Wouldn't time be going faster for him, slower for them? So whilst his aging and actions increased greatly, theirs slowed down... So they've only been away a short while, but he has rapidly gone through 40 or more years of time (quickly).
They absolutely could have made the word bubbles bigger instead of squeezing in the text and folding it up like they did.
Plus some of those curves are ridiculous.
Just like video is made by its audio comics need legible text.
I agree this one needed some cleanup.