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The Conquest of the Cosmos is a humorous take on the space race

A wild ride into the depths of outer space and the heights of hubris!

October 4, 1957: The launch of Sputnik—a piece of orbital space junk that goes “beep beep”—kicks off a battle for celestial supremacy between the USSR and the USA, rival superpowers armed with massive rockets, galaxy-sized egos, and zero chill. Over the course of a decade, scientists, politicians, and regular folks on both sides of the Iron Curtain grapple with the big questions: How do you convince a dog to volunteer for a one-way trip into orbit? Wouldn’t it be easier to just fake the whole “moon landing” thing in a movie studio? And how are we supposed to sell commemorative T-shirts and coffee mugs if we don’t get a sweet logo designed ASAP?

Writer Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau (Vampire Cousins) and artist Francis Desharnais (Art Wars) blast off on a ridiculous, irreverent, and utterly un-factual journey through the twists and turns of the Space Race. Across a series of hilarious episodes, the duo takes aim at the excesses of capitalism, the dark side of communism, and the questionable wisdom of launching billions of dollars into the void. The Conquest of the Cosmos is a withering satire of politics, ideology, and human ambition that couldn’t be more relevant to our current moment.

Story: Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau
Art: Francis Desharnais
Translation: Pablo Strauss, Mary Thaler

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The Conquest of the Cosmos imagines the Space Race as an Exercise in Ego, Bureaucracy, and Spectacularly Bad Ideas

Conquest of the Cosmos

What if the Space Race had been even more absurd than history remembers? That’s exactly the premise behind The Conquest of the Cosmos from writer Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau and artist Francis Desharnais. This wildly irreverent new graphic novel takes readers on a wildly irreverent journey through one of the twentieth century’s defining rivalries. From the launch of Sputnik to the Moon landing, the duo reimagines history as a parade of oversized rockets, galaxy-sized egos, political theatre, and spectacularly bad decisions, asking the questions history books have long ignored: How do you convince a dog to volunteer for a one-way trip into orbit? Wouldn’t it be easier to fake the Moon landing? And shouldn’t someone design a commemorative logo before we spend billions of dollars?

Winner of the BDGest’Arts Award for Best Comic, The Conquest of the Cosmos is a sharp satire of politics, ideology, propaganda, and human ambition. Gleefully poking fun at historical figures on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the book feels remarkably timely as governments and billionaires once again race toward the Moon and beyond. Early Praise

With Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau’s razor-sharp writing and Francis Desharnais’s expressive minimalist cartooning, The Conquest of the Cosmos balances deadpan humour with meticulous visual storytelling. Fans of Tom Gauld, Kate Beaton, and Monty Python will find plenty to love in this delightfully offbeat graphic novel.

THE CONQUEST OF THE COSMOS
Written by Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau
Illustrated by Francis Desharnais
Translated by Pablo Strauss and Mary Thaler
Purchase: AmazonBookshop
ISBN: 9782925114611