“Warning, Will Robertson. We will appear in a sub-part movie.”
Lost In Space #1
Dark Horse (April, 1998)
WRITER: Brian McDonald PENCILER: Gordon Purcell INKER: Terry Pallot COLORS: Digital Chameleon COVER ARTIST: Gary Erskine LETTERER: Pat Brosseau DESIGNER: Kristen Burda EDITORS: Ian Stude & Phil Amara
Continuing from where the movie (very loosely based on the classic television series) ended, the Jupiter 2 is forced to crashland after warping into an asteroid cluster that might have been a planet. While hunting for supplies (and give John and Maureen some alone time), Smith falls into a hole where he finds a dead alien in a powerful battlesuit, which he uses to attack Don and the Robinsons. Don fires one of the torpedoes at Smith, who walks out of the explosion, now resembling the alien from before!
What they got right: The likenesses and voices (except for John, who seems better than William Hurt’s performance) match up with the movie actors. The art is good and this version of Doctor Smith with this armor act like this version would. The design of the alien and battlesuit are good and while this story idea would have fit with the TV series, the flavor of the movie is well in place.
What they got wrong: Unfortunately the bickering duo (who were not only happily married on the show but a lot more likable) of Don and Judy are just as annoying and uninteresting as ever. Also, no mention (possibly to avoid spoilers for the movie) about whether or not Doctor Smith was treated for that spider-bite to keep him from mutating into a spider queen…which brings up so many questions I don’t want to deal with.
Recommendation: Thus far I prefer this to the movie, which had good ideas but fell short of doing them well. We’ll see in the next two days if that trend continues.
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