Jim Spaceborn Masterpost

Jim Spaceborn was a Classic Space oriented LEGO comic book series authored and illustrated by Frank Madsen, and developed and produced in collaboration with LEGO’s short-lived publishing division, LEGO Publishing from 1983-1987.

The series comprised of three 48-page installments and a series of three 24-page mini-comics. But the third installment and the series of mini-comics were never published.
Jim Spaceborn was originally known as Jan Spaceborn. Jan was changed to Jim due to the name being deemed politically explosive.
The comic originally started out as a white 12-page test album called Mission Spyspids. It was followed by a second test album with imagery on 31 pages and the majority of the rest of the album’s pages were left blank. The test albums were hardcover books.
Jim Spaceborn: The Unknown Galaxy, the first installment, was published in six countries.
Jim Spaceborn: The Kidnappers from Swamp Planet/Castle of the Darkmen, the second installment, was published in five of the aforementioned six countries excluding Denmark.
Jim Spaceborn: Panic on Board, the third installment, remains unpublished. Frank Madsen has provided the layouts for it though!
The three mini-comics are titled The Monorail Service, Cleaning Robot and The Competition.
Sometime in 1986, a Jim Spaceborn animated film was planned and produced in a Danish studio led by Jeffrey James Varab (a former Disney animator) and Jakob Stegelmen. But development only reached the extent of storyboards of the initial 10 minutes of the film.
A feature film based on the comics wasn’t the only thing planned. A series and video game were discussed too!

All images courtesy of Jim Spaceborn author and illustrator Frank Madsen and uploaded by Sadie Meowsalot.

Trapped in Space

The 1983 internal prototype book Trapped in Space from which Jim Spaceborn later drew a lot of its inspiration and story elements after the childrens book concept was scrapped by LEGO. Written by Douglas Hill.

Jim Spaceborn: The Unknown Galaxy