| Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:43PM | | | | The 1st Creature in Space Was a Dog | Posted By: Deji Olukotun
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Laika
Written and Illustrated by Nick Abadzis
First Second Books, 2007. 208 pages.
ISBN 13: 978-1-59643-101-0
As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, it may be easy to forget a different 40th anniversary that occurred decades before. That anniversary marked the Russian Revolution, and the Soviet Union decided to commemorate its founding by lobbing the first living creature into space. Her name was Laika – and she was a dog.
America was already in shock after the unexpected launch of the satellite Sputnik in 1957. The launching of Laika into space just one month later seemed to confirm fears of Soviet technical superiority.
Nick Abadzis’ graphic novel Laika imaginatively retells this strange episode of the Space Race. Based upon meticulous research into space agency archives, the story follows the dog Laika from her birth to a difficult life as a stray, and eventually her untimely arrival at a space agency laboratory. Kind, empathetic, and always playful, Laika quickly wins the hearts of her caretaker Comrade Dubrovsky and the entire lab.
But as charming as the cute dog may be, she has been drawn into the center of the Cold War, and becomes a tool of the state. Laika has been given a higher calling. We watch her proceed through rigorous pre-flight testing and, eventually, stare up at the steaming engines of a giant rocket.
Thought Bubbles
The graphic novel format offers a number of storytelling possibilities that prose or a film cannot. One of these innovations is the ability to instantly and coherently tell a story from the viewpoint of multiple characters. By drawing a 'thought bubble' above a character, we suddenly become privy to their insights. Abadzis utilizes this technique especially well in Laika, revealing a Soviet Union which was clouded by fear, suspicion, and a desire for self-preservation. We learn how the ambition of the director of the space program can sacrifice animals and humans at will; how officers stifle each other in officialdom; how a young, neglected boy can abuse an animal and terrorize his friends.
The gloomy atmosphere of these characters is heightened by the coloring of the images. Everything is faded and washed out like a pair of old jeans, lending an effective historical pallor to the tale.
Not a Disney dog
The lasting achievement of Laika is its ability to raise animal rights to the fore without engaging in cheap anthropomorphizing. Laika does not talk like a Disney cartoon. The few thoughts that we ‘read’ are imputed to her by her caretakers. Yet the careful drawings instill empathy and feeling in the dog’s character. By contrast, the humans are disturbingly vacant, with grotesque faces and eyes that lack discernible pupils. Laika’s lines are thick, straight and full of dignity. The stylistic distinction between the humans and the animals highlights the absurdity of a time when a stray dog could move from sniffing streets to becoming the fulcrum of Cold War geopolitics within a few weeks.
The first and the last
The scientists involved in the project later admitted that there was no scientific value to sending Laika into space – it was merely a symbolic gesture meant to satisfy the propaganda machine of premier Nikita Khrushchev. The mission was, in short, a very elaborate and cruel firework.
For this reason the last few pages of the story are the most difficult to read. But the panels are constructed with such care and delicacy that the book remains captivating. I will not spoil these scenes – read the book.
Animals continued to be used after Laika's launch but the space programs soon switched to chimpanzees. Nick Abadzis has constructed a touching graphic memorial to remind us that Laika was the first.
--Deji Olukotun
Another reading suggestion
For an equally insightful story of the Space Race in the Soviet Union -- from the human point of view -- check out Chinghiz Aitmatov's The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years. It is a grand narrative of a family on the steppes of Kyrgyzstan, when Bactrian camels were highly prized and native lutes were strummed against the backdrop of space-bound rockets. | | | |
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