Robert Heinlein graphic novel project seeks funding

An award-winning Oklahoma artist is set to draw a project by a science fiction master.

Steve Erwin, artist of DC Comics including “Deathstroke the Terminator,” is attached to the project “Citizen of the Galaxy,” which would be a graphic novel adaptation of the Robert Heinlein book. A Kickstarter campaign is currently under way for the graphic novel.

Erwin, who was born in Tulsa, was inducted into the Oklahoma Cartoonist Hall of Fame in 2007.

The project seeks to raise $26,400 via Kickstarter. “Citizen of the Galaxy,” the story to be adapted, was one of Heinlein’s last stories he wrote for teens. The story originally appeared in 1957 as a four-part series in Astounding Science Fiction magazine. Eric Gignac is spearheading the project.

The story is about a young boy named Thorby who was captured at an early age, Gignac said in an email interview.

The story follows Thorby as a slave on the planet Jubbal who becomes a free trader aboard a starship, then a soldier in the galactic guard before making his way home to Earth.