5 Reasons Mooncop Will Be Your New Favorite Graphic Novel

Just the title of Tom Gauld's new book suggests action and adventure, lunar style: "Mooncop! But the reality is something altogether different. The graphic novel is actually far more subtle, amusing, and haunting than its title suggests. Inspired by old-school toys and Star Wars, it comes complete with both fun, pathos, and wonderful art. Here are five reasons this graphic novel will be your new favorite thing. Despite the jokes--and it is a very funny book--Mooncop has a particular melancholy to it, reflecting its creator's feeling about the way scientific exploration has fallen out of favor with the general public. "When I look back at the years of the Space Race it feels as though there was such an optimistic wonder about space, the moon, and generally about how technology would improve everyone's life," Gauld explains. "Amazing things are still happening in science, but I feel there isn't the same unreserved positivity about it." While the title suggests a police force on some Blade Runner-esque off-world outpost, the actual physical inspiration for Mooncop was far more quaint. "The idea of a cop on the moon came from a 1960s tin toy I saw, which was a car with'Space Patrol' on the side and a robot driver in a glass dome wielding a laser cannon," Gauld says. "The packaging showed the car on a deserted moon, with the Earth in the black sky above.