It starts with two pilots - Stel and Atan - who are investigating the disappearance of a space station crew near an asteroid. And it’s these two ideas that really push the book forward. There’s this strong desire for the natural and organic all throughout “The World of Edena.” There’s the fear of conformity and synthesization you see in the work of science fiction creators who grew up throughout the Cold War era. The tale grew in the telling and instead of a short little novelty story, we’re given this 350-paged behemoth. The entire Edena cycle started, as Moebius states in the introduction, when he was commissioned by Citroën to contribute to a promotional campaign aimed at the company’s sales team. If you’re interested in seeing why Moebius was such an influence, you don’t need to look much further than this. It may never reach the heights of “The Incal” or the sheer imagination of his short stories like ‘The Long Tomorrow’ or the Arzach anecdotals it might be bloated and heavy, but it remains an experience. It features the elements, motifs, and themes that commonly popped up in his work, including desert landscapes, metaphysical light shows, and the exploration of sex and gender. Composed between 19, the book stretches through a good portion of the artist’s career, the individual episodes reflecting where he was with his art at the time. In many ways, “The World of “Edena” is like a survey course on everything Moebius.

Moebius’s long-out-of-print World of Edena story arc gets a deluxe hardcover treatment, with its five main chapters-Upon a Star, Gardens of Edena, The Goddess, Stel, and Sra-collected here! What they discover about the universe and themselves on the mythical paradise planet Edena, though, changes their lives forever. Working closely with Moebius Production in France, Dark Horse puts the work of a master storyteller back in print-with some material in English for the first time! Stel and Atan are interstellar repairmen trying to find a lost space station and its crew. Translated by Laure Dupont, Brandon Kandor, Diana Schutz, and Philip R. Illustrated by Moebius and Claudine Giraud, Domdom, Frayzic, Bernard Hugueville, Florence Breton, & Claire Champeval

The World of Edena by Mœbius