Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (; 8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer who worked in the Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim predominantly under the pseudonym Mœbius (; ) for his fantasy/science-fiction work, and to a slightly lesser extent as Gir (), which he used for his Western-themed work. Esteemed by Federico Fellini, Stan Lee, and Hayao Miyazaki, among others,Screech, Matthew. 2005. "Moebius/Jean Giraud: Nouveau Réalisme and Science fiction". In Libbie McQuillan (ed.) The Francophone bande dessinée. Rodopi. p. 1 he has been described as the most influential bande dessinée artist after Hergé.
His most famous body of work as Gir concerns the Blueberry series, created with writer Jean-Michel Charlier, featuring one of the first antiheroes in Western comics. As Mœbius, he achieved worldwide renown with science-fiction and fantasy comics drawn in a highly imaginative, surreal, almost abstract style. These works include Arzach and the Airtight Garage. He also collaborated with avant garde filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky for an unproduced adaptation of Dune and the comic-book series The Incal.
Mœbius also contributed storyboards and concept designs to several science-fiction and fantasy films, such as Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element, and The Abyss.
Early life Jean Giraud was born in Nogent-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne, in the suburbs of Paris, on 8 May 1938,Comics Buyer's Guide #1485; 3 May 2002; Page 29 the only child to Raymond Giraud, an insurance agent, and Pauline Vinchon, a clerk. When he was five years old, his parents divorced and he was raised by mainly his grandparents in the neighboring municipality of Fontenay-sous-Bois (much later, when he was an acclaimed artist, Giraud returned to live in the municipality in the mid-1970sGiraud discussed his early life at length throughout the interview book Moebius: Entretiens avec Numa Sadoul. His mother Pauline is also featured in her only known interview, relating events surrounding Giraud's earliest years, such as the family's flight from the German invaders during the 1940 Blitzkrieg months, being bombed by Stukas along the way. (pp. 146–147). While the relationship with his mother had been mended, Giraud stated that he had no memories of his absentee father Raymond before the age of 15. (pp. 26–27)). Giraud later explained that his parents' divorce lay at the heart of his choice of separate pen names. A sickly and introverted child, Giraud found solace after World War II in a small theater, located on a corner in the street where his mother lived, which provided an escape from the dreary atmosphere in postwar reconstruction-era France.CITEREFde BreeFrederiks1982, 1982, p. 13 Playing an abundance of American B-movie Westerns, Giraud, frequenting the theater there as often as he was able to, developed a passion for the genre.
Around ages 9–10, Giraud started to draw Western comics while enrolled in the Saint-Nicolas boarding school in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It was here where he became acquainted with the Belgian comic magazines Spirou and Tintin.. "Interview met Giraud, tekenaar van Blueberry", Stripschrift, Zeist:Vonk, issue 39/40, March/April 1972, pp. 12-17, 39 ; translated from the French original, published in Phénix, Paris:SRP Éditeur, issue 14, 1970/Q4. In 1954, at age 16, he enrolled in the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Duperré, a college of art and design (which he left after two years without graduating, disenchanted as he was with the courses, prevalent atmosphere, and academic discipline, though he came to somewhat regret the decision in later life).Sadoul, 1991, pp. 29-30 At college, he befriended future comic artists Jean-Claude Mézières and . With Mézières in particular, in no small part due to their shared passion for science fiction and Westerns, Giraud developed a lifelong friendship,Sadoul, 1991, pp. 150-154 calling him "life's continuing adventure" in later life.CITEREFBosser2005, 2005, p. 65
Career
Western comics Fleurus (1956–1958) At 17, Giraud drew Frank et Jeremie, a series of humorous Morris-inspired Western comic shorts for the magazine Far West (published from February to June 1956), his first freelance commercial sales.. While each of these stories has seen several reprints separately, in side publications over the years, only one book publication is known to exist collecting all four at the same time in edited format, alongside several other humorous Western comic shorts Giraud had created for Fleurus, the German-language, digest-sized comic book "Frank und Jeremie" (32 pages, Comic Verlagsgesellschaft, 1986, ). Magazine editor Marijac thought Giraud was gifted with a knack for humorous comics, but none whatsoever for realistically drawn comics, and advised him to continue in the vein of "Frank et Jeremie".
In the summer of 1956, he went to Mexico, where he lived with his mother - who had married a Mexican - for eight months. Giraud's impression of the Mexican desert, in particular its endless blue skies and flat plains, left a strong impression on him, which he later called "quelque chose qui m'a littéralement craqué l'âme" ("something which literally cracked open my soul"). After his return to France, he worked as a full-time tenured artist for Catholic publisher , to whom he was introduced by Mézières, who had shortly before found employment at the publisher.
Giraud continued to produce humorous comics, but also realistically drawn Western comics and French historicals for Fripounet et Marisette, Cœurs Vaillants, and . Among his Westerns from this period are Le roi des bisons ("King of the Buffalo")Giraud, Jean. "Introduction to King of the Buffalo by Jean Giraud". 1989. Moebius 9: Blueberry. Graphitti designs.) and Un géant chez lez Hurons("A Giant among the Hurons").SCHTROUMPf, Les cahier de la bande dessinee, issue 25, Grenoble:Glénat Editions, 1974, pp. 38–39; These two stories were the only serialized ones in any of the Fleurus magazines, running far longer than the 2- to 4-page shorts Giraud usually produced for the magazines. "Un géant chez lez Hurons" ran for 19 pages in Cœurs Valiants, issues 30-48, 1957, whereas "Le roi des bisons" ran for 10 pages in issues 29-38, 1958. Several of his Western comics featured the protagonist Art Howell, and are considered Giraud's first realistic Western series.Being all published in Cœurs Valiants, the Guy Hempay-written Art Howell stories included – besides the by Noël Carré written "Le roi des bisons" – "Le retour de Spider Web" (3 pages, issue 49, 1957), "Stop à la caravane" (3 pages, issue 4, 1958), "Pas de dynamite pour le railway" (3 pages, issue 12, 1958), and "Le train fou" (3 pages, issue 38, 1959, also written by Giraud). For Fleurus, Giraud illustrated his first three books.Two educational books, "Hommes et cavernes" (1957, ), "Amérique an mille" (1959, , co-illustrated with Guy Mouminoux), and one novel for girls, "Sept filles dans la brousse" (1958, , sole artist) During this period, his style was heavily influenced by his future mentor, Belgian leading comic artist Joseph "Jijé" Gillain, who at that time was a major source of inspiration for the generation of young cartoonists interested in realistically drawn comics. How major Jijé's influence was on these young artists was amply demonstrated by the Fleurus publications, as their work strongly resembled each other. For example, two of the books Giraud illustrated for Fleurus, were co-illustrated with Guy Mouminoux, another name of some future renown in the Franco-Belgian comic world, and Giraud's work can only be identified because he signed his work, whereas Mouminoux did not.
In 1958–1960, he was drafted for military service, where he served in the French occupation zone of Germany, and Algeria during the Algerian War. He managed to receive a transfer out of frontline duty due to his graphics background, obtaining an illustrator position on the army magazine 5/5 Forces Françaises. Algeria was Giraud's second acquaintance with more exotic cultures, which inspired many of his future science fiction comics.
Jijé apprenticeship (1960–1961) Shortly before he entered military service, Giraud had visited Jijé at his home for the first time with Mézières and Mallet, followed by a few visits on his own. When Giraud left military servies, he was uninterested in continuing work at Fleurus, and became an apprentice of Jijé on his invitation.de Bree, 1982, p. 11; While Jijé recognized the potential of Giraud, when the young men showed him their work, he was not impressed by that of Mézières, who had suggested the visit in the first place on behalf of his friend. Mézières, however, had already been taken under the wing of another Belgian comic grandmaster, André Franquin, who had been an earlier apprentice of Jijé's. Jijé was then known for his tendency to act as a mentor for young artists, going as far as welcoming them into his family home in Champrosay.Sadoul, 1991, pp. 31-33, 136-137
For Jijé, Giraud created several other shorts and illustrations for the short-lived magazine Bonux-Boy (1960/61), his first comic work after military service, and his penultimate one before embarking on Blueberry.Ledoux, 1993, p. 77; Invariably overlooked by Giraud scholars (even by the otherwise thorough Sadoul – 2015, p. 23 – who mistook a comment of the artist as referring to the later published magazine), was a digest-sized marketing enticer for a French detergent of the same name, conceived by its marketing manager, Jijé's son Benoit Gillain. For Giraud, however, it was nevertheless of seminal importance as his work therein showed a marked progression over the work he had provided previously for Fleurus, indicating he had continued to work on his style during his military service, and which had been the main reason for Jijé to take on Giraud as an apprentice in the first place. Jijé used Giraud as an inker on his Western series Jerry Spring, which Giraud had used as a model for his "Art Howell" character. Actually, Jijé had intended his promising pupil for the entirety of the story art, but the still-inexperienced Giraud, who was used to working under the relaxed conditions at Fleurus, found himself overwhelmed by the strict time schedules that production for a periodical (Spirou in this case) demanded. Conceding that he had been a bit too cocky and ambitious, Giraud stated, "I started the story all by myself, but after a week, I had only finished half a plate, and aside from being soaked with my sweat, it was a complete disaster. So Joseph went on to do the penciling, whereas I did the inks." Even though Giraud lost touch with his mentor, he never forgot what "his master" had provided him with, both "aesthetically and professionally",Bosser, 2005, pp. 79-80 the fatherless Giraud gratefully stating in later life, "It was as if he had asked me «Do you want me to be your father?», and if by a miracle, I was provided with one, a[n] [comic] artist no less!".
Hachette (1961–1962)