The Compleat Moonshadow by J.M. DeMatteis

Oh, and Moonshadow's cat Frodo emerges every twenty or so pages, out of nowhere. At the zoo, Moonshadow slavishly follows around some lecherous, foul-mouthed, cigar-smoking, bowler hat-wearing, Wookie-like creature named Ira, and together they have some adventures after Moonshadow's father springs them from the zoo and gives them a spaceship in one of his random appearances. Moonshadow was born in an intergalactic zoo, the offspring of a drug-addled, Brooklyn-born hippie who calls herself 'Sunflower' and a 'grinning ball of light,' an alien creature who may or may not be entirely capricious (read: absent father extraordinaire). This is probably one of the weirdest books I've ever read. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned. Received a review copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss. Originally released in the mid 1980's by Epic Comics, then re-released in the Compleat version a decade later by Vertigo, now collected all together once again by Dark Horse. The story here just isn't very interesting, but it is worth flipping through the book for the art. It's not graphic visually, but the prose can be. Moonshadow does have a furry sidekick who is obsessed with sex. As the book labored on over it's 500+ page run, I found myself getting more and more perturbed with Moonshadow's pacivity as he continually just lets these awful people do horrific things to him. The comic is told as Moonshadow's memoirs and is more illustrated novel than a comic.

Told allegorically with planet-sized malls called GimmeGimme, each issue focuses on a different subject as Moonshadow comes of age, consumerism, death, war, sex, etc. However, it's more of a Dickensian tale set in outer space. Journey from the farther reaches of outer space to the starry skies of the inner spirit as the young dreamer Moonshadow and his cynical alien companion Ira set forth on the unforgettable intergalactic odyssey that science-fiction great Ray Bradbury called 'beautiful, original, haunting.Moonshadow is billed as a fairy tale for adults. Offered again in a new printing, a single paperback volume collecting both the original run of MOONSHADOW and its sequel, FAREWELL MOONSHADOW.

DeMatteis art and painted wraparound cover by Jon J Muth Beautiful story with gorgeous watercolor art, buy it and read it if you haven't yet. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book, it's a nice mixture of sci-fi and fantasy adventure but most importantly it's about the secrets of the human heart.

I know I could have posted this at DC forum since this is Vertigo book but then probably lots of cool folks would have missed this.

The Compleat Moonshadow by J.M. DeMatteis