Lost in Space # 1

Writers: Matt Thompson, David Campiti
Artist: Eddy Newell, Mark Jones, Mike Okatomo
Publisher: Innovation
Published: August 1991

Found this a year back in Halifax. I never watched Lost in Space, so reading this issue, I was at a bit of a loss as to who the characters were. This really didn't interest me though, because I was still trying to put my head around this questionable cover. Ok, I thought, Innovation does cater to an adult audience, so I left it at that. After a read, I can see why they chose this cover. The story has a giant plant with tentacles attacking the family Robinson. Only problem I have is that the cover monster is gray, and the actual monster is a green plant. Petty, I know, but it does make a huge difference in terms of what kind of monster to expect. The story also has a bunch of ridiculous poses by the guys and gals, that don't quite fit the story. Take for instance these two images:



The first image is clearly Major West checking out Judy, while Judy puts on a major pout. All just because Major West gave Penny a flower! According to Wikipedia, the show didn't really explore Judy and Major West's relationship together beyond the first few episodes, so I guess this is a slight nod to old fan boys...who were probably the only folks who picked up these issues.

In my post on Heroes for Hire I talked about covers and their relation to the contents of the story. The cover implies danger, sex appeal, and giant tentacle monsters. The story had danger, sex appeal (be it lame), and a giant tentacle monster (green though). The Lost in Space cover comes closer to the story then the cover for Heroes for Hire #13 does to its story. In this sense, Lost in Space achieves it's aim of having a provocative cover, all the while reinforcing what a reader would expect when picking up an issue that has a giant monster attacking a bosomy woman. It's not high art, but one could argue its honest...somewhat...