Dark Horse Comics has released a new trade paperback collecting the classic comic book fairy-tale for adults, Moonshadow, by J.M. DeMatteis and John J. Muth. Moonshadow was first released in 1985 under the Marvel Epic imprint and later re-released in the mid-nineties as a limited series under DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. Having missed out on Moonshadow the first time around, I’m grateful to Dark Horse for allowing me to delve into this old, but still relevant, masterpiece.
DeMatteis has long been one of my favorite writers, and his Justice League International with frequent collaborator Keith Giffen was one of my gateways into comics. And after reading Moonshadow, I feel like I understand DeMatteis more as a writer. Dark Horse has also added to this collection with a treasure trove of notes and rough scripts from DeMatteis that further allowed me into his mind as a writer. As a writer myself, I love seeing how established authors think about their work and their writing process. These added sections feel like a gift for longtime fans of DeMatteis’ work. I also enjoyed the essays by both DeMatteis and Muth about their time creating Moonshadow. It’s often these extras that make a trade paperback worth the price of admission, and Dark Horse provides the reader with an embarrassment of riches in that regard. Written prior to the stories I grew up on, I can see the genesis of much of his future work in Moonshadow. The mixture of high emotional stakes paired with satire and oftentimes laugh-out-loud humor are all trademarks of a DeMatteis production. And though it was written forty years ago, Moonshadow still resonates and has a lot to say about the world of 2025.
The main narrative centers on the titular character Moonshadow who was born in an intergalactic zoo to a human mother (Sunflower) and a mysterious alien godlike being called a G’I-Doses. The G’I-Doses are seen as tricksters or bad omens by the galaxy at large, and they appear as smirking, smiling, and laughing giant floating orbs. Narrated by a Moonshadow who appears near the end of his life, we follow the younger Moonshadow through his misadventures around the galaxy, often alongside his “best” friend Ira who loathes him. Moonshadow’s story feels like an odd combination of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter House Five for its examination of war and Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for its humorous satirical tone. Like Douglas Adams, DeMatteis forces us to look at the absurdity found in some of our modern institutions such as organized religion and patriotism. Like Vonnegut, the narrative demands that the reader re-examine their own world through the cracked mirror DeMatteis provides. The anti-war sentiments of Moonshadow are perhaps more needed today than they were in 1985.
“What good is My freedom?’ I mused, ‘When others are bound? Unless THEY can share in my happiness – I cannot BE happy.’ (Actually, I was far from free. This was, as Ira was fond of pointing out, “just another zoo along the way.” I was also quite capable of being happy while others suffered – and THAT frightening realization, more than any other, drove me to speak up.) And speak up I did.”
Moonshadow’s story is also reminiscent of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, as he struggles to make it on his own and encounters many seedy characters who seek to exploit his young naivete. There is no primary antagonist per se, as we’re meant mainly to bear witness to Moonshadow’s coming of age against the backdrop of war, friendship, and love. There is one character who could fit the role of series’ villain and that is Pobidiah Unkshuss, the self-proclaimed religious authority of the Machovian Empire. Unkshuss, along with his family, have usurped control of Machovia by dominating its economy and its religion. And yes, the parallels to 2025 America are kind of shocking. Unkshuss, in many ways, is the evil of capitalism run amok, where everything is controlled by corporations and the capital planet is one giant shopping mall. DeMatteis uses Unkshuss and his clan as a warning of the dangers of organized religion and blindly following demagogues.
The emotion of the book couldn’t be conveyed without the brilliant artwork of John J. Muth. Simply put, this is a gorgeously painted book. Each page, each panel is a work of art. It demands the reader to just stop and soak in its beauty. Muth makes both the dramatic and the absurd come alive. He can make a reader believe that a floating, grinning ball can co-exist with a pile of hair in bowler hat in space. DeMatteis and Muth are a classic pairing that I’m sorry we haven’t seen reunited since Moonshadow. I really can’t say enough, and it’s no wonder that Muth has both an Eisner Award and Caldecott Honor. It’s Muth who really brings home the graphic novel’s tagline, “a fairy-tale for adults.”
I really enjoyed my time with this comic. I’ve long been a fan of DeMatteis – he essentially wrote almost all my childhood comics – but I didn’t expect that there was a hidden (to me) gem in his back catalogue. I may have finished it days ago but Moonshadow has remained firmly lodged in my thoughts, the way only my favorite books have in the past. A wonderful book that is needed in our current times by one of the pillars of the comic book world. Pick it up today. Pop! Poof! Ping!
Creative Team: J.M. DeMatteis (Writer and Creator), John J. Muth (Illustrator and Creator), Kent Williams (Art in Books 6 and 12), George Pratt (Art in Books 11 and 12), Sherri Van Valkenburgh (Artist), Glenn Pepple (Artist), Kevin Nowlan (Letterer), Gaspar Saladino (Lettering book 8).
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Click here to purchase.
