Talking 'He Lost His Keys in Space' with Creator Luke Milton

A few weeks ago, the fine folks at Black Panel Press reached out with a copy of their next graphic novel, He Lost His Keys in Space by Luke Milton and Lizzy Lang. A new space-faring sci-fi comedy, He Lost His Keys in Space is far more charming and poignant than I was expecting, even if its protagonist, Vega Ulysses, is rarely either.

Better than just getting the chance to read and review He Lost His Keys in Space, I also got the opportunity to speak to writer and artist Luke Milton directly about the book in an interview readers can check out for themselves down below.

John Dodge: He Lost His Keys in Space was obviously influenced by iconic sci-fi series such as Star Trek, yet plays out more like a classic adventure story. Are there any specific adventure titles that had an impact on the graphic novel’s development?

Luke Milton: I’m definitely more of a Star Wars fan than a Star Trek fan, so that may explain the serial adventure angle, but I certainly see the comparisons to Star Trek. He Lost His Keys in Space is Star Trek if earth never managed to figure things out. I love episodic story telling in general - I love animated series - I love the structure of an episode - and this was our (with my collaborator Lizzy Lang) attempt to present a TV series in a book. The catalyst was actually the 1980’s Japanese cartoon Ulysses 31 that played here when I was a child. I don’t remember the content or specific characters but I do remember the amazing theme tune. We heard it again around two years ago and I was singing it in the shower but kept changing the lyrics to, “Ulysses, Ulysses, where on earth did I leave my keys?” And that was silly enough to start us riffing on what that actually might be like.

JD: In that same vein, Vega Ulysses himself feels as though he would feel right at home alongside other hapless sci-fi “heroes” such as Futurama’s Zapp Brannigan. Was there any specific inspiration for Vega, or is he more of an amalgamation of the narcissism and general lack of self-awareness that his character lampoons throughout the book?

LM: He’s just a nightmare character, and I love writing those. My background is in theatre and I wrote a lot of plays about clueless characters who thought they were trying their best but were awful. One of my favourite novels is A Confederacy of Dunces which has a fantastically funny irredeemable protagonist. I like the cringe comedy of characters from George Costanza, Curb Your Enthusiasm, through to more modern examples like I Think You Should Leave. And conversely Lizzy doesn’t enjoy these kind of characters so I think she helps keep it grounded by ensuring that it never crosses the line where we’re rooting for the bad guy, and that there’s enough resistance from the supporting cast to keep everything moving so that you kind of laugh along with it rather than be alienated by it.

But yes, there’s a lot to draw from in the world at the moment in terms of narcissism and crusading for things that you don’t entirely understand. Vega is someone with a vague memory of his supposed values and will contradict them if there is the slightest detriment to him personally. He has this puppy dog loyalty to a world (and a set of values) that he doesn’t realize will also turn on him in a second.

JD: He Lost His Keys in Space takes a near-episodic approach to its storytelling. Were there ever any plan for the book to be released as a limited series and leave things open ended in terms of the “Best Things About Earth” format?

LM: Although I would love to do a limited series at one point (we have another episodic story that we are currently developing for the future), it felt more palatable to us to deliver this story all together in its entirety. We had a throughline for each character and we wanted to be sure we resolved that for (almost) everyone, and I think we wanted people to know that there was an end in sight for Vega, that we weren’t going to endlessly dwell on an essentially terrible guy. And that structure does start to change, it goes from adventures with a clear beginning, middle and end, to chapters which start to dismantle everything around him. If it was an animated series, I think it would be different, but as a book, I think this arc was really important to us. We wanted everyone to get the full story in one hit.

JD: The political commentary in He Lost His Keys in Space is readily apparent and frequently highlights the absurdity that is inherent to specific aspects of consumerist culture, unfettered capitalism, and concepts such as American exceptionalism. Did you ever worry that readers would find the subject matter too heavy handed or, inversely, did you ever worry that the comedy at the heart of He Lost His Keys in Space would overshadow the book’s social commentary?

LM: It’s definitely a delicate balance. I think we usually prioritise comedy and then use that as a vehicle to explore some of the things we want to say. We didn’t choose heavy subjects, or specific targets, in fact the situations are quite outlandish and silly and scifi, but we hope that it does lead audiences to think about the current state of the world and where we are heading. We’re in Perth, Western Australia, so we weren’t trying to target America specifically (Vega is an ambassador of Earth, and the President is the President of Earth) but clearly American culture has a big influence on the rest of the western world and it seeps into everything. Rather than any specific places, people or parties, we wanted to think about the systems that allow these situations to happen, and how we as individuals can be sucked up into supporting a system that will just as easily discard us.

JD: He Lost His Keys in Space features numerous foils for Vega, with Samantha, Snax, and Vanessica all offering decidedly different characteristics of their own that highlight just how awful Vega is as a person. Did you end up with a personal favorite during the making of the book, or any that you personally identify with more than the rest?

LM: I think we’d both lean towards the alien Snax because he’s so long suffering and yet so well-meaning. When creating the crew we really had to ask the question, why would any right-minded person align themselves with Vega? You couldn’t just put them in there for plot reasons, you had to justify them tolerating him. And Snax is an alien from a very sheltered and suspicious world of aliens who are easily taken advantage of. His planet doesn’t have ambassadors so he’s duped into being an ambassador for Earth, which is ridiculous in itself because he knows nothing about it. SAMANTHA is programmed to be there and there’s a big reveal about Vanessica’s connection. We wanted each character’s journey to make sense to them.

On an indulgent note I also love writing SAM, the smaller robot who represents one per cent of the computer’s processing power. SAM pretty much talks to herself with no one listening and I enjoyed writing a lot of silly non sequiturs as she tries to make sense of the world around her.

JD: The final chapters of He Lost His Keys in Space take a drastically different direction from what the rest of the book seems to be leading up to, and while it doesn’t in any way resemble a cliffhanger, it isn’t a definitive ending to the story, either. Will we be seeing Vega again? And if not, are there any plans for a sequel or follow-up that catches up with the rest of the main cast now that Vega’s story is over?

LM: Although it is far from a Hollywood ending, it’s the ending we felt had been earned. And we struggled with it a fair bit and thought about some twists or turns and realised that it was the most real ending that we could land on. For this story at least.

That said, we always have sequel or spin off ideas up our sleeve. We spend so much time creating and working on characters for a book that I would love to revisit them at some point. If a book is popular enough to support more follow up stories then I would love to have that conversation with Black Panel Press. I think we would focus on Vanessica and Snax, but I’m pretty sure Vega would find a way to crash the party.

My first book with Black Panel Press was 2024’s Animals Rule This Land, and similarly I have another story to tell in the world too. It has a title and a structure. We just need to keep growing our audience and spreading the word.

JD: Are there any other projects you’re working on or developing that fans of He Lost His Keys in Space should be looking out for next?

LM: Definitely! We have so many ideas and pitches and are eager to do as many books as we can. We just finished a third book called Pokey Town which is a candy-coloured cosy horror comedy set in a jail for all those nasty little bats, mushrooms and things that attack you when you’re first starting out in a fantasy game. We’ve nearly finished a fourth book, and we have a killer idea for a fifth (this will be another episodic one) and we’re getting the structure of that together. We just want to keep making comics as long as people will let us.

As a huge pop culture fan I’d also love to write for a licensed title. Anything I can get my hands on!

He Lost His Keys in Space goes on sale September 30 from Black Label Press.