The seventh voyageJon J. MuthAuthor and illustrator Jon J. known for his watercolor picture books, has adapted the short story The Seventh voyage by science fiction author Stanislaw Lem’s into a graphic novel.Ijon Tichy is traveling on a spaceship which collides with a very small meteoroid and destroys the maneuverability of the rocket. He tries to fix it but it is not possible without the help from another person. Knowing that he needs another person, Tichy duplicates himself from different day...

I had the absolute honor of meeting Jon Muth who adapted a story from Stanislaw Lem's The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy to create this gorgeous, funny, and totally fantastical science fiction graphic novel. In the interest of full disclosure I narrowly avoided bursting into tears while talking to the guy since I've worshipped his work for years. Space explorer Ijon Tichy is in a bit of a pickle. His space ship has broken down and to his great misfortune he doesn't have a pray...

I enjoyed this book--not so sure children will however...the language and concept of time warp/time travel are both complex. Great illustrations and clever for adult readers...

When his spacecraft is damaged by a meteorite, Ijon Tichy attempts to repair the vessel but is unable to do so since the job requires two people. Tichy becomes increasingly frustrated, and worried about where the vessel will go. Over the course of the next pages, he is visited by first one and then another version of himself from previous and future days. The spaceship becomes increasingly crowded with various versions of Ijon, some doing damage to one another, and quickly eating up the food sup...

An unfortunate accident in space finds an astronaut trying to save himself in spite of himself. I don't believe I've ever read any Stanislaw Lem, but this clever and humorous adaptation of one of his science fiction short stories makes me think I should.

Reminded me a bit of "Who's on First?" But, you know, in the future, and with spaceships, and timeloops, and one man going in circles with "himself."The illustrations are gorgeous, with a washed watercolor look.This short graphic novel is a funny, timey-wimey mindtrip of a story. A space traveler's spaceship breaks down and gets stuck in a timeloop. He meets multiples of himself on the ship and keeps arguing with the various versions instead of using the extra people to help repair his ship and

Richie’s Picks: THE SEVENTH VOYAGE by Stanislaw Lem and Jon J. Muth, ill., Scholastic Graphix, October 2019, 80p., ISBN: 978-0-545-00462-6“I was already six minutes younger than Mark but, as Einstein predicted, I’ve come back six minutes and 13 miliseconds younger after a year in space.”-- Astronaut Scott Kelly, twin brother of Mark Kelly, quoted in The Guardian, October 29, 2017“Maybe you wonder where you areI don’t careHere is where time is on our sideTake you there, take you there”-- Talking

Let me begin by saying you should not be fooled by the 80 page count. This book takes serious thought. Not only is gorgeously illustrated, but it's all about time loops, ontological paradoxes, bootstrap paradoxes and ourobouros. I recently finished the Netflix series Dark and this was that, but without the emotional angst. This was also pretty funny.A friend introduced me to Lem many years ago with Solaris. I love old sci-fi so the fact that I did not discover him until my 30s was something of a...

While the full page outer space illustrations are gorgeous, I found this graphic novel for tweens went a little to far down the rabbit hole. I think the science fiction aspects would be better geared for older readers and I fear this won’t make it off the shelf for young readers because of the maturity of the art and the complexity of the premises.

4 stars. I love Jon Muth's picture books for children, but I don't think this is for that subset of humanity. Lem's story is about physics (specifically relativity) and society, and I think most pre-teens would find it a difficult go. Iyon Tichy is an astronaut traveling on a poky little starship equipped as you'd expect a spaceship to be equipped and then weirdly with commonplace furniture and equipage (at one point Iyon cooks in a cast iron skillet). It's meant to be absurd and it is. But...it...

I thought that this was a bad example of Heinlein's wonderful "By His Bootstraps" on steroids. The repetitious iterations of "me" pushed me to the point that I just skimmed to the end to see whether he got his "rudder" fixed.

Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher at ALA Annual 2019.

"Ijon Tichy is caught in a TIME LOOP."I have not read any of Stanislaw Lem's books, but this graphic novel adaptations of one of his science fiction short stories was a fun read. When Ijon's spaceship is damaged, things quickly spiral out of control. He's all alone, until he's not. The illustrations are lovely, and the problem of having to deal with his past and future selves only complicates the situation.

Riveting and hilarious, this graphic novelization of a time loop story was a lot of fun to read. I enjoy Muth's style of illustration and coloring which adds some whimsy to the feel of the book. The adaption note at the end with background info and photographs of early sculpts for the development of the project are much appreciated. The model of Tichy is very cute!

I'd never read any Lem before this, although I knew of him from the two movie adaptations of his Solaris, but thought this graphic novelization of one of his many short stories might make a nice change of pace. Not sure how faithful the adaptation IS, but it's a slight work that plays around with one central conceit for rather longer than necessary to glean the point. Terrific illustrations though.

Spacefarer Ijon Tichy's spaceship is hit by a tiny rock which destroys the guidance system and puts a hole in one of the rudders. When he goes outside the ship to fix it, he realizes the job requires two people. He gets back in the ship, lamenting his fate, as the ship is headed through a region of gravitational vortices. The vortices cause time loops. One night, Ijon is woken up by a future Ijon, whom the first Ijon assumes is a dream. The second Ijon is really frustrated because they could fix...

Absurdist sci-fi turned into a graphic novel by Jon Muth. Anyone who geeks out on the space-time continuum or this particular strain of sci-fi will enjoy this. That’s not me but I loved the art and appreciate it for what it is.

I brought this home expecting a relatively straightforward space adventure but the space voyage was merely a vehicle for a gently absurdist, mind twisting, time twisting philosophical adventure. But one that also contains a definite physical component as the protagonist/s races against time and himself in a situation where inaction or the wrong action can become perilous. I loved where the solution came from, it had just the right touch of sweetness and poignancy. I also loved how the art here h...

I think I'm still lost in the time loop with the many Ikon Tichy, that can't work together to fix the ship. This book isn't easy to understand for children. I myself don't know what was going on with the back and forth and the multiple people, which were all the same person in different days, times and years. I wasn't fond of the illustrations. I love colorful and clear illustrations. This book wasn't my cup of tea.

super trippy sci fi story about an astronaut in the distant future, traveling on a space ship alone (the ship is outfitted with an overstuffed armchair and what appears to be a wood-burning stove among other things, so it's a weird mix of old-tech, future-tech) when his rudder is broken. He realizes that the design of the ship prevents him from fixing this problem alone, it requires two people. But he is traveling alone! He solves this problem (sort of and in a very roundabout way) by flying thr...