A Space Boy Dream follows twenty-three year old Vincent and his mundane life in the island of Malta, as he struggles to make it big as a fine artist. The comic is a light hearted satire of the hipster culture, where the artists poke fun at themselves and the people around them.

Although comics and comic artists are on the increase in Malta, in ASBD the creators wanted to create something that was based on real life, and that was happening right now, rather than being fantastical and superhero themed. The film American Splendour on the comics and life of Harvey Pekar, and Larry David‘s teleseries ‘Curb your Enthusiasm‘, were the main inspirations for the comic. Both deal with annoying and somewhat funny encounters and adventures in everyday life.

In this comic Mark and Moira, wanted to break away from the usual mocking of ‘hamalli’ and ‘tal-pepe’, and although the comic can be adapted to any hipster community, it is based in Malta. They felt that there had to be a comic that recorded these events, and being quite familiar with the hipster culture, it seemed to be the right time to start it. It is important to mention that the comic is not meant to offend and it is not aimed to criticise this culture. It is merely a funny perspective from Vincent’s point of view; a typical Maltese youngster who wants to live abroad in a big city and needs to have all the hip new stuff but cannot afford anything. Vincent attends hip local events but somehow finds himself disconnected and sceptical about the scene.

Finally they chose to base some of the characters in the comic by extracting characteristics from Maltese hipster personalities. It was, felt that this would give the characters a more authentic persona.

Comic website: http://aspaceboydream.com/
Facebook page for comic: http://www.facebook.com/aspaceboydreamcomic
Deviantart page: http://aspaceboydream.deviantart.com/

Mark Scicluna & Moira Zahra

Mark Bio: Mark is an illustrator. He also works at the Malta College of Art, Science and Technology (Art and Design) where he teaches graphic design & interactive media.

Personal website: http://www.behance.net/markscicluna

Moira Bio: Moira is an illustrator and motion digital artist. She works as a lecturer at the Malta College of Art, Science and Technology (Art and Design) where she teaches graphic design, interactive media and fine art digital modules.

Personal website: http://moirazahra.prosite.com/

A Space Boy Dream A Maltese Web Comic

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