When we first conceived of this joint newsletter, Frank and I didn’t just want to create a space to talk. We also wanted a platform that rewards you for being a part of our journey with exclusive opportunities you can’t find anywhere else. So as part of the Love & Death on the Dark Side of the Moon Kickstarter campaign, which is set to kick off on November 3rd, we wanted to give our Substack subscribers access to a special holofoil cover you can’t find anywhere else. When the campaign goes live, the link below will reveal this limited variant illustrated by myself and colored by Dave Fowler.
SAVE THIS LINK: LOVE & DEATH EXCLUSIVE HOLOFOIL BUNDLE
But that’s not all. If you want even more bonuses, then be sure to also join the Love & Death pre-launch page, as only pre-launch followers will be given special Early Bird discounted access to our Helios 1 collector’s set. This box includes the main book as well as the unique web comic, a print set, metal bookmark, the Love & Death Issue Zero preview, and more. When the Early Bird period is over, this box will be made available to everyone at full price. So don’t miss out!
Gerald
Love & Death on the Dark Side of the Moon is a weird story to describe. Love & Death is a departure from our previous stories, we are tapping into themes of love, tragedy, heartbreak and yet underneath it all there is a darker tone where we don’t throw out our love of horror. And yet, the story is very much rooted in science fiction. In fact, we have made a very serious attempt to merge the book’s fictional history with the real history humanity is very much writing today. One might even call this story a work of “future historical fiction.”
Right now, NASA and other space programs are planning to return to the Moon and possibly even establish a permanent human presence there. We have used this fodder to flesh out Love & Death’s universe and provide a real backdrop for its drama to unfold. We are committed to creating a well-rounded experience that feels less like a fantasy and more like an actual extension of our world. To that end, we’ve created a timeline, in-universe documents, and spin-offs for everyone to dive into. The first of which will serve as a prelude to the story itself, so allow Third Contact to present “Welcome To Helios One.”
The short story takes place a little over a year before the graphic novel begins. If you haven’t already guessed, Helios One is the lunar station on the Moon’s dark side and where the bulk of the story takes place. While it’s absolutely not necessary to read the short story to enjoy the graphic novel itself, “Welcome To Helios One” provides a great foundation to understand some of the main characters and get familiar with the book’s timeline. Because setting plays such an important part of the story (I mean, it’s right there in the title), we wanted Helios One to feel like a character itself. Although cold and lifeless in the depths of space, this station is very much alive with activity. It will be a place full of laughter and tears, hope and fear, love and heartbreak. Gerald and Frank couldn’t be more excited to share this work with you. “Welcome To Helios One” is just the beginning.
Gearing up for the Love & Death launch, I wanted to share some of my influences while writing the story. The first half of this list was shared in our previous email. Here is the second half.
It’s hard to write any science fiction story without 2001 looming overhead. Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece is, of course, unique. There are plenty of sci-fi space efforts that have no semblance of being influenced by 2001, but this seminal work was so transformative that it had a ripple effect across the genre. The foundation it laid was built upon with every new work of science fiction that came after it. Love & Death is a slow character study that takes place in the remote vastness of space. So while the stories have nothing to do with one another, it was hard not to write Nero’s journey while imagining 2001’s dancing space station in my head.
In some ways, Love & Death’s plot was lifted directly from Sunshine. The film is about a group of astronauts on a mission to reinvigorate a dying Sun. That mission is the same as the scientists working on the moon in Love & Death. Of course, Sunshine goes completely in its own direction, but the core of what makes the Sun special and how deeply we rely on it runs through both stories. There’s a lot that humanity can survive without. The Sun is not one of those things. If it goes, we all go. So the stakes couldn’t be higher in a story where the Sun is running out of time.
This might seem like a strange one given that it’s not a story that takes place on the Moon. It has nothing to do with space and probably shouldn’t be considered science fiction at all. But Edward Scissorhands is a deep character journey about isolation, loneliness, and feeling apart from the rest of the world. Although they are fascinated by Edward, regular people quickly become fearful of him. It takes a curious girl’s heart to break that cycle and allow him to feel whole. Nero’s story follows a lot of those same beats, focusing on how different he is from everyone else and the emotional toll that takes on his psyche. Just without all of Tim Burton’s weirdness.
That’s all for now. Be sure to visit the Love & Death pre-launch page and see you in November,
Frank & Gerald
Third Contact Comics
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