There are few 20th century events that were as impactful as the space race. The fact that, within ten years, the United States declared, and then delivered, a man on the moon seems inconceivable, even now. But what if that didn’t happen? What if the US government saw Sputnik as a deathblow to the US’s space program? How would that change how we see space?
That is but one part of “Primordial,” the new six-issue miniseries from Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino at Image. Following their work on DC’s “Green Arrow,” Marvel’s “Old Man Logan,” and Image’s “Gideon Falls,” Sorrentino and Lemire team up for a miniseries that is puts the reader squarely in a different 1961. We got the chance to pick their brains a bit about the book, their thoughts on conspiracy theories, and why people love making comics about Laika.
Written by Jeff LemireCover by Andrea Sorrentino
Illustrated by Andrea Sorrentino
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Steve WandsMind-bending sci-fi collides with Cold War thriller in this six-issue miniseries by the bestselling and Eisner-winning creative team behind GIDEON FALLS! In 1957, the USSR launched the dog, Laika, into Earth’s orbit. Two years later, the USA responded with two monkeys, Able and Baker. These animals never returned. But, unbeknownst to everyone, they did not die in orbit…they were taken. And now they are coming home.
Thanks to Image for facilitating this chat, and make sure to pick up the first issue on September 15!
Jeff — the space race is a time that, for those of us who weren’t alive and/or paying attention in the early 60s, has a mystique that is pretty unique across recent history. What was it about that era that made a good setting for this story?
Jeff Lemire: You’re dead on when you say “mystique.” These events, for some of us born later, do have an almost mythic quality to them. And there is still, to me, a sense of mystery around them too. I loved the idea of playing with history. Of taking these real work events as a starting point and then changing history and adding these big sci-fiction ideas on top of the real events and imagining how that would change everything we know.
There are a lot of doubts/conspiracies about space travel. Why do you think folks have such a hard time believing in space stuff? Do either of you hold any doubts about the ‘official’ version of space history?
Andrea Sorrentino: I think, being Italian, it’s honestly quite interesting to me to see it from ‘outside’ because we really have a minimal part in this fascinating story and we lived it mainly as a viewer. So I guess we just weren’t involved enough to start making conspiracies about it, haha.
But I totally understand that when a topic becomes so popular and generalized by word-of-mouth for an entire nation, and it’s something you can’t really verify first hand (so you have to believe to what news and scientists tell you), it’s very easy for doubts and (sometimes absurd) conspiracy theories to come out.
Personally, I think they’re a very intriguing topic for fiction, but obviously I tend to not believe in any of them.
JL: I think people always have a hard time believing things they can’t experience directly or see first hand. So it’s not surprising that there are doubters. But it is this sense of mystery around space travel that is also so powerful. That sense of the unknown and its vast, endless space out there…that’s sense of awe and wonder is exactly what we try to tap into and play with here. It’s what all the best space-bound sci-fi does as well.
Andrea, when you’re working on a period piece like this, how much reference are you using? Do you worry about getting the little details right, or are do you not worry about little anachronisms and focus more on the big picture?
AS: I did some research, of course, but mostly I focused on trying to give those years (the ’60s) the right feel in terms of mood and style. If you’ve read some of my other books, you’ll notice a different approach in “Primordial,” where the shadows are rougher and more ‘blocked’ and I’m using several halftones textures. I wanted to try to make readers ‘feel’ the ’60s, not only by the details inside the panels, but also from the overall look of the comic.
Continued belowJeff, there is a tradition of comics that feature Laika the space dog, whether it is the OGN by Nick Abadzis or in Jonathan Hickman’s “The Manhattan Projects.” What is it about space animals, and Laika in particular, that is so appealing to tell stories about?
JL: That’s a great question, and one I can’t really speak to. I don’t know what attracted other comic creators to the concept and to Laika. But as I said earlier these events almost have this mythic quality to them. And in the case of Laika, she could never speak for herself of advocate for herself, and that is really tragic and sad to me. This poor, living animal thrust into events far beyond her understanding. And that is what sci-fi should do for the reader: put them into situations beyond their understanding that they have to react to and work out.
On one hand, the world of 1961 seems like so long ago. However, there are elements of the world – distrust, lack of science funding – that jump off the page as very 2021 issues. Was part of the desire to tell this story the connection between the two time periods?
JL: Honestly, it never crossed my mind. There was no conscious link to the present. So any of those parallels are just a by-product of the story and not an attempt to create any sort of “message” about the modern world.
Andrea, your double page spreads are among the most unique in all of comics. When you’re looking at one of Jeff’s scripts, how do you know when its time to blow out a scene and do a big two-pager?
AS: I think I just feel it when the time has come, haha. Reading the script, you can feel the moment when things reach a specific kind of climax and it happens that I merge together a couple of single pages into a double spread to try to give that moment a memorable feel.
Some other times, perhaps more rarely, I just stumble into a situation that I feel could work well with a specific design I may have in mind, so I use it just for the aesthetic of it, to offer a bit of visual variety to the readers and keep the reading experience fresh and unpredictable.
It also often happens that Jeff just serves me some of them by the script. We have worked together for a long time now and we learn to play to each other’s strength, so Jeff has learned when it’s the time to let me just go and make me try something totally out of the box.
To my knowledge, this is the first miniseries you two have collaborated on. How is the process different when you know the story will only last for a handful of issues?
AS: I’m not sure, but I think knowing it’s a limited series may have pushed me to try some different approaches that I’m not sure I’d have taken for a longer book (because I wouldn’t know if I could sustain them for a long time). You’re going to see three different styles of mine used across the six issues, all justified by plot reasons, of course. Two of them you’ll be able to see in the very first issue.
JL: I always work with an ending in mind. So this was really no different. For some stories that end is 30 or 50 issues away, or like “Primordial” it is six issues away. The journey may be longer or shorter, but for me always, the creative process is really the same. But the shorter length really helped to play into the thriller aspects and create a sense of momentum. Also, there was no holding ideas back. We just had to leave it all on the page right away. Less about set-up and more about going for it right away, I guess.
