The 2nd Moon (Keepers of the Maser) [Hardcover]

I bought all 3 of Frezzato's "Les Gardiens du Maser" (in french, but i read one of them in english, in Heavy Metal mag). I loved them all very much, Frezzato's art is stunning, such attention to details impress me very much. The characters are very enjoyable and have personas that compels you to have more and more to read about them. The fictional world they live in is very realistic technology-wise. The gizmos they carry, the vehicules, the robots, the evil dwarves are all so interesting... i can't wait for the rest of the books to come out.

If it wasn't for the March 1997 issue of Heavy Metal that my dad had lying around the house one day a few years ago, I probably never would've discovered this series. I first read part one, Second Moon, and absolutely loved the artwork, and the story seemed epic and I was pumped and ready to see just how epic it would get. Unfortunately, I was foolish enough to believe that that was the end, a story that was meant to be anti-climactic. So it was a while before I eventually stumbled upon it again in 2010 and decided to look it up online. That was when I realized it was a 6-part epic, that there were 5 other volumes I had yet to read, and they were becoming increasingly harder and harder to find, especially in the later volumes. So naturally, since I loved the first volume so much, I went out to purchase them all in their hardcover copies. And hot damn these comics are huge! Just look at the dimensions listed on amazon.com. These are pages meant to be large so as to appreciate the artwork by the late Massimiliano Frezzato. It's a considerably better experience then reading the story through a magazine article. I managed to purchase the first 5 with ease. But to my horror, volume 6, The Lost Village, was nowhere to be found (ironic considering the title)! On amazon.com, nowhere to be found. Ebay, just as likely to show up as a picture of Elvis with his signature written in ink by his hand. So I did the next best thing, order the Heavy Metal issue that had the last part of the story, the September 2005 issue. It was a good yet bittersweet end to an epic that tied everything together and gave the series closure. And yet I longed for the hardcover copy, reading it the way it was meant to be read, enlarged and of good quality, truly bringing out everything in the artwork. And then a miracle happened, a copy of it managed to show up on ebay by some bookstore company the was going out of business or was overstocked. I managed to get a hold of it and finish the collection of hardcover copies.

Now for the differences between the hardcover and Heavy Metal magazine issues. First off, at the beginning of volume 1 (Second Moon), there is a 1 page intro that gives some backstory on the world, letting the reader know what they're in for. Aside from that and the bigger pages, the hardcover, an awesome picture on the backside of the hardcover, and a little end note by the author, that was the main difference.

Volume 2, The Isle of Dwarves, it begins with a recap of what happened in the previous volume in case the reader forgets or didn't fully comprehend the story. The same type of prologue appears at the beginning of all the other hardcover copies. That said, this is where the real selling point comes in for the hardcover copies. In volume 2, at the end of the story, there is a KOLONY section, The Essential Survival Guide to the Lost Planet; 16 pages of detailed facts about some of the characters, the technology they use, the suits they wear, details o some of the creatures in the story, a map of the tower on The Isle of Dwarves, the planet Geography (space-view of the planet plus a map-continental view, and then a satellite view of the characters' locations and their path of travel so far. There are some other little tidbits here and there. If you had to choose any of the volumes to upgrade to hardcover, volume 2 is the one. The Survival Guide is an amazing bit of work that shows just how much work and effort Frezzato went into to make all the little details found in the story, all to give a solid structure for the epic narrative to stand upon.

Volumes 3-4 don't contain any such survival guide, just the story upgraded to bigger pages and hardcover, plus the prologue. But then comes volume 5, The Edge of the World. It contains The Tower: The Essential Survival Manual, another 16 pages of info that give more depth and details the the inner working of things in the world the story is set in. It focuses less on the technology and more on giving biographies on some of the characters, including the Chimeras themselves (you catch a glimpse of them in volume 4, but they really make themselves known in volume 5). Then it gives details as to the workings/designs of The Tower, and the flying structures/devices used, plus some other tidbits here and there.

Volume 6 is the same as volumes 1, 3, and 4; no survival guide, just the prologue and the hardcover.

If you loved reading the first volume of the series Keepers of the Maser, then you definitely have to get the hardcover editions of volumes 2 and 5. Otherwise, if you don't already have the Heavy Metal issues of the other versions, you may want to try getting those hardcover as well. If you already have the cheaper heavy metal editions, only upgrade if you feel like it. As for volume 6, The Lost Village, I would just get the Heavy Metal issue of it (September 2005) and not even bother looking for the hardcover copy. It is hard as hell to find. It doesn't even make sense why they wouldn't sell it hardcover. They're selling all the other volumes hardcover, including volume 7, the prequel to the series (which I haven't read).

As for my thoughts on volume 1 and the series, it's a masterpiece. It's a series that gets fast paced and hectic at some points, slows down in many others. It's a series that should be read at a slow and steady pace, admiring the artwork of each frame, taking your time to marvel at the quality at every step, slowly take in the story that's every bit as powerful as the drawings, finish the series, ponder at the ending and all that you have just witnessed, and then go back to volume 1 and read it again to relive the experience and see what little details here and there you may have missed the first time through. This series is a bona-fide 5 solid star epic that deserves to be read, that deserves to be more popular than it currently is. This is probably my favorite comic series of all time.

This book meets three of Heavy Metal's four traditional benchmarks: gorgeous art, exciting SF/fantasy adventure, and erratic plotting. If women had appeared scantily clad in more than two panels, it would have been an HM archetype.

This appears to be the start of a long-lived adventure series. As such, it lays out the fantasy's ground rules and setting (a world of after-the-collapse technology), and introduces the Quest: a trek to the semi-mythical Maser. And, as an introductory chapter should, it leaves much to be revealed in the installments to come. That dangling vagueness can frustrate a reader who lacks access to later chapters, but it also piques interest in following along.

It hooked me, at least. I won't spend rent money to collect the rest of this series, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

-- wiredweird