''The Long Tomorrow'' is the title of a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

comics short story serialized in two segments in the French magazine ''

Metal Hurlant A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

'' in 1976. It was written by

Dan O'Bannon Daniel Thomas O'Bannon (September 30, 1946 – December 17, 2009) was an American film screenwriter, director and visual effects supervisor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres. O'Bannon wrote the screenplay for '' Alien'', adap ...

, and illustrated by Moebius. It is noted for its influential visual design, which inspired the designs of feature films including ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'', ''

Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action- adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer ...

'', ''

Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

'', and ''

The Abyss ''The Abyss'' is a 1989 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. When an American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, a US search and recovery tea ...

''. The story was reprinted in Moebius Book Four.

Background

In his introduction to the French hardcover graphic story collection ''The Long Tomorrow'', Moebius wrote: The storytelling of ''The Long Tomorrow'' is inspired by film noir and

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

crime fiction, but the story is set in a distant,

future, making it one of the first true

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...

stories. Pioneering cyberpunk author

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, hi ...

said of ''The Long Tomorrow'':

"So it's entirely fair to say, and I've said it before, that the way Neuromancer-the-novel 'looks' was influenced in large part by some of the artwork I saw in '' Heavy Metal''. I assume that this must also be true of
John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
's ''
Escape from New York ''Escape from New York'' is a 1981 American science fiction film, science fiction action film co-written, co-scored and directed by John Carpenter. It stars Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Adrienne B ...
'', Ridley Scott's ''
Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'', and all other artifacts of the style sometimes dubbed 'cyberpunk'. Those French guys, they got their end in early".

It was originally serialized in two segments in the French magazine ''

'' in 1976 and later by the American magazine ''Heavy Metal'' in Vol. 1 No. 4 and Vol. 1 No. 5, which were published in July and August 1977, respectively.

Influence

The comic's artwork was influential on the concept designs used in subsequent science fiction works, including the 1979 film ''

'', the 1982 film ''

'', and the 1989 film ''

''.

References

External links

''Heavy Metal'' magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Tomorrow, The French comic strips 1975 comics debuts Cyberpunk comics Neo-noir comics Science fiction comics Blade Runner (franchise)