Failure to Launch: A Tour of Ill-Fated Futures

by Kel McDonald (Editor), Helen Greetham, Dani Colman

"Incredibly fascinating." — BOOKLIST Starred Review
Not all dreams come true! While history is written by the winners, the full story of humanity is built on the moments when things went completely sideways; the spectacular screw-ups, monumental mistakes, and explosive errors that paved the way for the bright and shiny achievements we normally celebrate. Today, the losers get their due as we honor the speed bumps we had to hit on the road to progress! In this entertaining tour of ill-fated futures, some of comics’ brightest talents relate the historical failure they’re most passionate about, bringing each moment to life in a hopeful and inspiring short story anthology. Some of these dreams were too big for their time, some were unfairly stopped by forces beyond their control, and some were best left on the cutting room floor, but all are windows to a world of possibility that’s still — for now — just beyond the horizon.
Features work by RYAN NORTH, HARRY “HBOMBERGUY” BREWIS, EVAN DAHM, BLUE DELLIQUANTI, RYAN ESTRADA, and many more!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comics, Anthologies, Short Stories, Science, Graphic Novels Comics

336 pages, Paperback

Published July 9, 2024

Reviews

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Failure to Launch: A Tour of Ill-Fated Futures’ edited by Kel McDonald is a graphic novel full of failures that may have changed our lives for better or worse.

This anthology takes a fascinating detour from the typical celebration of human ingenuity. Instead of focusing on groundbreaking successes, this graphic novel dives deep into the annals of history to unearth a collection of ambitious projects, ideas, and inventions that ultimately fell flat. From centrifugal force births to phones to call the dead, there is a lot here to discover. There is the man who wanted to bring hippos to Louisiana. There is the utopian space station that still relies too much on the home planet

There is a lot here and that is the weakness of the book. At 300 pages, it’s just too long. The art is fine as are the stories, but it all becomes cumbersome by the end.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practically by definition, almost all the stories in this do not have "good" endings, so temper your expectations accordingly. I'm not up to going story-by-story like I would in some anthologies, just because there are SO MANY in this volume, which feels thicker than similar anthologies I've read recently (within the last two years or so, mostly from Iron Circus).

Most of the stories have a similar structure: present the failed project's thesis, show how the presenters promoted it, show how it failed miserably, optional ending where a modified version of the project succeeded. Only a few aren't strictly biographical:
- "The World Turns" by Barbara Mazzi is about one girl in particular (Mia) who is obsessed with the real apocalyptic scenarios we have lived through (Y2K, the end of the Mayan calendar, and the global pandemic)—and she is disappointed to have lived through all of them, until the friends she made along the way point out that NOT dying in an apocalypse is *a good thing*;
- "One Man's Beast, Another Man's Bacon" by Triple Dream Comics is a partially alternate history reality where a (talking) hippopotamus describes the reality we might have had where hippos were imported to American wetlands;
- "Little Islands" by Blue Delliquanti is, on its surface, about a space colony tour, but turns out to take place within an immersive simulation, which another host joins to scope out the competition;
- "Dead Calls" by Sam Roberts and Knack Whittle is Edison-adjacent, so *probably* isn't nonfiction, but who can prove otherwise? (All things considered, it has one of the better endings, though!)
- I guess "The First Union" by Harry Brewis and Skutch, about Luddites, ends on a "cautionary tale" note, in reference to a line about "In history's greatest L, a rich guy talked shit about murdering Luddites until they shot him in the dick to death.":



Overall, a decent selection by some fantastic writers and artists! Recommended for history buffs, less recommended for readers who like happy endings. :(

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic compilation wants us to see the failed futures of the world – not the fictional ones, just the unobtainable and unrealised ones. Someone – who was in cahoots with someone able to design Brooklyn Bridge – thought he had wondrous machines with which to power the world's industry many times over. He didn't. Someone thought the future was the toroidal – alright, bagel-shaped – space station. It hasn't been, yet. But hey, some of these futures are happily avoided – the Y2K fears were, well, interesting for a few months back then.

Here then are ruinous concepts, and, er, plastic bicycles (hey – they don't rust, so don't knock 'em 'til you fall off 'em!). Someone thought the best idea to hit crime-solving was the last ever image hitting the retina being visible to the investigator. Various people in various corners of the world have cult-like hopeful bodies, and hope was supposed to come from early wind turbines. And injecting cow's milk when you needed a blood transplant. And ridding the States of invasive water hyacinths with the very fruitful idea of hippo farming.

All told the many examples of hubris, misunderstanding and bad science here all allow for a warmly entertaining collection – done to a good standard all round, the visuals and stories are competently done at the worst. I got the impression, too, a lot of this was done from true fondness for the stories, and the concept, and not just to get a commission and minor cheque. With the feel of a comedy trivia-of-science-history podcast (this seems very Tom Scott-adjacent), this is going to hit with a large audience and score well with them all. Four and a half stars.

[Lanelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is unlike any graphic novel collection I’ve read, as it was a mix between genuine education on said 'Ill-fated futures' and playful storytelling, which keeps you reading.

If you find yourself drawn to the history of innovation and the concept of inventions changing the course of the future, then this is the perfect graphic novel for you.

I was initially drawn to this one due to the cover art and title. The art within is varied as it is from multiple creators. I felt that each artistic style matched the tone of its story well, although some art styles and their corresponding stories were not for me.

As someone who doesn’t have a keen interest in innovation to the degree that some may, I found some of the stories lacking in engaging content and therefore found myself skimming through those that appealed to me least.

That being said, this didn’t impact my rating too much as I felt that those that did hit the mark really hit it. My favorites in this collection were 'The Second Extinction of the Pyrenean Ibex' by Erin Roseberry and 'Little Islands' by Blue Delliquanti, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more from them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Letter Better Publishing Services for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Babo Buca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected a collection of futuristic stories from the cover, but it is more about scientific explorations of the real and alternative past. I really enjoyed it for the interesting facts it contained, and more than once I checked to see if everything was as it had been told. In places they even reference sources, which is very rare for a comic book. We get a space station shaped like a bagel, plastic bicycles made by Volvo, Dolly the cloned sheep, a prison with constant surveillance, electronic waste, Sony's AI dog, virtual celebrities, a rain machine, the dawn of blood transfusions, the power of wireless networks, but also a white-dominated world's fair and a Venezuelan utopia powered by wind turbines and wave energy. I really liked the way the book uses the past to reflect on the problems of today. Like all collections, there were some less compelling stories, but overall I ended the reading with a very good experience.

[Serena]

DNF @ 65%

I recieved an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ultimately, my problem with this is the one I have with many anthologies: the stories were too disconnected from one another. Yes, they all share the same prompt, and they all follow it. But when you have a 300 page book and every story is like 5 pages you end up having A TON of different themes, tones, and in this case because it is a graphic novel, drawing and writing styles. Not to even get into the typos that are absolutely everywhere, but it was jumping all over the place and none of the stories ended up staying with me. I think it would've benefited from dividing them into categories like inventors, athletes, scientists, etc so we could at least know where something was going without being spun around 20 different moods in 50 pages.

[Lex Ophiuchus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Paradise Within Reach of All Men: 3/5
Bagels in Space: 3/5
What Happens at Midnight?: 4/5
The Indestructible Bicycle: 3/5
Magic City, All of Fire: 3/5
Dead-Eyed: 4/5
To Be Believed to Be Seen: 5/5
Zigurats: 4/5
When Do We Get Our Star Trek Future: 4/5
The Unfinished Wind Power Revolution: 3/5
The Second Extinction of the Pyrenean Ibex: 5/5
The Panopticon: 4/5
Hemispheres: 4/5
Death of a PC Repair Shop: 5/5
Lost Dogs: 4/5
CGIdol: 4/5
The World Turns: 5/5
The Digesting Duck: 3/5
The Rain-Making Machine: 5/5
Poma: 2/5
Milking It: 5/5
Dead Calls: 3/5
Pneumatic Tube to Nowhere: 4/5
Lead Balloon: 4/5
Rats! Rats! Rats!: 5/5
One Man’s Beast, Another Man’s Bacon: 5/5
Ninit’i, or The End: 4/5
Little Islands: 3/5
The Pasilalinic Sympathetic Compass: 4/5
Birth By Blonsky: 4/5
The First Union: 5/5

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a truly interesting non-fiction graphic novel. I especially liked, "When Do We Get Our Star Trek Future" and "The First Union." What I liked about the book was that each comic included was truly unique and made me think. The technologies described were interesting, but more important, the comics about them were insightful and really made you think about the consequences of their success or failure. Although it took me a while to read this book (I'm generally not a non-fiction fan), I'm glad that I persisted and finished it. I recommend this to anyone interested in failed inventions, and the consequences of new technologies (even if they don't succeed in becoming main-stream).

[Kaitlyn (ktxx22) Walker]

I finished 51% of this, but I’m choosing to DNF and not rate because this is an ARC from NetGalley. I wanted this collection (based on the cover) to be futuristic/scifi… unfortunately this was just a very strange collection of short graphic novel stories and some of them felt unfinished… like it was missing pages to make a cohesive story. A lot of this is historical… but reads like dry nonfiction as opposed to something fun and made up… these all feel like real stories… but they aren’t supposed to be?! At least based on the title they aren’t supposed to be??

[Charles Korb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a lot of short story collections, the quality is variable between the stories. This issue is exacerbated for this because each story is by a different set of writers and artists.

It's also just kind of a bummer, every story ends in failure. Sometimes those failures are painted as good for society but regardless, you're still watching people try and fail over and over.

There are some standout stories, unsurprisingly those by the headliners Ryan North and Hbomberguy are particularly good.

[Alex Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really interesting way to learn about the history behind certain inventions. I even saw a mention of my hometown, which was unexpected. I definitely learned some stuff, no idea if it will stick in my brain though as history was always my worst subject in school.

I would definitely recommend this if you love history or innovation or both.

I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.  This was an interesting collection.  The stories all had to do with an interesting theme, and were mostly things I knew very little about.  I liked the discussion and covering of these various moments in history that I personally didn't know very much about.  I also liked how each had a different art/illustration style.  However, some of the stories were less interesting than others.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eclectic collection of historical vignettes, all based on the loose premise of being about somebody from history who failed at something. Beyond that, expect a lot of variance. Some of these failures were because the basic concept was loony, some because they were ahead of their time, and some for reasons beyond their control. Not every story is riveting, of course, but the collection overall was fascinating, and many of the stories were based on things I'd never heard of before.

[Dylan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

History is often only told from the perspective of the "winners," or at least the successful, and so a majority of the inventions and dreams in this book were ones I'd not heard of before. Seeing them alongside a variety of art styles added up to an adventurous and sometimes amusing journey through ill-fated futures.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at some of the big ideas and pretty big failures over the past couple of hundred years. I didn't particularly enjoy how these tales were told but the information was still interesting and kudos to the artisrts.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

[Sophy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series of short stories about people in history that had good ideals but did not have the resources at the time to finish or complete the project or had someone around them sabotage them so they were not successful.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss.

[Crimson Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this graphic novel for an honest review

This was an interesting read which I read little by little and I can see people loving this, I enjoyed my read of it but that's it.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some thought-provoking stories and creative artwork. Interesting idea and I'm glad I read it.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

gorgeous, fascinating, sometimes depressing (because sadly, many times learning is a bummer) and sometimes funny. I learned a lot!

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to find it interesting, and with the different artists thought I could keep moving along, but ultimately abandoned this anthology of stories

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the idea of this graphic novel. Stories of discoveries that were ALMOST amazing...
What bothered me was that it seemed to take a left turn from this premise. There are some stories of Almost Anson inventions and 'discoveries', but the larger part of the book was about politics (I actually agree with the politics presented, but it was off-putting given the book premise), and hoaxes. I feel like this could have been split into two works with different themes and been more effective.
The artwork was generally very good and the stories were interesting, the lack of theme was a bit too large of a hurdle for this work though.