Christopher Moeller (born May 1, 1963) is an American writer and painter, specializing in fully painted graphic novels. Moeller's signature creation is the '' Iron Empires'' science-fiction universe, comprising three fully painted graphic novels ''Faith Conquers'', '' Sheva's War'' and ''Void'', a short story in

Dark Horse Presents ''Dark Horse Presents'' was a comic book published by Dark Horse Comics from 1986 in comics, 1986. Their first published series, it was their flagship title until its September 2000 in comics, 2000 cancellation. The second incarnation was publishe ...

, and a second in the anthology ''

Negative Burn ''Negative Burn'' is a black-and-white comics anthology, anthology comic book published beginning in 1993 by Caliber Press, and subsequently by Image Comics and Desperado Publishing. Edited by Joe Pruett, ''Negative Burn'' is noted for its eclecti ...

''. In 2006, an ''Iron Empires'' role-playing game was published, called '' Burning Empires''.

Early life and education

Moeller was born in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

and currently lives in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He received a BFA in painting from the University of Michigan School of art, and an MFA in illustration from Syracuse University.

Comics career

His professional debut was in 1991, writing and painting Innovation Comic's ''Rocketman: King of the Rocketmen''. This was followed by a run on the adaptation of

Anne Rice Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of Gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Bible fiction. She is best known for writing ''The Vampire Chronicles''. She later adapted t ...

's ''

Interview with the Vampire ''Interview with the Vampire'' is a gothic horror and vampire novel by American author Anne Rice, published in 1976. It was her debut novel. Based on a short story Rice wrote around 1968, the novel centers on vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac ...

'', also from Innovation, for which he provided artwork and a number of cover illustrations. Moeller moved to

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

in 1994, writing and painting the first of his '' Iron Empires'' graphic novels (at that time called ''Shadow Empires'') ''Faith Conquers'', as well as the short story "The Passage" in ''

'' #79-81. He illustrated Andrew Vachss' short story "Treatment", included in Vachss' 2002 graphics-adapted collection ''Hard Looks''. He also did ''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

'' covers, a number of ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' covers, and a "pop-up" ''Star Wars'' book called ''Battle of the Bounty-Hunters''. In 1998, Moeller wrote and painted his second '' Iron Empires'' graphic novel, '' Sheva's War'', for the short-lived science fiction imprint of

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

Helix A helix (; ) is a shape like a cylindrical coil spring or the thread of a machine screw. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is for ...

. He made a run of covers for DC's

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

monthly comic book '' Shadow of the Bat''. In 2000, he wrote and painted the graphic novel ''JLA: A League of One''. He did an extended run of covers for the

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

monthly comic book ''

Lucifer The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology. He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...

''. In 2005, he wrote and painted the graphic novel ''JLA Classified: Cold Steel''.

Gaming career

Moeller has worked in the gaming industry in parallel with his comics work. He has done numerous illustrations for

White Wolf Games White Wolf Entertainment AB, formerly White Wolf Publishing, was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant

, including covers for their '' Aberrant'' game books, and miniatures game. He has provided over 250 illustrations for the trading card game '' Magic: The Gathering''. He has done illustrations for the ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

'' trading card game. He did the packaging art for the '' Axis and Allies Miniatures'' game. He also did the artwork for the '' Burning Empires'' game based on his own '' Iron Empires'' graphic novels.

Selected bibliography

* 1991 ''Rocketman: King of the Rocketmen'' graphic novel (128 pages in four comic books, later collected in paperback collection; Innovation Comics) * 1993 "The Passage" short story in the ''Dark Horse Presents ''anthology (24 pages in three chapters, colored version included in the 2004 ''Faith Conquers'' paperback; Dark Horse Comics) * 1994 ''Shadow Empires: Faith Conquers'' graphic novel (later renamed ''Iron Empires: Faith Conquers''; 4-issues miniseries, collected in 2004 in paperback; Dark Horse Comics) * 1996 "Second Passage" short story in the ''Negative Burn'' anthology (co-written by Kevin Moeller; 48 pages in six chapters; Caliber Comics) * 1998 '' Iron Empires: Sheva's War'' graphic novel (150 pages in five comic books; collected in 2004 in paperback by Dark Horse Comics;

) * 2001 ''JLA: A League of One'' graphic novel (102 pages, hardcover & paperback;

) * 2005 ''JLA Classified: Cold Steel'' graphic novel (96 pages in two prestige-format comic books; DC Comics) * 2014 ''Iron Empires: Void'' graphic novel (90 pages, Forged Lord Comics)

References

External links

Official website

Review of ''Faith Conquers''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moeller, Christopher 1963 births American comics artists Fayetteville-Manlius High School alumni American game artists Living people Writers from Ithaca, New York People from Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design alumni Artists from Ithaca, New York Syracuse University alumni