the humans. J’Ahl decides he is going to use the humans as test subjects for “the great machine,” one of the pieces of technology the Aeolians found on Proxima 4 but don’t truly understand. Some of the Aeolians oppose this plan, but J’Ahl, driven insane by grief and revenge, begins slaying his own people rather than listen to opposition. Finally, J’Ahl uses the great machine … and the humans disappear. But what happened to them?
The 360-page story is not without a few problems to my mind. The depiction of the Aeolians, for example, seems to fluctuate quite a bit throughout the tale. There are several instances where the coloring in the book hinders the storytelling of the art. The transformation that John Robinson goes through in this story, while a nice nod to longtime fans of Guy Williams — the actor who portrayed John Robinson in the show — stretches the reader’s suspension of disbelief a bit too much. There are several lettering mistakes throughout that can be a bit jarring.
But overall, this was a terrific story that takes the Robinsons, Major West, Dr. Smith and the Robot on an epic journey and leaves them in the only place fans of “Lost in Space” could ever truly accept. I applaud those connected with producing this story, and I’m glad to have it in my collection. If you’re a fan of the property, especially the original television program or the Innovation series that led to this trade, I think you’ll enjoy “Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul,” too.
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