It is an all-too-familiar story in the world of
creator owned comics. After a strong start, a promising and compelling
project suffers delays... or worse.
Last year, Tony Trov and Johnny Zito’s revival of Golden
Age heroine “Moon Girl” was met with rave reviews and solid sales that caught Red 5
Comics’ eye. It warranted a leap from digital-exclusive to a full-blown printed monthly that
was available in comic shops across North America.
Planned from the outset as a five-issue mini-series, the
comic was met with high praise for its complex yet nostalgic writing. Nerds in Babeland
said, “this story compiles some of the best elements of sci-fi, horror and super hero
action.” Pop Matters declared Moon Girl “already a classic, just two issues in, or soon
destined to be. It certainly deserves to be one.”
But it was the jaw-dropping hand-painted art by Rahzzah,
described by A Comic Book Blog as “some beautiful combination of Alex Ross and Arkham
Asylum’s Dave McKean”, that really set this incarnation of Moon Girl apart.
It was that time-intensive standard, combined with
external circumstances and commitments, that simply proved too much to keep the
series on schedule. The 4th issue was released in September 2011, promising an amazing
finale with Moon Girl and her adversaries, holding the fate of New York in limbo. Issue
#5 did not come out the following month, or the month after that.
Despite personal set-backs, Rahzzah assured us he was
committed to finishing the project and to not compromise even a single panel by rushing.
Months went by and pages came in. But not just any pages... the best, most striking pages
of the entire series.
Today, Moon Girl #5 is finally available to the public as
a digital-exclusive on the Comixology platform where the series debuted. Whether
you’ve been waiting in anticipation, or if you’ve yet to experience the wonders of Moon Girl,
check out the entire series now at http://www.comixology.com/Moon-Girl/comics-series/3945.
With its unique non-linear story-telling style, we agree
with A Comic Book Blog that “Moon Girl is a book you want to stick with for the full
five-issue run to get the maximum enjoyment and understanding.” The best way to read Moon
Girl is as a collected graphic novel, but to put out a printed edition of issue #5 would
delay the release of such an edition in print even further.
As such, the trade paperback of Moon Girl with extras
from the creators can be pre-ordered now from your local comic shop for just $14.95 using
order code NOV121284. The deluxe collection includes exclusive extras from the creators
and is one of Diamond Previews spotlight items this month and will be on-shelves in
February 2013.
