A blog exploring the work of Jean Giraud, aka Gir, aka Moebius. Basically, there didn't seem to be any places online that gave a comprehensive collection of his work, so I made one.
[The official site of Moebius] - While there are very few of his works available to an English-only audience, the last thing I want to do is take away from potential sales by hosting his work here. If you speak French and can enjoy his books the way they were originally meant to be enjoyed, please click over and show him some love.
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Posts tagged moebius
Career Timeline: 1990 - Quatre-vingt huiT
Moebius released an art book called Quatre-vingt huiT(which translates to 88) containing the many “non-figurative” drawings and paintings that he’d been fascinated with in the last couple of years:
“Outside of my regular comics work, what interests me the most is my work on abstract paintings- although it might be better if I were to refer to them as non-figurative paintings because I don’t think of them as abstract art. And, in fact, neither did a firend of mine who is an abstract painter.
Thes paintings do not represent any known objects or characters. Frankly, I do not know what they represent and I don’t want to find out. Maybe I will someday, but right now, the only thing I know is that these images are inside of me, and that I derive great pleasure from drawing them. This is the only reason I keep doing these paintings, because I certainly do not want to make any effort to get them to be “accepted”, or even become “popular”. This is purely personal work, which I am doing outside of my career, almost as a hobby.
There is a repeition in terms of themes, like variations on the same motif, a little like icons- although that is not what I am trying to do consciously. I just start in front of a sheet of white paper, with colors beside me, and I draw and draw, as in a dreamlike state. The result is what comes out. I’m the first to be surprised by it.
It is very possible that this is all a consequence of my work on crystals. My non-figurative paintings are a little like the opposite of crystals, which represented a conscious desire on my part to express the positive side of my nature. I do not repudiate my work on crystals becasue it was part of a larger experience, in which I was looking for ways to express beauty, both in physical and spiritual terms, and graphic non-violence.
But, as you know, one is never made of only light or clearness, but both. I believe I have always encouraged artists to express their duality, telling people who know how to show pain, horror and anger in their work to also look for ways of expressing their other face, the angelic face, the face of joy, but also encouraging those who express their inner beauty to accept their other side, their dark side, and express their pain and anger.
In my case, what I believe these paintings show is that I can express, and more, love, my dark side as much as I do my bright side, which is good and healthy.
An interesting aspect of my non-figurative paintings is that they often take on an organic look, which is like a return to the flesh. As you know, spiritual research often eliminates the body. The desires of the flesh are presented as an obstacle to spiritual achievement. Most exoteric traditions contain that duality of flesh and mind.
I drew crystals, and now I draw non-figurative paintings which sometimes look like internal organs, like guts. In my opinion, it’s wonderful becasue I love these as much as I loved the crystals.
I have no idea where all this is going to lead. Then again, I had no idea when I began drawing crystals, where they would lead me either. Maybe this is where they led. In that case, you could say that the crystals did the job they are supposed to do, that is to cure me. They cured me because they have enabled me to express my dark side with love.
And that dark side is already sublimated, becasue when it comes out, it is beautiful. Even though some of these paintings may seem morbid, I think they are beautiful.”
—Moebius, from The Art of Moebius(1989)
Career Timeline: 1990 - Blueberry: Arizona Love
Giraud returns to Blueberry, drawing a posthumous script from Jean-Michel Charlier. Charlier died the previous year, and had written every Blueberry script thus far. This was his last, and Giraud continues the series in later years, writing it for the first time.
The above pages are the first 9 of an English translation that was serialized in the Dark Horse Comics anthology series, Cheval Noir in 1993(beginning with issue 46). Aside from one short, this is also the last Blueberry comic that has ever been translated into English.
Moebius and the X-Men
One last story from the Quenched Consciousness panel at the Stumptown Comics Fest that I forgot to mention:
I had never heard this before, but Dave Scroggy spoke about how Moebius almost did an X-Men comic after Silver Surfer: Parable. He said that Chris Claremont was very eager to work with him, and that Marvel offered him a handsome amount of money to do it, but he had to decline because he had another Blueberry book to do. Blueberry is where Giraud received most of his income, and Marvel had a hard time trying to understand why he would turn down X-Men to draw a western comic. He also said that these illustrations of Marvel characters(that were turned into posters for comic shops) were done as a sort of apology on Moebius’ part for not being able to draw more comics for them.
So yeah, Moebius+Claremont+X-Men. That almost happened.
The Quenched Consciousness Panel on Bleeding Cool
Gavin Lees writes up this very nice report of the Moebius tribute panel that Joe Keatinge and I hosted at the Stumptown Comics Festival on Sunday. Bless him for not mentioning a few technical problems we had during the screening of Moebius Redux.
As he says, we had an amazing surprise guest who agreed to take part that very morning: David Scroggy. Scroggy is currently VP of Product Development at Dark Horse Comics, and operated as Moebius’ U.S. agent through Jean-Marc Lofficier during a large part of the 80s. It was Scroggy who brokered a deal with Archie Goodwin at Marvel to release Moebius’ works through the Epic line. Not only that, but when Scroggy began working for Dark Horse in the early 90s, it was his relationship with Moebius that got them to release his works there, including the previously unseen-in-America Man From the Ciguri. It was an absolute honor to meet him, and I was humbled and amazed that he wanted to take part. He’s as kind a person as you could hope to meet, and filled with stories and insight.
Mike Allred was, as usual, exploding with positivity and appreciation when talking about his encounters with Moebius. There aren’t many people I’ve met that can talk about their inspirations in a way that inspires everyone around them, but Mike can just sort of infect you like that. He was wonderful.
Scott Allie told a great story about Moebius at a convention one year. He was at the Dark Horse booth, standing in front of a giant Hellboy poster and next to Mike Mignola. Right before Mignola was going to introduce himself, someone asked Moebius what he thought of Hellboy, to which he replied, “well, I used to like Mignola”. What followed was a very kind but precise tear down of Mignola’s newer work, directly in front of Mignola himself. Allie said he wasn’t being cruel at all, but that Mike quickly covered up his name badge with his hand and listened intently, thinking “well, this is Moebius, so he must be right’.
So yeah, I think it went pretty well. Tremendous thanks to David Scroggy, Scott Allie, and Mike Allred for taking part and reminiscing. And thanks to Joe Keatinge for moderating and putting this together with me. Additional thanks to Jason Leivian and Indigo Kelleigh for inviting me to do it. It was an absolute pleasure to be apart of.
RELEASE NEWS (exclusively from Quenched Consciousness and the Stumptown Comics Festival)
Angel’s Claws(once called just Angel Claw), the smutty, hardcore, stream-of-sexual-consciousness comic by Moebius and Alejandro Jodorowsky, is being re-released by Humanoids this December. It will be an Eyes of the Cat style super-big hardcover, and I believe it will be priced the same, at $69.95.
[The above images are production artwork of the book cover and interior pages, provided by Humanoids]
![RELEASE NEWS
Humanoids will be releasing a smaller hardcover version of The Eyes of the Cat in July. There’s no information on their site yet, so I’m not exactly sure on the price point, but I’m assuming it will be cheaper than their re-issue of Incal Classic Collection next month(which costs $45). Cuz ya know, it’s about 250 pages thinner.
[The above image is production art of the book jacket, provided by Humanoids]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3a60jOTY31qf0aafo1_1280.jpg)
RELEASE NEWS
Humanoids will be releasing a smaller hardcover version of The Eyes of the Cat in July. There’s no information on their site yet, so I’m not exactly sure on the price point, but I’m assuming it will be cheaper than their re-issue of Incal Classic Collection next month(which costs $45). Cuz ya know, it’s about 250 pages thinner.
[The above image is production art of the book jacket, provided by Humanoids]
