Mark Benson | Isaac and the Sky | Comic Crusaders Podcast #751

Mark Benson Reaches Beyond Trauma and Toward Planet Nine in Isaac and the Sky

Wepaaa, Crusaders! Strap in, lock onto the stars, and make sure Pluto is not listening, because Comic Crusaders Podcast Episode #751 welcomes author and NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Mark Benson for a conversation where emotional storytelling and astronomical discovery collide.

Benson’s young adult contemporary novel, Isaac and the Sky, centers on eighteen-year-old Isaac, a young man whose identity has been trapped inside the worst moment of his life. When Isaac was eight, his abusive father murdered his mother. A photograph of Isaac being led from the house alongside his puppy, Miles, surrounded by the red and blue glare of police lights, won a Pulitzer Prize and made him famous for a tragedy he never chose to share.

Ten years later, Isaac remains bullied, isolated, and burdened by a public that remembers the photograph but never bothered to discover the person inside it. Everything begins to shift when he returns to his abandoned childhood home, finds his mother’s telescope, and spots what could be Planet Nine, the long-theorized world astronomers have searched for but never confirmed.

The discovery gives Isaac a brutal choice. He can remain hidden and protect the fragile life he has built, or reveal what he has found and invite the world’s attention back into his life. Benson uses that decision to explore grief, abuse, memory, visibility, friendship, scientific curiosity, and the courage required to stop allowing one catastrophic moment to define an entire existence.

The cosmic mystery is grounded in genuine scientific fascination. Planet Nine remains a hypothesis built around the unusual orbital behavior of distant objects beyond Neptune, giving Benson a powerful bridge between established astronomy and emotionally driven fiction. Isaac sees what professional astronomers have missed, turning the overlooked teenager into the only person capable of revealing an overlooked world.

Benson brings authentic outreach experience to the novel. A journalist by education and profession, he became a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador in 2018 and has since delivered programs for schools, libraries, clubs, and community groups. His public work includes telescope nights and educational presentations designed to make planetary science accessible without draining away its wonder. NASA’s official ambassador profile identifies him as a Forest Park, Illinois-based educator who teaches astronomy throughout the Chicago area.

During this Comic Crusaders conversation, Benson joins Al Mega to explore the childhood experiences that sparked his love of space, the influence of the Adler Planetarium, the relationship between journalism and fiction, the responsibility involved in writing teenage trauma, and why scientific discovery can become a pathway toward healing.

The discussion also heads into the real science behind Planet Nine, the difference between responsible speculation and science fiction, what Project Hail Mary gets right about scientific storytelling, and how parents and educators can help young people develop a lasting relationship with astronomy.

Isaac and the Sky was released by Wayside Books on November 20, 2025. The 226-page paperback is aimed at readers ages 13–18, but its exploration of grief, identity, and the need to be truly seen reaches far beyond any single age group. The book is available through Mark Benson’s official website.

Follow Mark at @waysidewriter on Instagram and visit AuthorMarkBenson.com for books, appearances, astronomy events, and future projects.

Watch or listen to Comic Crusaders Podcast Episode #751 and discover why even after a life has been shattered, the universe may still be waiting to reveal something extraordinary.

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Host: Al Mega

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Edited/Produced/Directed by Al Mega