Updated: January 22, 2005
PRESS RELEASE:
A VOYAGE OF A MILLION MILES...
Bubblehead Publishing To Complete Bill Mumy's Epic
Saga In Time For LOST in SPACE ® 40th Anniversary
The classic cult TV show, Lost In Space will be
reaching its Fortieth Anniversary in 2005, and to
commemorate this milestone event in pop culture
history, upstart publisher, Bubblehead Publishing, is
set to release a massive 360 page, full color graphic
novel collecting and completing Bill Mumy's epic
twelve part comic book adventure LOST IN SPACE: Voyage
To The Bottom Of The Soul, a mega-story originally
published in serialized form by Innovation Publishing
in 1992-93 but left unfinished when the publisher went
out of business.
"It was a frustrating thing for me," says original
series editor, George Broderick, Jr. "This was a body
of work I was extremely proud to be working on... and
then it just stopped when the Comics Direct Market
crashed after the "speculator bubble" of the early
90's popped and we saw the untimely demise of many
publishers, Innovation among them. I can't begin to
imagine how Bill must've felt."
Broderick, Jr. continues, "This was a series that
touched all the bases with the fans. It had a tense,
well-plotted adventure story without all the
'silliness' of the TV series... it had spot-on
characterization by a writer who was there from the
beginning and knew these characters best, and it even
provided closure of a sort because the story begins
with the Robinsons finally reaching Alpha Centauri...
their original goal before they became 'Lost In
Space'. Bill and I shopped it around to other
publishers, but the licensing rights became 'lost in
space' then, especially in light of the fact that the
merchandising rights to Lost In Space had just been
transfered to New Line Cinema. We finally had to admit
defeat and put it behind us."
That all changed in 2004 when John Severin, Jr., son
of legendary comic book and Cracked magazine artist
John Severin, came into the picture. John, along with
business partner and sister Ruth Larenas, had the
notion to complete the remaining six chapters of the
story and, along with the original six issues, publish
them under one cover.
"It started out as my wanting to publish a
retrospective of my father's work," said Severin, Jr.
"I'd worked in and around the publishing industry for
years, but had never dealt with comic books per se,
other than growing up with them as just 'something my
father did for a living'. As I was researching them,
however, I happened to mention my plans to Bill Mumy
who clued me in on the history of 'Voyage'. Something
there resonated with me, so Bill put me in touch with
Kevin Burns and Jon Jashni of Synthesis Entertainment
who, in addition to being prolific film and television
producers in their own right, now controlled the
remake and licensing rights to 'Lost in Space' on
behalf of Space Productions and the Irwin Allen
Estate. Kevin was a big fan of the comic (having
co-authored one of the earlier two-part Innovation LIS
stories with Bill) and was happy to make this a
reality. When we were able to reunite both the
original editor, George Broderick, Jr. and the
original artist, Michal Dutkiewicz, everything clicked
and away we went."
"This sounded like such a fun project, I couldn't say
'no'," added Ruth Larenas, "and Bill, George and
Michal are such easygoing, fun guys to work with...
and they have a real passion for the material. We'd
still like to do a project celebrating my father's
work, but as a first step into the world of comics
publishing, you can't get much better than Lost In
Space, especially when it's written by Will Robinson
himself!"
Current plans call for Bubblehead to release the
graphic novel in July 2005 at San Diego's Comic Con
International, to coincide with the Fourtieth
Anniversary of Lost In Space, the TV series, but
advance pre-publication sales of the book will be
available on the company's internet commerce site
www.lisvoyage.com.
Finally, writer/actor/musician Bill Mumy adds "I'm
working with some great people on this project. I'm so
glad the original team is back to finish "Voyage to
the Bottom of the Soul" properly. For over ten years
fans have been asking me how this huge story ended,
wanting me to print the unpublished second half of the
scripts alone, but I didn't want to diminish the piece
that way. Michal's artwork looks great and I'm very
excited about it. I've always been proud of this
story. You don't have to be a fan of the old
television show to get into this book but those who
are will especially enjoy it. It really advances the
classic arc of Lost in Space."
"Lost in Space"® is a registered trademark of Space
Productions. © Space Productions. Licensed by
Synthesis Entertainment. All rights reserved.
-30-
For additional information regarding Lost In Space:
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Soul, contact Bubblehead
Publishing at: gbstudios@comcast.net. Please include
"LIS:Voyage" in the subject line. Unidentified e-mails
will be deleted unopened.
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