Abe Murray

The author

Abe Murray is somewhat afraid to be sharing these comics / books with the world, as he feels they are nowhere near beautiful or complete enough to express the ideas in his head. He is a builder and a creator, who loves to draw (amateurishly), build with his hands (also amateurishly), raise his children (Isaiah – Isa – 10, Gabriel – Gabe – 8, Levi - 3). Professionally he works in the technology industry, originally as an engineer and now as a product manager at a large technology firm.

(On the left, important notes from college)

The idea

Where did this idea come from? Well, I have long loved airships – and then in the early 2000's there were some news stories about new companies pursuing the idea – Dynalifter, and more – and this reawakened my love. Airships, like boats – hold the promise of exploration, unlimited horizons, and foreign destinations. I love imagining a world where the skies are full of gracefully floating airships.

(On the right, an early sketch. Below, I hit on the final plan)

The design for the airship in this book is quite unique – I wanted to ensure that when you were piloting the aircraft, you could see down and all around, while also working to ensure that the sun could shine into the windows of the living area. Many real-world airship designs have the living quarters below the balloon, which seems like it would have one constantly in the shade. So I imagined an airship with the gondola stretched out ahead of the balloons, with twin balloons to balance it out and support two large propellors. In the real-world, this might be possible but would require a sophisticated control system to ensure that it didn't flip over side to side or stem to stern. (Note that this happens to regular old blimps and rigid frame airships if one isn't careful!).