Moebius/Giraud, and the "Moebius Redux" documentary

Jean Giraud, also known as 'Moebius', is one of the greatest comic book creators in Europe. When it comes to pure drawing abilities he's probably one of the five most accomplished artists to ever work in the medium. And he's more than simply a comic book artist. When doing science fiction design and illustration under his Moebius alias, he's one of the most influental creators of fantastic art in the 20th century.

This hour-long documentary "Moebius Redux - A Life in Pictures", now available on Google video, tells the story of his career. It also features interviews with other legends, including Stan Lee, "Alien" monster designer HR Giger, "Alien" and "Dark Star" scriptwriter Dan O'bannon and "El Topo" director Elajandro Jodorowsky.. It tells the story of Jodorowsky's failed "Dune" movie, which was supposed to have starred Salvador Dali, the creation of the French sci fi magazine "Metal Hurlant", which later became the influental "Heavy Metal" magazine in the US, and you get the story of how Moebius helped influence the cityscape design for "Blade Runner" in spite of him not being officially involved. So it's pretty much essential sci fi background history:


However, Moebius isn't only known as a sci fi illustrator. Working under his own name Jean Giraud, he's also the illustrator of the classic Euro western series "Blueberry".

Like Gaston Lagaffe, Blueberry was a HUGE deal for me in the early 80s when I was between 11 and 13 years old. And when I say huge I mean 'Star Wars' huge and 'Indiana Jones' huge and Tolkien huge. What I'm trying to say here is... I REALLY, really liked those Blueberry comics I borrowed from my local library.

But relax, unlike "Gaston" this one IS available in English... well on Ebay anyway. It was translated and released by Marvel Comics' Epic line in the early 90s. The books released by Epic look like this, and if you want them and are willing to pay a little extra, they ARE available on ebay:



The covers for the US edition were done in a style close to his Moebius sci fi style, here are a couple of my favorite covers for the European edition done in a more traditional western style. They're still awesome, though.

The first of them (below) is from the two parter "The Lost Dutchman's Mine"/"The Ghost with the Golden Bullets". It was released by epic in one volume as "Marshall Blueberry". It's about a lost treasure in a mesa in the desert, and it almost plays like an Indiana Jones adventure. But it was done in 1972, long before "Raiders of the Lost Ark".



The second one is from "Chihuahua Pearl", which is the first volume of the great ten volume saga about a confederate treasure in a coffin, where Blueberry ends up as a fugitive and has to move in with the Indians in the desert. This cycle was released as simply "Blueberry" by Epic, in five volumes (Volume four, "The Ghost Tribe", pictured above"). And it's the true high point of the series. Highly recommended!


In short, Moebius is one of the true greats of the medium, along with Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Osamu Tezuka, Charles Schultz, Alan Moore and a few others. And until his books hopefully one day are reprinted in English, it's worth looking for Epics 1990s releases on ebay.