Lost in Spaceborn: LEGO’s Forgotten Space and Castle Comics of the ‘80s

maandag, 09 juni 2025

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Imagine a world without the internet and social media, where you can’t just search the internet for MOCs or inspiration, and where your only source of input is two TV channels, the radio, books, and word of mouth. I know it’s hard to imagine such a world (believe me, I’ve tried several times with my kids). That world did exist, though. It is called the ‘80s, and it’s the world I grew up in.

As a kid in that world, I was constantly starved for creative input for my imagination. Sometimes, if you were lucky, there was a cool TV series playing that you were hopefully allowed to watch. Toys were also a way to open up new areas in my imagination: Transforming robots!? People riding on dinosaurs!? Wind up animal mechs?! AWESOME!

Comics were very important for me and many others in this era. During the ‘80s, I think every kid in Sweden subscribed to at least one comic magazine like Donald Duck, The Phantom, or even the Swedish version of MAD (R.I.P. 🙁), but the comics that I loved the most were the larger A4-sized comic books.

French/Belgian Comics

Born from caricatures and political satire in the 1800s, the comic style from France and Belgium was a huge influence on the comic book culture in all of Europe, but also other parts of the world during the latter half of the 1900s. Both the style and the physical format of comic books were considered standard and something that was copied frequently.

Examples of comics from this era:

And let’s not forget these gems:

I owned several of these comic books (or albums as they are called), and I returned to them frequently for inspiration. There was also a huge collection in the public library where you could just borrow comics for free (or why not just pop in for an hour on the way home from school?). Everyone had multiple comic books at home, or you could find them at school or in the waiting room at the dentist. They were everywhere!

I thought I knew all there was to know about the world of these kinds of big-format comic books, and that’s why I was so surprised when I stumbled upon some LEGO comics...

The LEGO Comics

One weekend, sometime in the ‘80s, I was visiting a friend. As per usual, when kids met those days, it didn’t take many minutes before we were in their room and exploring their LEGO collection. One day, while digging through a friend’s big LEGO bin, I found a comic book! It was a comic about some guy called Jim Spaceborn. He was clearly a LEGO minifigure and he lived in a LEGO world. I had never seen or heard about this comic before! I asked my friend about it, and he just said he got it from someone but couldn’t remember who or when. He also showed me another LEGO comic book he had that was LEGO castle-themed.

I was immediately intrigued and fascinated. The format and style of the comic was very similar to the French/Belgian comics that I was used to. But it was about LEGO!? There were huge spaceships and castles in these comics that were very inspiring. I think it was the first time in my life that I saw LEGO creations of that size. It was incredible! I wanted to know more! As a kid, I never did find out more about them, but the memory of them stayed with me.

As an AFOL however, I have of course tried to find out as much as possible about these comics, and as the internet would soon show me, I was not alone in being fascinated by them!

Jim Spaceborn

Frank Madsen in his studio (Image via www.frankmadsen.dk)

At the end of 1983, Frank Madsen was a young and aspiring comic artist. The company where he worked was approached by The LEGO Group with the idea of making a LEGO Comic book. They wanted a story based on the LEGOLAND Space theme that had been around since 1978. There had been some failed attempts at storybooks using photos of LEGO (more about that later), and now they wanted to try something else.

A long development started that resulted in the first comic book being released in 1986: “Jim Spaceborn: The Unknown Galaxy.” The story follows Jim and the crew of the Spaceship “The Spearhead” as it is sucked into a black hole by accident and transported to another world. In this world, they find a planet inhabited by robots under siege by the evil lord Kazak.

Jim and his crewmates look like LEGO Classic space figures but without helmets. Their ships are primarily white with trans-blue canopies. Kazak and his minions look like Blacktron. Their ships are black with trans-yellow canopies… very much like Blacktron. This is exciting because Blacktron was not released until 1987.

Jim Spaceborn model sheet

One of Frank’s many contributions to the comic was to give the characters bendable arms and legs as well as skin tones other than yellow. In the initial meetings with LEGO, it was clear that they wanted the facial expressions and movements to stay as true to the LEGO minifigure as possible, but gradually, as the project moved along, he was allowed more freedom. This might be because the minifigure was not considered the LEGO brand icon that it is today.

Original LEGO models

The comic featured a few new models. The LEGO development team (called Futura at the time) brought all the models to Frank so he could use them for reference. There were a bunch of smaller ships, Keko the robot, and MAGS, the ship computer, but the most prominent designs of this comic are, of course, the Spearhead and Kazak’s fortress.

The Spearhead

The Spearhead as depicted in the comic (Image via archive.org)

The dimensions of the LEGO model was 117 cm long and 56 cm wide. That means it is approximately 146 studs. (It must have been the first SHIP I ever saw!). It is also built completely sideways, so it’s actually a SNOT SHIP! It was built by designer Mads Rye. Mads was very inspired by artist Chris Foss and quickly realized a SNOT structure was the perfect way to build ships with the striped, aggressive aesthetic he was looking for.

The original model by MAds Rye

Kazak’s fortress

There is no image of a real LEGO build, but according to Frank Madsen, his contacts at LEGO brought both the Spearhead and Kazak’s fortress to their initial meeting.

The fortress itself can only be described as the ultimate Blacktron megastructure combined with a medieval castle. I have searched for images of the original creation but I can’t find any.

Further develpoment

(Image via classic-space.jimdofree.com)

Another comic book was released in 1986, called “Jim Spaceborn 2: The Kidnappers from Swamp Planet.” The story involves Jim and his robot friend Keko investigating a distress call leading to a galaxy-wide conspiracy. Some other original LEGO models were created for this book, but nothing on the scale of the Spearhead and Kazak’s fortress.

A third comic book, “Jim Spaceborn 3: Panic on Board,” was planned but never released. What happened was that the LEGO Publishing company was abruptly closed down when LEGO decided to focus on other things. There were also plans for an animated movie and even a computer game, but none of them ever made it into production. No one at that time had any idea how they would market a movie about a toy. Who would pay to see it? Wouldn’t it just be like a long commercial? And computer games were very new and expensive. These ideas were put on the shelf.

Spaceborn Connections

Looking back at this history, I find it a bit strange that the comics were not accompanied by a bunch of sets with the main characters included. When compared to LEGO themes released today, it seems like such a no-brainer. However, the LEGO group of the ‘80s was not the same well-oiled machine as it is today. They did not have the same kind of production capabilities and market shares. Producing sets that would compete with the already established Space theme was probably deemed a huge risk.

Instead, the Comic was aimed to be more like an inspiration for kids. The last pages of the comic book state that “now it’s up to you to go on with the story…” and there is an instruction for a robot. It does seem a little haphazard, though. Like something that was just added at the last minute. Is it a comic book, hinting at a larger world with returning characters? Or just an idea book with inspiration for kids? I feel like the ones in charge didn’t quite know what they wanted.

Trapped in space connection

In the 60s to 90s, LEGO published a bunch of inspirational booklets with instructions and images of LEGO builds.

These often explored ideas that were not released in sets. Like SNOT and micro scale, and that was one of many things that made these booklets so appealing to me and other young LEGO builders of that time. I had many of these idea books and loved flipping through the pages in search of inspiration.

In 1983, a new kind of idea book was in development but was never actually released. It was called a storybook. It contained images of LEGO mixed with text, like a children’s story book. Some of the themes and models that later appeared in the Jim Spaceborn comics were lifted and reused from this book. The book was called “Trapped in Space.“

Trapped in space fronT cover. With spaceship models by Daniel Kretz (Image via classic-space.jimdofree.com)

The author was Douglas Hill. His story was mixed with photos of LEGO minifigures in a spaceship environment. There were some really novel spaceships mixed with official sets. A curious detail was that some of the minifigures had legs without holes. Were they produced specially for this book? Why? The figures also had facial expressions, something that was not available at the time. Because this was a test publication, they were probably just painted on with a marker.

A test batch of the book was produced and given to a test audience in Germany. The test turned out negative. Most of the readers said they would not buy the book if it were released. It wasn’t engaging. The images were just photos of bricks, like a product catalog, and it was deemed not appealing to kids. Also, it was missing a few key things that became more popular in the toy market in the ‘80s: a hero and recognizable characters that kids would invest emotionally in. The idea of the Jim Spaceborn comic was conceived instead.

“Trapped in Space” also featured a massive spaceship called the Galactic Spearhead:

(Image via classic-space.jimdofree.com)

There is one Flickr post by LEGO designer Mark Stafford exploring the origins of this ship. (Mark also owns one of the very few physical copies of the book.) According to the comments, this ship was designed by the late Daniel Kretz, the designer of the yellow castle. Daniel also designed the other ships in “Trapped in Space.”

The Blacktron Connection

Like I mentioned above, there is a very apparent conflict in the first Jim Spaceborn comic. The crew of the Spearhead is represented by white Classic Space and brightly colored minifigures. And the villain and his crew are represented by minifigures in black. They have very distinct and contrasting color schemes, which look very much like the Futuron (good guys) and Blacktron (bad guys) themes that were released later. The idea of conflict was something novel in the world of LEGO, but it was not new to other toy manufacturers of the time. It would soon be infused into almost every theme, like LEGO Pirates, LEGO City, Ninjago, and so on.

According to Bjarne Tveskov, who was part of the team that designed the Blacktron sets, the idea of Blacktron was actually not clearly conceived by the LEGO design team when the comic was developed. The black and yellow was simply just a great contrast to the white and blue design of the Spearhead. According to Mads Rye, the black/yellow color was inspired by insects and their colors, which hint at both aggressiveness and danger. The designs from Jim Spaceborn were available in the LEGO headquarters at the time, and the color scheme found its way into LEGO sets shortly after. Tveskov said:

“There is a (small) connection between the two, but in a somewhat indirect way; the Jim Spaceborn project was a few years before Blacktron was done, and I remember we had the JS models around when we did Blacktron. On the other hand, the black + yellow color combo is a strong (and somewhat) obvious choice when trying to do aggressive-looking ‘bad guys,’ so I would say there was no direct connection, but perhaps a spark of inspiration.”

Inspiring Neo Classic Space

Seeing LEGO spaceships and other science fiction models in comic adventures inspired many kids at that time. Many of them later became AFOLs and started building in Neo Classic Space style, where the space minifigures are often depicted as they were in the Jim Spaceborn comic book: with hair instead of helmets and skintones other than the classic yellow. Below are a few examples built by Tim Goddard and Peter Reid.

In an interview printed in the magazine Byggebladet by the Danish LUG Byggepladen 2018, Peter Reid mentions:

“I came across Jim Spaceborn and the Secret of the Galaxy around the time of its original publication in 1986. I was twelve years old, and the comic was a fascinating insight into an exciting LEGO Space universe. I (still) like the characters, the drawings, and the story a lot. Another interesting thing was this enemy that was so reminiscent of the evil Blacktron forces. In my book LEGO Space: Building the Future, I pay tribute to Frank's work with several Jim Spaceborn guest appearances.”

Castle Kids

Castle Kids front cover. (Image via Brickshelf)

In 1987, another LEGO-themed comic book was released. It has a similar look and style to the Jim Spaceborn comic, but this one was castle-themed. It is drawn by another Danish artist, Freddy Milton, and the characters look even less like LEGO minifigures in this one.

The story is about three kids who hide in a castle and help the king take it back from an evil baron. The villains are not clearly belonging to any existing LEGO Castle faction. Personally, I think the story in this comic is a lot more intricate and “fleshed out” than the Jim Spaceborne ones.

But, except for the castle and some catapults, there is hardly any LEGO in the Castle Kids. While the LEGO models and figures were clearly depicting real LEGO models in Jim Spaceborn, it’s easy to miss that this medieval story is even about LEGO at all in Castle Kids. It is a shame, in my opinion. It is, of course, probably a lot harder to draw a comic and keep adding new LEGO-built structures and vehicles, but it would have served as a better source of inspiration in my opinion.

LEGO Models

There is one star of the show here, and that is the magnificent castle where the story takes place. It is depicted in detail in many frames of the comic, and there is a photo of a real brick-built version on the last pages.

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It is built from 17,500 bricks. It is 75 cm tall and the base measures 80x80 centimeters and took 400 hours to build. I love that it is not overly ornate but instead looks like a believable medieval castle.

Marketing

Just like the Jim Spaceborn comics, this book was not launched with accompanying sets. There were of course castle-themed sets, but none where the main characters were featured. “Castle Kids” was simply just released as a comic book and had to make it on its own.

It is unclear in how many countries it was released. I’ve seen an English, a Danish, and a Swedish version. The cover says “Castle Kids 1” so that gives us hints that there were several other comics planned that didn’t make it. The Castle Kids comics seem not to be as popular and surrounded by stories as Jim Spaceborn. It could be because there just wasn’t enough LEGO in it. Since it is not as popular as its space-themed sibling, there is not as much information to be found about it either.

LEGO Publishing Closes Down

In 1989, LEGO’s publishing company closed. The idea from the start had been to find out if the publishing company could work on its own, should LEGO ever fail in selling toys. The results were not what the LEGO Group had hoped for. Like the Spearhead model below, the LEGO publishing business was left in deep freeze.

(Image via Bjarne Tveskov’s Flickr page)

Later, LEGO would return to the publishing business when they started producing computer games and motion pictures, but that is a story for another time…

Looking back, it’s a bit strange how these comics weren’t more widely known or better supported. But maybe that’s part of their charm. They weren’t overproduced or tied into a huge marketing push—they just existed, quietly inspiring the kids who happened to stumble upon them.

For me, they left a lasting impression. Not just because of the cool spaceships or medieval castles, but because they showed what LEGO could be beyond the sets. A world with stories, characters, and ideas that stretched the imagination, just like a 100-stud-long SHIP.

P.S. Other Comics

Jim Spaceborn and Castle Kids are not the only comics produced by LEGO. I’ve focused on them in this article because I stumbled upon them as a kid and they were a mystery to me for several years. There is also a Pirate-themed comic book that I haven’t seen myself, and several Bionicle-themed comics to explore.

Sources

Do you own a Jim Spaceborn or Castle Kids comic book (or any other LEGO-related comics)? Had you heard about these comics before? Please let us know in the comments!

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Original link

Original author: Oscar Cederwall

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LEGO news

Lost in Spaceborn: LEGO’s Forgotten Space and Castle Comics of the ‘80s

French/Belgian Comics

The LEGO Comics