Locust Moon Comics shop, which recently moved into a new, spacious location near 40th and Chestnut, is celebrating the release of its first book this week. Locust Moon Press has teamed up with Dark Horse Comics to release the 430 page science fiction fairy-tale anthology titled Once Upon A Time Machine. This is a long-awaited release – the book represents the culmination of three years of collaboration in Philadelphia and beyond.

The project began in the summer of 2009, when Locust Moon’s creative director Chris Stevens came up with the idea for a collection of futuristic stories based on classic myths and fairy tales. He began reaching out to local creators and established an online presence to make contact with artists and writers across the world. As an Internet buzz began to build about the book, an unexpected email came from Dark Horse Comics and the project which began with no money, artists, or scripts, became a major release from one of the biggest comic book companies in the world.

“Locust Moon is a place built on the passions of a lot of people,” says publisher and co-owner Josh O’Neill. “It’s living proof that with an open heart and open doors you can create something much bigger than the sum of its parts.”

The book release party is on Wednesday (Oct 10) at 7:30 p.m. where many of these parts will be on display. The party will feature a gallery show of original pages from the book, signings by dozens of the book’s authors, and a hell of a bash, in general.

Check out an animated book trailer: