About the Book
"MOONRAY is gloriously epic, exploding scifi fantasy world daydreams in every wonderful way! I can't think of anything I've enjoyed more in recent memory!" -Michael Allred: Madman, Silver Surfer, Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns and Moonage Daydreams, Red Rocket 7, Superman: Space Age
"Moonray is a deeply personal work built on top of a licensed property, that provides a stunning meta-mythical framework for how to live happily in 21st century." — Carson Grubaugh, The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, The Abolition of Man
“Moonray is a heady rich stew of psychedelic science fiction, my favorite kind. And in the skillful hands of Brandon Graham and Xurxo Penalta, it’s served with an unsettling ease in every bite. The perplexing becomes the flavors. It’s joyful to get lost in it.”
— J H Williams III, Echolands, Batwoman, The Sandman Overture, Promethea
In a post-human world, the man of miium is born. Created to avenge a slain goddess, our nameless warrior travels an unrecognizable landscape, constantly evolving with new wonders and terrors: Zanikam pirates, deadly reflections, a living bridge, and a red tear in the sky. Written and drawn by Eisner-award-winning author and artist Brandon Graham (PROPHET, KING CITY, RAIN LIKE HAMMERS), and featuring artist Xurxo G. Penalta, Moonray presents a mind-altering new dawn for a distant sci-fi future unlike any other. This bold graphic odyssey births the Moonray universe, from comic book to video game and beyond.
Moonray is a daring experiment in world-building, a true graphic epic that began in a truly unusual way. Moonray the graphic novel series shares its name and characters with a surreal 3rd-person multiplayer battle arena game set in a fantastical sci-fi world. Featuring intense combat, stunning visuals, and a world-class soundtrack, Moonray the game has been in development by the independent game developers Moonray PBC since 2019, and will be available publicly in an arena-combat form this fall of 2023.
But Moonray was written and drawn almost entirely in reverse of the normal process of a video game “tie-in” book. Rather than developing a book based on a game, the game team is developing a game based on Graham's work.
In Moonray Book One, Graham leverages his narrative freedom to create a story of untethered exploration, of naivete and determination, a graphic novel as gentle as it is thrilling.
Brandon Graham was born in 1976, the grandson of pin-up artist Bill Randall. He grew up in Seattle around a lot of graffiti and comics from all over the word. His books include KING CITY, MULTIPLE WARHEADS, PROPHET, ROYALBOILER, and RAIN LIKE HAMMERS.
Xurxo G Penalta is a Galician artist who’s collaborated with Brandon on KIEM and PROPHET. He's been published by Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Marvel, and illustrated for multiple music labels and live events. He focuses on science fiction and fantasy artwork in the European clear line style, with late 70s and 80s influences from comics, animation and film. Graham was born in 1976, the grandson of pin-up artist Bill Randall. He grew up in Seattle around a lot of graffiti and comics from all over the word. His books include KING CITY, MULTIPLE WARHEADS, PROPHET, ROYALBOILER, and RAIN LIKE HAMMERS.
Review :
"[A] fascinatingly surreal, richly imagined cosmic odyssey." — Library Journal
“Bigger, brighter, and just as bold of art as his other works, this is a visual feast for comics fans, especially if you enjoy those ligne claire aesthetics which are very clearly being employed on these pages.” – Obscurities in Miniatures
“In their joint effort, Moonray, Brandon Graham and Xurxo Penalta have taken me back to my earliest memories of visual Science Fiction. Their story might just as well have appeared in the pages of Métal Hurlant, 45 years ago, alongside the works of Philippe Caza, Jean-Michel Nicollet, Vaughn Bodē, François Schuiten, Serge Clerc, Denis Sire, Jacques Lob, and countless others in this vein, all under the watchful gaze of Mœbius, and Druillet, who led the genre into the stratosphere. Moonray, true to form, is faithful science fiction fantasy armed with DNA from the golden age of Europe’s majestic comic book export and cosmic exploits, as was practiced in those glory days. And that’s not all: together, Graham and Penalta take-on one of the harshest challenges of the graphic novel enterprise: telling a story with non-human characters, all the while keeping it relatable, and filled with beauty and charm (oh, those colours!). Only the most dedicated storytelling paired with the cleverest illustration and graphic strategies could pull off this feat. Moonray is a journey in time: both to the past and future of illustrated Science Fiction.” -- Sylvain Despretz, illustrator and filmmaker
"Stunning tour de force of imagination and execution... WOW!" — Geof Darrow, Shaolin Cowboy, Hard Boiled, The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot
" Brandon Graham takes seemingly effortless clean lines and transforms them into entirely unique landscapes and adventures page after page. His imagination is endless." — Nick Pitarra, Ax Wielder Jon, The Red Wing, The Manhattan Projects
“...as if Herge, Paul Pope and Moebius fused together to warn us all, “Beware the hive; Beware the Hive; BEWARE THE HIVE!” — Dave Sim, Cerebus the Aardvark
