Astronaut Dad, Vol. 1

by David Hopkins, Brent Schoonover

From the back cover "Fifty years ago - October 4, 1957 - humanity entered a new age with the launch of the first artificial satellite, Soviet Union's Sputnik 1. Return to those early days, when John F Kennedy challenged a nation to place man on the moon before the end of the decade, when the nation sought out test pilots with "the right stuff" to ride rockets into the night. Astronaut Dad follows three NASA families from Houston, Texas during the boom years of the space race. "

Genres: Comics

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Get your FREE War of the Hounds ebook—a novella set in the world of the Dryad's Crown.

David Hopkins is a fantasy novelist with an interest in Shakespeare, medieval history, fairy tales, and myth. He is the author of The Dryad’s Crown, a story set in the vast world of Efre Ousel. BookLife described The Dryad's Crown as "a welcome, inventive, humane fantasy, set at the scale of a single fascinating life."

His work also includes the novel Wear Chainmail to the Apocalypse, the short story collection We Miss All the Great Parties and the burlesque memoir The Wild and Wayward Tales of Tammi True.

David has been a regular contributor to D Magazine, Smart Pop Books, and Fanboy Radio. He has written op-eds for the Dallas Morning News and Chicago Tribune, comic books and graphic novels in a variety of genres, and even a few D&D adventures.

David is married to artist and designer, April Hopkins. He has two daughters, Kennedy and Greta, and a dog named Moose.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my only acquisition from Comic Con. Readable in one train ride (45 minutes), Astronaut Dad introduce three families whose head of the household are each involved in what his family believes is a reserve astronaut program; but is revealed to be a covert operation to spy on the Soviets. The art is great for the Levittownesque setting and the era.

Overall though I think I'm too used to larger format comics -- compiled into graphic novels, etc. It did a nice job of establishing the setting, and I really like the cover. I'll be on the lookout for #2, which will probably determine whether or not it'd be worth it to keep moving forward. Overall, it's a quick read and worth the time but I don't know what I think about the whole thing yet because I feel like I need to know more. Which is what they should probably want from a serial.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coming-of-age tale mixed with NASA spies at the height of the space program, combined with cartoonish illustrations may be a good way to introduce younger generations to those days, both the good and the bad.

[Devildoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing story with clean, striking art. Loved the 1960s details. If you're a sucker for early NASA stuff, this is a must-read.