"Le Monde d'Edena" (The World of Edena) is a series of graphic novels by French artist Moebius. It was inspired by a portfolio Moebius made for the French car manufacturer Citroën, called "The Star", in 1983. In this initial short story, Moebius introduces 2 protagonists, Stel and Atan, traveling in an old Citroën on a bald planet. Not much happens in the story, but in the end, they are invited by a spacecraft to fly to an unknown world, a 'Garden of Eden somewhere in another galaxy'. The open ending of the Citroën story inspired Moebius to think what would happen after, and thus the series 'Le Monde d'Edena' was born.
The strength of these science-fiction stories lies in the fact that Moebius uses them to pose questions about dreams, nutrition and health, biology and sexuality, the human desire to live in a structured society, and archetypal good and evil. All of these more philosophical elements are organically embedded in deceivingly light stories, allowing the reader to page through the different layers.
The graphic style is also different from other work by Moebius in that the artist restricted himself to a 'Clear Line' style (Ligne Claire), with minimal details.
The following episodes have been created so far :
All novels have been published by Casterman, in many languages, including French, Danish and Dutch. All info in this text from Dutch edition of The Star (De Ster), ISBN 90-303-8566-9.