My first exposure to Moebius were a few pages from La Déviation found in the Comic Book Rebels interview book. The art featured heavy shadows that looked busy/chaotic at first glance, but on a closer look, every hatch line looked deliberate and precise - as if based on a real life model. The art was super detailed, yet the characters felt as full of life as a caricature drawing, which was like some artistic magic trick to me at the time. Totally blew my mind, and I couldn't stop thinking about his art even after returning the book to the library.
My first exposure to Moebius was the first issue of Heavy Metal (several years after its first publication), which a bunch of friends and I discovered in a trash bin.
The first Moebius comic I purchased was Gardens of Edena, first french printing! The First one I read was probably a Blueberry... It's not the first time I hear you mention his signature; almost all of the european (at least franco-belgian) auteurs would sign their pages, at the end of weekly instalments for example, or on each individual page, with dates... If you want to see crazy signature "statements", go see any page of mid to late Gaston LaGaffe by André Franquin, or his Idées Noires serie; each signature is a visual gag in itself, a sort of sign off to the main humourous strip...
My first exposure to Jean Giraud was L'Incal series (in French 😎). And, yes, the US comics model absolutely sucks at publishing French/Belgian-style comics and creators.
This was my first Moebius comic too. Still have it. Bought in 96. I only knew Moebius by reputation and the one Heavy Metal magazine a kid on the school bus had once.
First time I saw Moebius was in Heavy Metal number 1. Arzak or however that one was spelt. Not sure how I found out about HM but pretty sure I bought it at the news stand in State College because the Book Swap (Later the Comic Swap) didn't carry magazines at the time.
The Ladroon Dracula story is in "Shadows and Light" a black and white single issue anthology. It also has a John Paul Leon Wolverine story and Michael Golden doing Doctor Strange, probably worth checking out in a video.
I think it might have actually been in Heavy Metal. Purchased at an unassuming Hallmark shop in Lima,Ohio. I have a lot of those Caliber reprints. My art school roommate did a lot of work for Caliber back in the late nineties. Kept pushing that publisher on me.
Back in the mid-90s, I jumped into the deep end with Madwoman of the Sacred Heart by Moebius and Jodorowsky. I remember seeing some images of Blueberry in Wizard magazine, so I knew the name Moebius. I didn't know Jodorowsky back then. It's a weird book!
William Stout story page 5 is printed upside down. Stout was angry about this at a Con when I talked to him just after it was printed. Like you, I hadn't noticed, which I think annoyed him as well.
I bought these as they came out. I'd discovered Moebius just before I went to live in France in 1989 and came back to England in 1990 with about 60 Moebius/Gir books and a few lithographs. The first ones I bought there were Arzach and Le Bandard Fou (the Horny Goof) in pretty cheap editions. Just the year I was there he released at least 6 books "Le Bout de la piste", "La Déesse" was serialised in "echo des savanes", "1988", "Made in LA", a French edition of "Silver Surfer" and "Les Mysteres de L'Incal" (a book about the Incal series, which had just finished the year before I arrived). His output that year was insanely prolific. It was about that time the first colour prints of the older stuff came out that are now the standard editions today. The old black and white ones were still fairly easy to find as old stock at the big stores in Paris. I was really lucky to get to know a guy in Cherbourg who was a big collector - he even had some originals he showed me. That just made me like his work even more. It was also the year Bilal's "La Femme Piege" came out, from which my avatar is taken. I actually bought these "Moebius Comics" after I moved to Denmark. The Elsewhere Prince/Onyx Overlord series and much of the material in these came out in English before it came out in French. It was the only way to get it, so I bought them all even though I really wanted them in French. There is still stuff in these Calibre issues that has otherwise never been published in any language. The cover with Arzach and Blueberry was an exclusive for an exhibition Moebius put on at Copenhagen Library in about 1995 or 1996, which I was lucky enough to visit on its opening day, when Moebius was there. The event was packed - wall to wall. The posters were sold by the event arranger - Faroens Cigarer, which is now easily the biggest comics etc. store in Denmark, with branches in a few towns.
I had definitely seen a bunch of Moebius but the first thing I think I bought was a dope hardcover art of Moebius book called Fusion that Forbidden Planet in NYC had in the front of the store around 98 or 99. Still one of my favorite books that I regularly flip through. Started me on a huge quest to find whatever I could. An ongoing pursuit. He was insanely prolific. Lol. Another early purchase was when I found a copy of his Illustrated Alchemist novel. It’s a treasure. Found that at an east village used book vendor. One of those table in the park type set ups. Got my first Heinrich Kley from one of those tables too.
My first Moebius stuff was Heavy Metal /Arzach issue in ‘77 bought at 7-11! Later in ‘87,Marvel /Epic put out Moebius volumes, Incal 1-3 etc. and I was hooked for life! Scooped up Jean Giraud work when and wherever I could! Keep reading and making comix,guys!
My parents were pretty chill so I was able to start buying Heavy Metal mags in 1989 at the age of 12. Mobius was defiantly a standout artist for me at the time. Over the next decade or so I put together a decent collection of his stuff. I have most of the collections he's done & have collected every single issue of HM. I feel like you can see his influence everywhere now-a-days.
The Silver Surfer Parable was my first one, I didn't know anything about him during it though except that I liked his artwork. I really wish he'd done more superheroes! The incal was the first that I read KNOWING who he was. (Out of order I know lol) I gota say though, my favorite stuff of his (and of ANY comics!) are the "Blueberry" western books. The detail and storytelling are amazing.
I lived in Cameroon in the late 1960's as a kid, so my first contact was Blueberry in French, which is actually how I initially learned to read that language. When Heavy Metal first came out in translation in the mid-1970's, I had absolutely no idea that Moebius was the Jean Giraud who did those Lt. Blueberry stories. For me, Heavy Metal was best when it was still just in translation form. Probably mostly because I spent most of my youth abroad, I never really connected to comic books that well and preferred novels. Those translated Metal Hurlant featuring Bilal, Caza, Druillet, etc. blew my mind at 15 years as at last the imagery itself added context with as much meat as a novel could. On another note, when The Fifth Element came out in '97, my wife and I saw it in the theater simply because pretty much nothing interesting was available. By the end of the opening sequence, I was excitedly whispering to my wife that it looked like the art design had been done by Jean "Moebius" Giraud. By the end of the film I was so convinced he must have had a hand in the art design, that we became the last people in the theater watching the credits.
Got my first Moebius with the Epic Blueberry series of graphic novels. I was looking for good Western genre comics as a teenager after being blown away by spaghetti westerns. Luckily I found these on Amazon for like 12-20 bucks apiece in the late 2000s. Luckily I got most of them except the last but now they are all over $100. Also, for digital readers, some French publisher republished all the Moebius work(outside Blueberry) that came out in America/Epic in these $6 100pg GNs. Moebius recolored and reworked some art for these comics when they came to America through Marvel. They are in french be warned but it's easy access to a bunch of Moebius stuff for a really cheap price. Free if you have the kindle unlimited service. The stuff blows me away.
You guys should definitely check out Elephantmen! It's one of those comics that seems slightly stupid at first glance, but quickly reveals it's brilliance. it's a super smart comic with a bit of a chaotic timeline. I asked the writer, Richard Starkings, where to start reading because I couldn't figure out the chronology and he said, "I don't think it really matters."
My first was not Moebius but Giraud (the same but not )with Blueberry and then the Incal. But I surprised by these comics. I never saw these Arzach stories, they were published in none album in France. Maybe exclusive to US ...
it drives me nuts the way these are scaled on the page with massive wasted space in the gutters. its drawn to magazine dimensions, just print it magazine size!
My first were the Marvel Epic collections published before the Calibur issues. Been a massive fan ever since, and of European comics generally. Btw, McCay’s Little Nemo strips were a big influence on Moebius
I bought most of those posters. I think the only one I don't have is Neil Gaiman's "Death" which was the first to sell out. I have the Elektra poster on my office wall. The Silver Surfer one is on my son's bedroom wall.
Fun fact: as far as I'm aware, that sequel to "The man from the Ciguri" was never published in French. After having left the Ciguri story for a while, Moebius continued a few pages of the story but never could properly conclude it before he passed away. So while you can complain that Europeans have access to the entire Moebius library, what you have in your hands is pretty much exclusive to the US as of today. In a recently published compilation of French essays on Moebius, it's touched upon, but barely, and these pages are not included in any original French compilation so far. It's still worth learning French just to read Moebius!
Heavy Metal for me which I first bought for Jones / Wrightson’s ‘Freak Show’ but then became a regular buyer after being immediately intoxicated by the brilliance of Moebius and Druillet
Thanks fellas, what a great channel!
Mine was ‘40 Days in the Desert b’. I loved it so much that I redrew the whole thing with Peanuts characters. ‘40 Peanuts in the Desert.’
Love Moebius. Complex simplicity.
I have read The incal many times i always love his style.
I collected all of heavy metal for mobius stories
My first exposure to Moebius were a few pages from La Déviation found in the Comic Book Rebels interview book. The art featured heavy shadows that looked busy/chaotic at first glance, but on a closer look, every hatch line looked deliberate and precise - as if based on a real life model. The art was super detailed, yet the characters felt as full of life as a caricature drawing, which was like some artistic magic trick to me at the time. Totally blew my mind, and I couldn't stop thinking about his art even after returning the book to the library.
My first exposure to Moebius was the first issue of Heavy Metal (several years after its first publication), which a bunch of friends and I discovered in a trash bin.
The first Moebius comic I purchased was Gardens of Edena, first french printing! The First one I read was probably a Blueberry... It's not the first time I hear you mention his signature; almost all of the european (at least franco-belgian) auteurs would sign their pages, at the end of weekly instalments for example, or on each individual page, with dates... If you want to see crazy signature "statements", go see any page of mid to late Gaston LaGaffe by André Franquin, or his Idées Noires serie; each signature is a visual gag in itself, a sort of sign off to the main humourous strip...
Mid 1970s, German magazine ZACK, Jean 'Moebius' Girauds BLUEBERRY.
My first was The Airtight Garage, it was a thin hardcover with a nice discount at the time
My first exposure to Jean Giraud was L'Incal series (in French 😎).
And, yes, the US comics model absolutely sucks at publishing French/Belgian-style comics and creators.
This was my first Moebius comic too. Still have it. Bought in 96. I only knew Moebius by reputation and the one Heavy Metal magazine a kid on the school bus had once.
My first Moebius was the Silver Surfer two shot he did. I couldn't say how many drawings I tried to trace as a kid though, will always love his work
First time I saw Moebius was in Heavy Metal number 1. Arzak or however that one was spelt. Not sure how I found out about HM but pretty sure I bought it at the news stand in State College because the Book Swap (Later the Comic Swap) didn't carry magazines at the time.
The Ladroon Dracula story is in "Shadows and Light" a black and white single issue anthology. It also has a John Paul Leon Wolverine story and Michael Golden doing Doctor Strange, probably worth checking out in a video.
Ladronn had those nice Planet Hulk covers that Jim homaged to perfection
I think it might have actually been in Heavy Metal. Purchased at an unassuming Hallmark shop in Lima,Ohio. I have a lot of those Caliber reprints. My art school roommate did a lot of work for Caliber back in the late nineties. Kept pushing that publisher on me.
Back in the mid-90s, I jumped into the deep end with Madwoman of the Sacred Heart by Moebius and Jodorowsky. I remember seeing some images of Blueberry in Wizard magazine, so I knew the name Moebius. I didn't know Jodorowsky back then. It's a weird book!
I started from "Inside Moebius"
I’d seen Moebius online and in a documentary, but my first comic was The Incal; a free comic book day version was released.
William Stout story page 5 is printed upside down. Stout was angry about this at a Con when I talked to him just after it was printed. Like you, I hadn't noticed, which I think annoyed him as well.
I bought these as they came out. I'd discovered Moebius just before I went to live in France in 1989 and came back to England in 1990 with about 60 Moebius/Gir books and a few lithographs. The first ones I bought there were Arzach and Le Bandard Fou (the Horny Goof) in pretty cheap editions. Just the year I was there he released at least 6 books "Le Bout de la piste", "La Déesse" was serialised in "echo des savanes", "1988", "Made in LA", a French edition of "Silver Surfer" and "Les Mysteres de L'Incal" (a book about the Incal series, which had just finished the year before I arrived). His output that year was insanely prolific. It was about that time the first colour prints of the older stuff came out that are now the standard editions today. The old black and white ones were still fairly easy to find as old stock at the big stores in Paris. I was really lucky to get to know a guy in Cherbourg who was a big collector - he even had some originals he showed me. That just made me like his work even more.
It was also the year Bilal's "La Femme Piege" came out, from which my avatar is taken.
I actually bought these "Moebius Comics" after I moved to Denmark. The Elsewhere Prince/Onyx Overlord series and much of the material in these came out in English before it came out in French. It was the only way to get it, so I bought them all even though I really wanted them in French. There is still stuff in these Calibre issues that has otherwise never been published in any language.
The cover with Arzach and Blueberry was an exclusive for an exhibition Moebius put on at Copenhagen Library in about 1995 or 1996, which I was lucky enough to visit on its opening day, when Moebius was there. The event was packed - wall to wall. The posters were sold by the event arranger - Faroens Cigarer, which is now easily the biggest comics etc. store in Denmark, with branches in a few towns.
I had definitely seen a bunch of Moebius but the first thing I think I bought was a dope hardcover art of Moebius book called Fusion that Forbidden Planet in NYC had in the front of the store around 98 or 99. Still one of my favorite books that I regularly flip through. Started me on a huge quest to find whatever I could. An ongoing pursuit. He was insanely prolific. Lol. Another early purchase was when I found a copy of his Illustrated Alchemist novel. It’s a treasure. Found that at an east village used book vendor. One of those table in the park type set ups. Got my first Heinrich Kley from one of those tables too.
My first Moebius stuff was Heavy Metal /Arzach issue in ‘77 bought at 7-11! Later in ‘87,Marvel /Epic put out Moebius volumes, Incal 1-3 etc. and I was hooked for life! Scooped up Jean Giraud work when and wherever I could! Keep reading and making comix,guys!
My parents were pretty chill so I was able to start buying Heavy Metal mags in 1989 at the age of 12. Mobius was defiantly a standout artist for me at the time. Over the next decade or so I put together a decent collection of his stuff. I have most of the collections he's done & have collected every single issue of HM. I feel like you can see his influence everywhere now-a-days.
This would be the ideal episode to have Quitely do commentary with you guys.
The first Moebius comic I read (rather Jean Gireaud comic) was volume 17 of the series Xiii, written by Jean van Hamme.
Very likely the stories with Arzach, but it's a loooong time ago, can't be sure...
The Silver Surfer Parable was my first one, I didn't know anything about him during it though except that I liked his artwork. I really wish he'd done more superheroes! The incal was the first that I read KNOWING who he was. (Out of order I know lol) I gota say though, my favorite stuff of his (and of ANY comics!) are the "Blueberry" western books. The detail and storytelling are amazing.
I've got a couple issues of Airtight Garage, and I've loved his stuff since then.
I lived in Cameroon in the late 1960's as a kid, so my first contact was Blueberry in French, which is actually how I initially learned to read that language.
When Heavy Metal first came out in translation in the mid-1970's, I had absolutely no idea that Moebius was the Jean Giraud who did those Lt. Blueberry stories. For me, Heavy Metal was best when it was still just in translation form. Probably mostly because I spent most of my youth abroad, I never really connected to comic books that well and preferred novels. Those translated Metal Hurlant featuring Bilal, Caza, Druillet, etc. blew my mind at 15 years as at last the imagery itself added context with as much meat as a novel could.
On another note, when The Fifth Element came out in '97, my wife and I saw it in the theater simply because pretty much nothing interesting was available. By the end of the opening sequence, I was excitedly whispering to my wife that it looked like the art design had been done by Jean "Moebius" Giraud. By the end of the film I was so convinced he must have had a hand in the art design, that we became the last people in the theater watching the credits.
My first Moebius one was the Incal, when I was 13, and oh boy, that blew my mind to infinite pieces
Got my first Moebius with the Epic Blueberry series of graphic novels. I was looking for good Western genre comics as a teenager after being blown away by spaghetti westerns. Luckily I found these on Amazon for like 12-20 bucks apiece in the late 2000s. Luckily I got most of them except the last but now they are all over $100.
Also, for digital readers, some French publisher republished all the Moebius work(outside Blueberry) that came out in America/Epic in these $6 100pg GNs. Moebius recolored and reworked some art for these comics when they came to America through Marvel. They are in french be warned but it's easy access to a bunch of Moebius stuff for a really cheap price. Free if you have the kindle unlimited service. The stuff blows me away.
You guys should definitely check out Elephantmen! It's one of those comics that seems slightly stupid at first glance, but quickly reveals it's brilliance. it's a super smart comic with a bit of a chaotic timeline. I asked the writer, Richard Starkings, where to start reading because I couldn't figure out the chronology and he said, "I don't think it really matters."
It's Moeb'in Time
Titan Books put out some great Moebius compilations in the eighties which are indispensible.
I think they were just reprints of the Epic stuff.
My first was not Moebius but Giraud (the same but not )with Blueberry and then the Incal. But I surprised by these comics. I never saw these Arzach stories, they were published in none album in France. Maybe exclusive to US ...
it drives me nuts the way these are scaled on the page with massive wasted space in the gutters. its drawn to magazine dimensions, just print it magazine size!
My first were the Marvel Epic collections published before the Calibur issues. Been a massive fan ever since, and of European comics generally. Btw, McCay’s Little Nemo strips were a big influence on Moebius
Was it just me who read that as morbius comics LMAOO
i have been waiting to start reading this guy. any suggestions on where to start??
I think that my first were in Heavy Metal magazine... I always think of his Iron Man poster though.
I bought most of those posters. I think the only one I don't have is Neil Gaiman's "Death" which was the first to sell out. I have the Elektra poster on my office wall. The Silver Surfer one is on my son's bedroom wall.
Fun fact: as far as I'm aware, that sequel to "The man from the Ciguri" was never published in French. After having left the Ciguri story for a while, Moebius continued a few pages of the story but never could properly conclude it before he passed away.
So while you can complain that Europeans have access to the entire Moebius library, what you have in your hands is pretty much exclusive to the US as of today. In a recently published compilation of French essays on Moebius, it's touched upon, but barely, and these pages are not included in any original French compilation so far.
It's still worth learning French just to read Moebius!
Heavy Metal mag.
my first Moebius is Marvel Epic Moevbius #1 GN Upon a Star back in 87
Silver Surfer Fable still own
Silver Surfer: Parable
Incal. 12 years old. Epic print. Got in trouble with my mom😆😆😆😆
the incal.
My first exposure to Moebius was Incal (thanks to Jodorowsky’s Dune).
I got The Incal right before COVID started.
Heavy Metal for me which I first bought for Jones / Wrightson’s ‘Freak Show’ but then became a regular buyer after being immediately intoxicated by the brilliance of Moebius and Druillet
The Incal as of now