Leonid Meteor Shower Inspires ‘Moonshadow’ Memories – 1985’s Weird And Wonderful Space Epic

Hey nerds, tonight the Leonid Meteor Shower is expected to peak, part of the Tempel-Turttle comet. It's pretty rad, and I could tell you all about the crazy historical events that have been associated with the meteor shower, but you have as much access to Wikipedia as I do, so why not just follow this link?

Meteor showers always remind me of G'l-Doses. You're probably wondering, what the #&^$ is a G'l-Dose? And I'd reply that the G'l-Doses are some of the most fascinating creatures in modern science-fiction.

Why haven't you heard of them? Most likely because one of the best graphic novels of all time is seemingly one of the most ignored: "Moonshadow."It was first published way back in the year of 1985. Perhaps you've heard of it? The year before the Challenger explosion? No? Okay, well, it happened. During that year, Jonh Marc DeMaretteis starting writing a layered, literature-infused masterpiece with the help of the talented Jon J. Muth. Together, they expertly crafted one of the most ingenious graphic novels of all time, OF ALL TIME, KANYE!

But seriously, the book is a wonderful example of how the medium can be expanded to fit any tale.

So why haven't you heard of it? Well, the comic first started all those many years ago at Marvel, before moving to Vertigo. And while DeMatteis went on to do some work on "JLI" that received critical acclaim, and Jon J Muth worked on properties like "Swamp Thing" and "Sandman," however, neither have become a modern house-hold name in comics. And the price is rather steep, at about $40 for the trade paperback [Ed. Note: $26.37 at Amazon], but before you go judging too soon, the book weighs in at 400-pages, making it well worth $0.10 a page.

The title, "Moonshadow," is also the name of the narrator, who was born of a alien union between his mother, a lost love child of the 1960's named Sunflower, and a G'l-Doses, a glowing, apparently God-like sphere who travels the galaxy mixing it up, complicating lives, and abducting a few lifeforms here and there from various planets.

After seeing the lonely Sunflower on planet Earth, one of the G'l-Doses gets an intergalactic chub, and decides to knock up the unsuspecting human before leaving her to gestate on his spaceship full of pilfered lifeforms.

Sunflower and the other abductees form a mixed bag of collected specimens on the ship, where their lives are healthy and long, but there isn't much point to existing. Eventually, Sunflower pops out a half-breed who is curious but also bored. This leads him to read nearly all of the human books in the gigantic space-library, and to also befriend a furry, porn-addicted, cigar-smoking, foul mouthed creature named Ira.

Hooked yet? The adventure hasn't even begun. As young Moonshadow approaches puberty, his absent alien father appears in all his glory to tell his bastard child that he must grow up by roaming the universe, and instantly transports the Ira, the boy, and his cat Frodo to a shiny new spacecraft, where the motley crew heads out for the great unknown.

I could go on, but if that premise isn't enough to get you to rush out and pick up a copy, then it probably ain't your bag. But if you're an ubernerd like me, then looking up at the sky, and contemplating the vastness of our reality is mind-candy. On nights like tonight, perhaps you'll stare up on nights like tonight and wonder just what is out in the limitless beyond. If that sounds at all familiar, then "Moonshadow" is the book for you.