Writer and artist: Nick Abadzis
Publisher: First Second
What's it about?
This is the story of the Russian fight to win the space race and the little dog they sent into orbit, Laika. All events are centred around Laika, but it is not told from the perspective of Laika, or Kudryavka as she is named by various carers. It's part fiction, part fact.
The story is narrated chiefly by three people, Korolev, Chief Designer of the space rockets, Yelena, dog handler for the programme, and fictionalised families that have cared for Kudryavka in her early years.
By using these different viewpoints Abadzis walks us through many aspects of Soviet life and we bear witness to the diffiuclties and contradictions facing everyday people, as well as the joys. We learn about the cruelty of the ruling party, the ambition of your average Soviet citizen, the transition from Stalin's regime to Khruschev's, and we get an inkling of the effect that life in the gulags had on those poor souls sent there.
