2011.11.05 Wild Pig Comic Con, Somerset, NJ
Messenger Space Mission FDC
Paul Benincasa is a freelance cartoonist, illustrator. His first comic Transient Tales was published in 2010, an anthology comic with one contributor and with each story featuring a different genre of story-telling: science fiction, spy mystery, horror and superhero...The science fiction story "5 Minutes More" features a stranded astronaut, running out of oxygen who is forced to leave a friend behind to find help...
The story reminded me of the "Fallen Astronaut", a small statue left on the moon to honor those who lost their lives in the pursuit of space exploration...
The statuette (8.5cm aluminum) was commissioned by Astronaut David Scott, to feature an astronaut in a spacesuit, with the requirements that the sculpture could not be identifiably male or female, of no specific ethnic group. The statuette was created by Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck.
On August 1 the Fallen Astronaut was placed on the moon by the crew of Apollo 15, (Scott and James Irwin, with Alfred Worden orbiting the moon) and along with a plaque bearing the names of eight American Astronauts: Theodore Freeman, Charles Bassett, Elliott See, Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, Edward White, Edward Givens, Clifton Williams and six Soviet Cosmonauts: Vladimir Komarov, Yuri Gagarin, Pavel Belyayev, Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov...
Scott noted "Sadly, two names are missing from the plaque, those of Valentin Bondarenko and Grigori Nelyubov." At the time secrecy surrounding the Soviet space program did not release news of their deaths.
Paul's art can be seen on his web-site Yeah I Drew It!, which features sketches, works in progress and Paul's finished projects.
Amy Chace was the model for the cover of Transient Tales issue one.
Comments