Childhood Space Comics: A Thread of Dreams

•

I'm pretty excited about the upcoming @SpaceX Starship test launch 7. I've been obsessed with space and comics since childhood (in Communist Poland). A thread of my childhood space comics (from 1978-1986) in Polish, German, and English. First up, here's the earliest space-scape I drew. Circa 1978-79, maybe earlier? 🧵

The earliest comic I ever drew is "Druga Planeta," or Polish for "Second Planet." Like many today, including @elonmusk , I always believed humanity must become a multi-planetary species. Circa 1982.

"Bitwa o Księżyc," or "Battle for the Moon." A mysterious object must be investigated on the moon! Circa 1983-84.

At one point (1983-4?), I started a series of drawings of theoretical "Colos" (Polish for Colossus) class space warships. Here's "Colos-1." Note the @NASA logo and US flag. Circa 1984-85.

I don't remember where the "UG" character came from. Did I make him up? Or copy it? Anyway, he had sick space adventures. His spaceship is named after the Roland synth keyboards. It loses its wings to metal-eating spacebirds, but fortunately, it can land with retro rockets. 1984-85.

There are more UG adventures. He battles "Der Herr Der Roboter" or German for the "Robot Master." One of the spaceships is named "Hai" or "Shark." Another resembles Discovery One from 2001 or the Eagle Transporter from Space 1999. Or a hybrid of both. 1985.

I was obsessed with Funky Koval, a Polish sci-fi comic. I attempted my version with mixed results. One of the ships is a pointy Space Shuttle. 1985-1986.

Another page from the Funky Koval "tribute" comic. Space pirates have a space-shark-ship that overwhelms Funky's much smaller spaceship. But they get sucked into a black hole… which looks a lot like Millenium Falcon's hyperdrive! 1985-1986.

This was supposed to be an Indiana Jones comic, but it starts in space! 1986.

This one skips ahead to around the time of the final Space Shuttle mission. "What kind of civilization goes to the moon and just stops!?" At that moment (as it was for many others), I started looking closer at what @SpaceX and @elonmusk were doing.

Thanks for reading. That's it for now. Let me know if you want to see my more contemporary space comics!