Nick Abadzis

Introduction

If you’ve visited this blog before, you know that the covers displayed here are usually based on hypothetical flap copy provided by the writer. And if you saw last weeks entry, you know that I’m prone to break my own rules. It’s in this spirit that I present this week’s entry—The Korolev Trilogy by Nick Abadzis. Rather than provide flap copy, Abadzis wrote a peek behind the curtain of the creative process of developing his award winning 2007 graphic novel Laika. 

 

The Korolev Trilogy are the books that could have been if one of its main characters, Laika, hadn’t taken over the narrative.

A mainstay in England’s comics scene, Abadzis established himself in the late 1980’s with his well-loved story, Hugo Tate, which ran serialized in the magazine Deadline. With Laika, Abadzis had something of a breakthrough. It has been translated into 9 languages and garnered 3 international awards. It’s a book that showcases his talents as a visual storyteller. Abadzis strikes the perfect balance between text and image and reminds the viewer how and why comics work differently than prose or film.

 

Laika is the story of the first earthling to escape Earth’s gravity—a little dog. In the book we follow Laika as she moves through 1950’s Soviet life until fate brings her to the fledgling Russian space program. Its subject is epic, and Abadzis’ precise, and skillful telling of it makes Laika and her journey come to life for the reader.

Laika is available at many fine book stores, and comic shops, and also  here. I recommend you pick up a copy and immerse yourself in this wonderful, and ultimately heartbreaking story.
 

This marks the first bilingual Hypothetical Library post. Friend of the Library and former Russian (now American) Masha Rudina has graciously translated Nick’s writing and the text on my covers into Russian. 

Here's Masha (the redhead) in an unattributed cameo in Laika...

 
Take it away comrade Abadzis...

The Korolev Trilogy—The back story, and covers

Laika was originally conceived as a book about Russian cosmonauts. For years I thought it’d be interesting to do something about the Soviet Union’s space program, the two biggest emblems of which were Laika and Yuri Gagarin, respectively the first earthling and man in space. The story of Laika had always caught my imagination as a child: why hadn’t they managed to get her back down? I had no idea why, and began researching the facts behind the mission. I thought it might be good material upon which to base a short strip.

That was when I became fascinated by Korolev, the Russian Chief Designer behind the Soviet Space Program. He almost single-handedly marshaled the combined abilities of a few small Russian engineering agencies against the might of the USA’s aerospace industry and made it appear that the USSR had far more resources than they actually did.

I began thinking of a graphic narrative that would tell Korolev’s story. If I had gone ahead with my original plan, I’d have created three books. The idea was that scenes from the first book – Laika – would be reiterated from a different point of view, in the second and third books. Yuri Gagarin would be the main focus of the second book, which would tell his life story as the poster boy for the Soviet space effort and his tragic end.

 

 

The third book would tell the life story of the mastermind behind it all, Sergei Korolev, uniting scenes and themes from the first two books. It would cover his early life and inspirations, his incarceration in a gulag during the Stalin purges, his friendships with the various cosmonauts, to his failed attempt to put a Russian on the moon before the Americans did.

Then new information about the circumstances of Laika’s death came to light in 2002 and I focused upon her again. I decided to concentrate on her mission, to do a kind of biography of her, as so many of the themes I’m interested in beyond the Russian Space Program were echoed in her story. I condensed a lot of the ideas I had down and made them into one book. But Charlie Orr has here provided an intriguing glimpse into what might have been had I followed that original idea.

Королев: Трилогия – история создания и обложка

Лайка была первоначально задумана как книга о российских космонавтах. Много лет я думал о том, что было бы интересно создать что–то об истории Советской Космической программы и её символах – Лайке и Юрии Гагарине, первом живом существе и первом человеке в космосе. Меня с детства увлекла история Лайки: почему же они не смогли вернуть её обратно на землю? Я понятия не имел почему,  и начал исследовать историю этого проекта. Мне показалось, что из этой истории может получиться хороший корткий комикс.

Именно тогда я увлекся фигурой Королева, Генерального Конструктора Советской Космической Программы. Он смог собственноручно объединить способности нескольких небольших конструкторских агенств и противостоять всей космической промышленности США,  создав иллюзию того что у СССР было гораздо больше ресурсов чем на самом деле.

Я начал думать о том как передать историю Королева через графический рассказ. Первоначально, я планировал сделать три отдельные книги. Идея состояла в том что сцены из первой книги – Лайка  будут рассказаны с разной точки зрения во второй и третьих книгах. Юрий Гагарин был бы главным героем второй книги, которая поведал бы о нем как о символе успехов Советской Космической программы и о его трагическом конце.

 

 

Третья книга описала бы историю жизни человека благодоря которому увидели свет все упомянутые ранее события, Сергея Королева, используя сцены и темы из первых двух книг. Она рассказала бы о его молодости, о годах проведенных в Сталинских лагерях, о его дружбе с космонавтами, и о неудачной попытке первым послать человека на луну.

В 2002 году были расскрыты новые детали смерти Лайки, и я снова сосредоточился на ней.  Я решил сконцентрироваться на её миссии, сделать что–то типа ее биографии, так как в этой истории переплелось так много того, что интересует меня за гранью Советской Космической Программы. Я уплотнил много идей и превратил их в одну книгу. Но Чарли Орр дал возможность заглянуть в то, что могло бы произойти, если бы я последовал своей первоночальной идее.

Comments

[Melissa]

Я люблю эту идею. Пожалуйста напишите книгу!

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I am no Nick Abadzis, but I am approaching completion of a graphic novel on Yuri Gagarin . . .

http://www.yuri-gagarin.com/

Andrew J King

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