Publication
Montreal : Drawn and Quarterly, 2016.
Physical description
94 p.; 21 cm
ISBN
9781770462540
Language
Collection
Description
"The lunar colony is slowly winding down, like a small town circumvented by a new super highway. As our hero, the Mooncop, makes his daily rounds, his beat grows ever smaller, the population dwindles. A young girl runs away, a dog breaks off his leash, an automaton wanders off from the Museum of the Moon. Mooncop is equal parts funny and melancholy. capturing essential truths about humanity and making this a story of the past, present, and future, all in one. Like his Guardian and New Scientist strips, as well as his previous graphic novel, Goliath, Mooncop is told with Tom Gauld's distinctive, matter-of-fact storytelling and dry humor - an approach that has earned him fans around the world,"--Amazon.com.
User reviews
LibraryThing member missizicks
I love Tom Gauld's cartoons when they appear in The Guardian, so I was excited when his graphic novel Mooncop came out.
It's a salutary tale about brave new horizons, failed experiments, the death of community, and hope for the future.
Across its 94 pages, we follow the last police officer on the
Gauld's illustrations are beautiful in their simplicity and the sparse dialogue punctuates moments of reflection captured in views of the moon's surface, starscapes and views of the earth.
It's a melancholy tale with a wry humour and closes with a glimmer of hope for the future. As a distraction from everything going on here on earth right now, it was a touching read.
It's a salutary tale about brave new horizons, failed experiments, the death of community, and hope for the future.
Across its 94 pages, we follow the last police officer on the
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moon. He has a 100% crime solution rate. There aren't many people left on this lunar outpost of the earth, though, so no crime happens.Gauld's illustrations are beautiful in their simplicity and the sparse dialogue punctuates moments of reflection captured in views of the moon's surface, starscapes and views of the earth.
It's a melancholy tale with a wry humour and closes with a glimmer of hope for the future. As a distraction from everything going on here on earth right now, it was a touching read.
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LibraryThing member spiralsheep
5/2021. This is a short graphic novel about, unsurprisingly, a policeman on the moon. Tom Gauld is better known for his short cartoons but his style of understated minimalist storytelling expands well to book length. Who else could make me laugh aloud at, "I'm afraid that item is not in stock."? Or
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delight in moonbase buildings that look like mid 20th century furniture? And parks that look like Victorian glass dome displays? Or create an uplifting comic about the horrible feeling that your life is being dismantled around you? Show Less
LibraryThing member RobertDay
Tom Gauld produces quirky cartoons for 'The Guardian' and 'New Scientist'. Here, he produces a short graphic novel about the fading days of a lunar colony and its sole policeman. The Moon is slowly being closed down and people are returning to Earth because - well, just because. Our protagonist
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patrols the magnificent desolation and the abandoned settlements, his only companions various robots (whose ability to cope with the environment varies) and the last woman on the Moon, who was sent to run a doughnut stand. An elegaic and highly individualistic tale. The production, by the US publisher Drawn and Quarterly, is a delight. Show Less
LibraryThing member AnnieMod
If you are expecting an action story, go elsewhere. If you are expecting a crime story, that is not that either. What Gauld created is a story about a policeman that is one of the last people left in a place that everyone leaves. It happens to be the Moon - but it could have been any village that
Once upon a time, the Moon had a thriving colony - with agricultural specialists and people. Then things started to go down - we do not see all the details of how, by the time we start the story, it had already happened. But we do see a few robots replacing people (although in the usual way corporations work, there is also a reversed action when a vending machine is replaced with a human-fronted cafe).
And outside of the moon setting, it is a standard cop story - with donuts, missing pets and mismatched technology - the help our main character gets is so weird - the way it gets when someone reads reports and sees everything like numbers - why would send to the moon a robot that is not suited for rough terrain?
It is a bit repetitive in places (although it serves its purpose of showing the everyday). But the economical art suits the story perfectly.
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is getting depopulated (and my home country has a lot of them), every place that loses its population when the jobs get sent elsewhere. Once upon a time, the Moon had a thriving colony - with agricultural specialists and people. Then things started to go down - we do not see all the details of how, by the time we start the story, it had already happened. But we do see a few robots replacing people (although in the usual way corporations work, there is also a reversed action when a vending machine is replaced with a human-fronted cafe).
And outside of the moon setting, it is a standard cop story - with donuts, missing pets and mismatched technology - the help our main character gets is so weird - the way it gets when someone reads reports and sees everything like numbers - why would send to the moon a robot that is not suited for rough terrain?
It is a bit repetitive in places (although it serves its purpose of showing the everyday). But the economical art suits the story perfectly.
Show Less
LibraryThing member obtusata
Absolutely delightful. A quiet and melancholy story with beautifully simple illustrations.
LibraryThing member b.masonjudy
Mooncop has a sweet sadness that I've rarely found paired with such a dry wit. I loved simplicity of the dreams the moon colony held and how this heart eventually turns into automated efficiency. Most of all, though, I love a story that makes me appreciate the sensibility of wonder in the most
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common contexts. Show Less
LibraryThing member troymcc
Not much happened, and I guess that was the joke. Meh.
LibraryThing member JessicaReadsThings
Uh, I think I just read this in 5 minutes. I wasn't timing, so maybe 7. It's super cute and melancholy. But I do think it could have been longer. Gorgeous illustrations though.
LibraryThing member reader1009
short graphic novel - lovely artwork with characteristically dry humor :)
LibraryThing member AR_bookbird
I LOVE this book! Won't be spoiling to say....there is a #42 in the book.
LibraryThing member villemezbrown
How dreary and repetitive can a work get? Ugh.
LibraryThing member questbird
A lonely cop wanders the moon, which has zero crime and almost zero population. Humorous, slightly melancholy, with clear illustrations.
LibraryThing member albertgoldfain
A wonderfully drawn meditation on solitude and a sense of utility in the age of automation.
LibraryThing member greeniezona
Impulse choice from the new books shelf at the library.
Sweet little simple story that is funny and off at the same time. Very spare illustrations very appropriate to the story and setting. What if you were one of the last few inhabitants of a lunar colony?
Sweet little simple story that is funny and off at the same time. Very spare illustrations very appropriate to the story and setting. What if you were one of the last few inhabitants of a lunar colony?
LibraryThing member Pepperwings
A cute, short story. The arc of the story was a little odd and anticlimactic. However, I enjoyed the pacing, and it was an interesting journey, the art is simple, but gets the point across well.
LibraryThing member BrynDahlquis
I love this so much. It's beautiful and funny and sad and then it just ENDS. I feel so betrayed.
I still love it though.
I still love it though.
LibraryThing member mykl-s
A comic novel, strong on the drawings.
Awards
NPR: Books We Love (2016)
Great Graphic Novels for Teens (Fiction — 2016)
Original publication date
2016