Apollo

by Matt Fitch, Chris Baker, Mike Collins (Illustrator)

In 1969, humankind set foot on the moon. Neil Armstrong, Edwin ”Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins carried the fire for all the world. Backed by the brightest minds in engineering and science, the three boarded a rocket and flew through the void—just to know that we could. In Apollo, Matt Fitch, Chris Baker, and Mike Collins unpack the urban legends, the gossip, and the speculation to reveal a remarkable true story about life, death, dreams, and the reality of humanity's greatest exploratory achievement.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction, Science, History, Space, Technology

160 pages, Hardcover

First published June 7, 2018

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent but still disappointing retelling of the first manned moon landing. My main objection is the repeated use of dream sequences and hallucinations, a personal pet peeve of mine, I admit, that may not turn off other readers nearly as much.

The art is okay, though telling the astronauts apart in their spacesuits is often impossible without memorizing the seating order or seeing big name labels on their chests. I don't really understand the use of tone throughout to give everything a grainy look. Was this originally intended for black and white production or were the creators invoking the Ben-Day dots printing process of 1960s comic books? Regardless, it just served to make the pages look unnecessarily murky.

I was put off by a fake-out simulation scene that seems to throw a bone to moon landing hoax conspiracy theorists.

More egregiously, I was saddened by the typo in astronaut Gus Grissom's name in the end matter: "Grissolm." That's just highly regrettable copy editing.

Frankly, the highlight of the book was the closing excerpt from John F. Kennedy's famous speech. "We choose to go to the Moon!" That sentence pulled up more emotions in me than anything else in the book.

[kaitlphere · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had trouble keeping the white male astronauts separate throughout the story. Also, there were a lot of imagined scenes and flashbacks and combinations of those two things. Those scenes were very cinematic but also confusing. (Were they memories, daydreams, hallucinations?)

I am left with a desire to know what happened in the personal lives of the 3 Apollo 11 astronauts after returning to earth. This book definitely taught me some things I didn't know about their lives, the space race in the US, and the sense of hope the moon landing gave the people.

This is a good book, but I definitely think it will take more than one reading to be fully appreciated.

[Ivy_Lost_inside_Pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone knows this story but as graphic novel it was really awesome to read. Beautiful drawn and a great story indeed. Getting the 4 fully I recommend this to all which doesn’t know anything about that kind of history plus special teens go get it.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the summer of 1969 the dream of landing on the moon had been accomplished, astronauts were heroes and children all over the world dreamed of going to space. Now, almost fifty years later, the mission of Apollo 11 has faded from the popular consciousness and the United States barely has a presence in space anymore. Thankfully three young Brits have crafted a beautiful homage to that mission and those dreams. Apollo is beautifully illustrated and smartly written capturing the truth and the emotion of a great moment in human achievement.

[Alba Amor por los libros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una manera diferente de acercarse a la historia de la llegada a la luna por parte del hombre. Narrada desde el punto de vista de los tres astronautas que viajaron en el Apolo 11 y con unos dibujos llenos de detalle y realismo. Nos deja ver un poco los miedos, el sufrimiento, etc. Tanto de los astronautas como de sus familias. Un cómic entretenido para un corto ratito de entretenimiento. Tiene páginas preciosas del universo.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This an exceedingly beautiful work. Mankind’s magnificent achievement of landing on the moon is framed and exemplified through the personal experiences and struggles of each man in the lunar capsule. The final landing is sublime. Prepare for goosebumps.

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storytelling was just ok. Art was just ok. I definitely wasn't a fan of the hallucination scenes... Just not sure where it was really going with those. I did like the end scene with Buzz's father and the scenes with Janet, at least. Loved the beginning quote and ending excerpt from JFK.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Word of advice for anyone who wants to read "Apollo": when you read it you should devote some time out of your day and just read it, cover-to-cover, in one sitting. This graphic novel does not have chapters and it is for a good reason. I did not know this and I read it before bed (I like to read graphic novels and mangas before sleeping as I find it helps me relax) and so I read it over a couple of evenings and found the story a bit disorienting at times.

And because of that you have to take my rating with a grain of salt as I did not read it the way it was probably intended to be read. But with that said, I loved the art style, it had a very 60s feel to it which I think really captures the whole theme of the novel and I found it very interesting to get to know more about the crew of Apollo 11.

So in spite of my relatively low rating, I still recommend this graphic novel to anyone interested in the sixties or in the moon landing. (I also think it could make for a very nice gift for someone, preferably a teenager or older, who is interested in space, engineering or science.)

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book was a Christmas present last year as I am interested in the history of space travel but can’t seem to pick up actual non-fiction on the topic.

The story of this graphic novel is the flight of Apollo 11, but it includes some insight on the three astronauts involved and revealed some details that were new to me.

My thoughts:
- The illustrations are ok but nothing to write home about and the speech bubbles are placed confusingly sometimes, causing me to read them out of orderly accident.
- The plot is familiar as it basically follows the flight of Apollo 11 including time stamps and some quotes, but the inclusion of details on the astronauts‘ lives that was interwoven into the story was a nice twist.

Overall this graphic novel was nothing amazing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless and gave it 3.5 stars.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75⭐

I picked this out as I wanted to learn more about the Apollo 11 expedition. Sadly, I was rather disappointed, as the book's main focus was not on the event or key people, but rather on their families or past. Even so, it had potential to be an interesting perspective, but the execution kind of failed it.

😍 The good:
The design was quite nice, especially the ones from the appendix (related to the technical details of the expedition). These things also encouraged me at first to pick up this book and helped me in understanding a bit more about the topic. The only thing that saved this book a bit was that in the end (due to some appendix explanations), some things fell into place and became more clear.

😅 The not-so-good:
The graphic novel was hard to follow and the events and flashbacks were scattered, so it fell flat. I felt that the message related to how the astronauts' lives were impacted by this was not really delivered well. I almost wanted to DNF several times, but decided to stick with it as it was a reading from my shelf.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked the drawing style. Interesting with (for me) new details about one of the most impressive feats of humankind.

[Nigel McFarlane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice graphic novel about Apollo 11. The dark thoughts of the astronauts make it a surprisingly poignant story.

[Jefferson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit too surreal and hard to follow, and lacking in historical detail. I was hoping for more of a docu-drama.

[Matthew Shoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good graphic novel about the first moon landing; including some historical perspective, a few funny moments, and some poignant scenes.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 3 star rating is based on the writing of this book, I say that to separate the art as this is one of the best drawn and illustrated books iv read.

The writing however, it just left a weird taste in my mouth. This is a telling about the first men on the moon, humanity's greatest achievement and yet we are getting these weird "daddy issues" flash backs and glimpses about the astronaut's psychology. Some of it is fine but it never digs enough at these points to justify why they are there.

We see scenes of Niels Armstrong's wife and her kids so fleetingly that it made me question why bother putting them in there if we aren't going to explore the feeling of watching your husband be shot off the planet.
How do you get the kids to bed when you don't know if he's coming back etc?

Buzz Adrian's weird daddy issues and wanting to be first out the lunar lander just to be "first"... I don't know, it just felt weird. I don't know how accurate any of it is but it just came across as strange.

Collins being left up in rendezvous craft and feeling the pressures of the world on him making a catch out in the void worked wonderfully however.

The Nixon stuff was brilliant but we never got enough of it which was incredibly disappointing given how much room is given to other, less interesting perspectives and flashbacks/ Hallucinations.

Overall, it's worth a read. The moon landings are hard to get wrong and by no means does this book mess it up. Just a few niggles in the storytelling that didn't necessarily work for me.

[Airin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reseña completa en el blog: https://mundosdeairin.blogspot.com/20...

El dibujo me ha parecido precioso. Super detallado, realista y con unos colores muy acorde con la historia, tonos poco llamativos pero que dicen mucho y que van en sintonía con lo que se cuenta. La historia no está mal, cuenta cómo fue la experiencia de los tres primeros astronautas que llegaron y pisaron la luna. Los problemas, el viaje y, sobre todo y eso sí es cierto que me ha gustado, ha sido que ha hablado sobre los altibajos que produce un hecho tan importante en sus protagonistas. Cómo afecta el hecho de que algo tan importante repercuta solo en uno de ellos tres para que sea el protagonista o cómo sufrieron el estar lejos de su familia tanto tiempo. También me ha gustado que se hablará de cómo lo pasaban sus familiares en la tierra sabiendo que estaban ahí arriba o saber un poco del pasado de los protagonistas. La lectura es amena y se lee rápido pero lo único que no e ha gustado y que me ha sobrado bastante es tantísimo patriotismo americano, está muy bien que de sientan orgullosos, pero a cada diálogo había algo relacionado con la amada América y cosas varias. Se me ha hecho un poco pesado en ese aspecto. Por lo demás, es una novela gráfica entretenida y que no está mal para conocer un poco más esa historia tan importante en la humanidad.

[Frank Garland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story opens with Neil Armstrong's thoughts on the Apollo 11 launchpad as the seconds to launch count down. As the thrusters blaze, the astronauts reflect on the horrorifying tragedy of the failed Apollo 1 mission, where Chaffee, White and Grissom lost their lives in a command module fire.
As Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins go through their precarious docking manouvres in space, the families they leave behind pace the floor and watch the mission on television, politicians chew cigars and children lie awake all night fretting.
As they hurtle deep into space, the stress of each astronaut is expressed in dream sequences and surreal revelations. And this is the rubbing point for many readers. The surreal moments are extraordinary, and quite unexpected in a story of scientific achievement. But this is a tale of exceptional human endeavour, and the subconscious mind rises close to the surface in such extremes of experience. Surrealism is a thing that comic books can do very well, and these episodes make the historic moment human and more understandable. If you feel you might like such a book, then I would recommend being careful not to flick through the pages before reading, but open it at the beginning and watch the pages explode.

[Siobhan Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good graphic novel, and I'm a sucker for anything NASA, so finding this at the library was a total dream. Obviously, the plot was great, but the weird dream sequences (particularly Collins') really threw off the book for me. However, this was totally redeemed by the parallels that were drawn between the lunar landing and the Vietnam War (particularly the idea of landing on the moon "in peace for all mankind" while the Vietnam War was going on back on Earth. It was a short read, but the art was great, particularly the use of colour. Definitely a lovely read, and I loved all the diagrams at the end!

[Walrus Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not what I expected but all the better for it. Far from being a dry retelling of history, this was a powerful emotional ride, well written with glorious art.

[Lowthor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well put together version of the Apollo 11 mission, with a really nice retro art style and some interesting creative touches.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations for this out of the world historical event. As I read, I was reminded of James Michener's Space which is one of my favorite books.

[Suzann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creatively arranged, poignant reminder that our astronauts of the Apollo era were human, with fears, joys, and buried traumas.

[Eamonn Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

21 July 2019 will be the 50th anniversary of that ‘one small step’ by Neil Armstrong onto the surface of the Moon. There should be dancing in the streets but there will be plenty of commemorative books and television documentaries. SelfMadeHero, publishers of many interesting works, have got in early with this book. ‘Apollo’ is written by the team of Matt Fitch and Chris Baker and beautifully illustrated by Mike Collins, the artist not the astronaut. They have done a good job. Actually, it’s brilliant. Buy it now.

The story starts with the launch from Cape Kennedy on 16 July 1969 and takes the reader through to the final approach back to Earth. Captions give the exact time of events thus: ‘Mission Time: 00:03:12:54, Distance from Earth: 8,213 miles.’ Other captions explain the acronyms in the dialogue: C.M.P.: Command Module Pilot: C.S.M.: Command Service Module. The facts are exact but this is more than a dry, factual account.

The press release states that the story is ‘supported by extensive research from books, official documents and recordings’ and presumably that includes the non-technical stuff. The astronauts were men and so were their families back home. We are shown Mrs Janet Armstrong putting on a brave face. In flashbacks, we see Buzz Aldrin’s difficult relationship with his father as well as his strong desire to be the first man on the Moon.

In a dream sequence, while isolated in orbit, pilot Mike Collins passes over the dark side of the Moon and sees a cheerful, smiling face. It looks like Ego the Living Planet in the old ‘Thor’ comics. There’s also a few pages of President Richard Nixon, focused on his principal concern, President Richard Nixon and how he looks on television. On the bright side, the ‘Apollo’ story does show that the USA can accomplish great things even when there’s a dud in the Whitehouse.

Ironically, the creative team are all British which at least proves that the Moon landing was an event for all mankind, as was frequently said at the time. It also means that while there’s great enthusiasm for the project, it shines from every panel, it’s unencumbered with the gung-ho American patriotism that a native writer and artist might have felt and who could blame them?

No doubt rightly stuffed yanks galore will be making their own contribution to the celebrations next year but I think the story here benefits from not being too nationalistic. On page 41, there’s a lovely panel showing the globe as seen from the Moon rocket which quietly clarifies the fact that we all live on the same world, though it won’t please any flat-earthers out there.

Via the silver screen and CGI, we have grown accustomed to watching men whiz between stars and fight battles across the galaxy. Although pure fantasy, this might make us blasé about space travel. The odd thing is that, while the fantasy has blossomed, the reality barely limps along. This fine book is a record of reality.

I thought as a nine-year-old and I still think now that putting a man on the Moon was the greatest thing the human race has ever accomplished. I told that to someone once and he looked at me as if I was mad. I guess he didn’t grow up reading optimistic 1940s Science Fiction. Perhaps the 50th anniversary of the Apollo landing will rekindle efforts to make dreams come true and we’ll see a man on Mars before my time on Earth is done. I sure hope so.

Eamonn Murphy

[AJ Torres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking at the cover in the library, I think I was expecting something else. The cover art is great, but also misleading. I thought maybe I'd be getting a different spin on any of the Apollo missions, but it was just a confusing-at-times narrative of the first lunar landing with some odd flashbacks and dreamlike sequences sprinkled in.

The art style was not for me. The cover art of the astronaut floating upside-down in space and the back cover art of the three astronauts side by side looked great at first glance. Once I started the book, I was immediately put off by it. There is this weird dot texture that looks like a 3D red and blue filter. It makes the art look too muddy and grainy. It's just not an artistic choice that I jive with. The image of the side-by-side astronauts looked better on the back cover compared to the inside of the book. Oh, and the cover image isn't even in the book.

If this is your first time experiencing the story of the first American lunar landing, I would say it's not a good introduction. The narrative is too muddled with incoherent flashbacks and hallucinated-like story points. If those two things were removed, it would be more understandable. But it's frustrating to see the added plot points not really go anywhere. The hippie in space was kind of cringe. The Nixon subplot also felt like it could have been handled better. Maybe it would have served better in a standard novel format instead of in comic form.

This nitpick is gonna sound stupid, but it really bothered me. Since the story revolves around a narrative painting the astronauts to be American heroes and legends for being the first men on the moon, I found it odd that there were words in the dialogue that added "u"s. It was a distraction when seeing words like "honour" instead of "honor". Again, just a small nitpick, but it happened like 5 times in the story and I couldn't get past it.

I would say that I didn't mind reading it since it was just a library loan and also only took like 90-120 minutes to read. But if you're looking to purchase this, I'd probably say skip it.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Struck me as not enough. Would have liked more exploration of any one of the directions they hinted at: anticipation of the mission, astronauts’ personal lives, responses on earth before and during the mission, more details and reflections and reactions of astronauts during the mission, return process and experience after returning to earth - many of these were briefly touched but none were deep enough to really compel me to the story. Even a story as compelling as the first moon landing needs more to hook the audience. It was also very “Rah Rah USA” which I get was the genuine feeling at the time but being not an American that aspect didn’t land for me.
What was there was good, it’s what I felt was missing that caused it to fall a little flat in some areas. I’m also very new to graphic novels as a medium so I can’t say if this is typical for the genre, but it didn’t captivate me or leave me hungry for more whereas a few other graphic novels have.

[Ian Massey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A smart little graphic novel that mixes that facts of the Apollo 11 mission with sequences that get inside the heads of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins.

I particularly liked the grumpiness of President Nixon, the splash page of the iconic "one small step" moment and the way that Collins' loneliness is depicted, especially the Spirit of America being presented as a kind of hippy-biker type, rather than the usual Uncle Sam.

I don't know how much some of it is true - did Nixon really refer to himself in the third person? Did Aldrin make a bid to be the first person to step on the moon? - but I don't care because it all works in the context of the story presented in this manner.

The grainy style of art took a little time to get used to, but eventually won me over.

A quick, but still detailed read that was perfect for the fiftieth anniversary of the landing.

[K De · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Apollo" by Fitch, Baker and Collins is beautifully illustrated and sends goosebumps to the reader by the artwork and skillful layout. The retelling of Apollo Eleven with accurate NASA lingo enhances the story of one of the greatest achievements by humanity last century.

The story and how the authors blend in some imagined flashbacks by the astronauts- Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins- are intended to be insightful but can be distracting to those who are not familiar with the backgrounds of the Apollo 11 crew.

This is a very good introduction and will lead those who want to know more with the book's bibliography and list of relevant websites.

Well worth a reading for those interested in science and one of America's greatest adventures.

[Kimberly (spacetoread) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four stars for the story, knocked down to three for execution.

I was thrown off by the dream/hallucination by Mike Collins in the middle of the story. Was it meant to tap into his role and the pressure on his shoulders? I’ve seen that concept done far better with words, or in other graphic novels.

The art being grainy and possibly a throwback was distracting to me. Finally, the misspelling of Virgil Gus “Grissolm”’s last name is poor copy editing and a disrespectful affront to a fallen hero.

I enjoyed the inclusion of personal stories and parts of the Apollo 11’s home lives and childhoods.

[Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 stars
🌕🌕🌘

🧠 My thoughts
I basically didn't get much from this graphic novel. The style was very confusing, and the storytelling was rather weak. The artwork was pretty good, but I think that was the only thing that saved this book. The book was so forgettable that the moment I put the book down, I kind of forgot everything except the real facts that the book tried to deliver, since I've already known most of it.

👍 What I like
- The artwork is great

👎 What I don't like
- Weak storytelling
- Very confusing from time to time
- Forgettable

[Christa Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1969, American astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins made a trip to the moon. This graphic treatment is done with an interesting perspective, intimate yet from afar. Instead of only focusing on the technology and the mission, we meet Janet Armstrong as she stays positive and supportive. We see Aldrin's father who was proud of how hard he was on his son. The illustrations are marvelous and this is a must read for people interesting in the space race.