Jean Giraud

This article is about the French comic book artist. For the French mathematician, see Jean Giraud (mathematician).

Jean Giraud
Jean Giraud at the International Festival of Comics in Łódź, 4 October 2008.
Born	Jean Henri Gaston Giraud 8 May 1938 (1938-05-08) (age 73) Nogent-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne, France
Nationality	French
Area(s)	Writer, Artist
Pseudonym(s)	Moebius, Gir
Notable works	Blueberry Arzach The Incal
Awards	Full list
Official website

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (born 8 May 1938)^[1] is a French comics artist. Giraud has earned worldwide fame, not only under his own name but also under the pseudonym Moebius, and to a lesser extent Gir, the latter appearing mostly in the form of a boxed signature at the bottom of the artist's paintings, for instance the volumes' covers.

Early life

Blueberry is one of Giraud's most famous creations.

Jean Giraud was born in Nogent-sur-Marne, in the suburbs of Paris, in 1938.^[2] At age 16, he began his only technical training at the Arts Appliqués.^[3]

Career

At 18, Giraud was drawing his own comic strip, "Frank et Jeremie" for the magazine Far West. In 1961, Giraud became an apprentice of Jijé, one of the leading comic artists in Europe of the time, and collaborated on an album of Jerry Spring.^[3] In 1962 Giraud and writer Jean-Michel Charlier started the comic strip Fort Navajo for Pilote. It was a great hit and continued uninterrupted until 1974. The Lieutenant Blueberry character, created by Giraud and Charlier for Fort Navajo, quickly became its most popular character, and his adventures as told in the spin-off Western serial Blueberry, are possibly Giraud's best known work in his native France before his later collaborations with Alejandro Jodorowsky. Giraud's prestige in France – where comics are held in high artistic regard – is enormous; In 1988 Moebius was chosen, among 11 other winners of the prestigious Grand Prix of the Angoulême Festival, to illustrate a postage stamp set issued on the theme of communication.^[4] Under the names Giraud and Gir, he also wrote numerous comics for other comic artists like Auclair and Tardi.

The Moebius pseudonym, which Giraud came to use for his science fiction and fantasy work, was born in 1963.^[3] In a satire magazine called Hara-Kiri, Moebius did 21 strips in 1963–64 and then disappeared for almost a decade. In 1975 Métal Hurlant (a magazine which he co-created) brought it back and in 1981 he started his famous L'Incal series in collaboration with Alejandro Jodorowsky. Moebius' famous serial The Airtight Garage and his groundbreaking Arzach also began in Métal Hurlant.

Moebius has contributed storyboards and concept designs to numerous science fiction films. In 1982 he collaborated with director René Laloux to create the science fiction feature-length animated movie Les Maîtres du temps (released in English as Time Masters) based on a novel by Stefan Wul. In 1988 Moebius worked on the American comic character The Silver Surfer with Stan Lee for a special two-part limited series. Giraud also happens to be a friend of filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. From December 2004 to March 2005, the two of them shared an exhibition at La Monnaie in Paris which showcased work by both artists.^[5] He even named his daughter Nausicaä from Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.^[6][7]

Jean Giraud drew the first of the two-part last volume of the XIII series titled La Version Irlandaise (The Irish Version) from a script by Jean Van Hamme, to accompany the second part by the regular team Jean Van Hamme-William Vance, Le dernier round (The Last Round). Both parts were published on the same date (13 November 2007).^[8]

Style

^{[original research?]}

His graphic style can change dramatically and adapt to the style and the tone of the series. It ranges from the extreme realism of the beginning of his career as in the Aventures du lieutenant Blueberry, started in 1963, to dream-like nature in more recent works. He has drawn etchings, white and black illustrations, work in colour of the ligne claire genre, water colours.^[9]

The artist's working methods were also various and adaptable. Giraud's solo Blueberry works were sometimes criticized by fans of the series because the artist had dramatically changed the tone of the series as well as the graphic style.^[10] However, Blueberry's early success was also due to Giraud's innovations as he did not content himself with following earlier styles, an important aspect of his development as an artist.^[11]

To distinguish between work by Giraud and Moebius, Giraud uses a brush for his own work and a pen when he signs his work as Moebius. Giraud draws very quickly.^[12]

Works

Comics

Cover for Silver Surfer: Parable.

Jean Giraud has been active in the comics scene since the 1960s. Those works for which English translations have been published are noted as such; their respective pages describe this further.

As Jean Giraud

• Blueberry (29 volumes, English translation, 1965 - ), artist (all vol), writer vol 25-29
• Jim Cutlass (7 volumes, 1979–1999), artist vol. 1, writer vol 2-7
• XIII (volume 18, La Version irlandaise in 2007), artist
• Marshall Blueberry (3 volumes, 2000), writer
• Le Cristal Majeur (3 volumes, 1986–1990), writer (artist: Bati), Paris: Dargaud

As Moebius

• Le Bandard fou (English translation, 1975), writer & artist
• Arzach (English translation, 1976), writer & artist
• The Long Tomorrow (Originally in English, 1976), artist
• L'Homme est-il bon? (English translation, 1977), writer & artist
• Le Garage Hermétique (The Airtight Garage, English translation, 1976–1980), writer & artist
• Les Yeux du Chat (1978), artist
• Tueur de monde (1979), writer & artist
• l'Incal (The Incal, 6 volumes, English translation, 1981–1988), artist
• Les Maîtres du temps (1982), artist
• Venise céleste (1984), writer & artist
• Le Monde d'Edena (1985–2001), writer & artist
• Altor (7 volumes, 1986 - ), writer
• Silver Surfer: Parable (Originally in English, 1988–1989), artist
• Escale sur Pharagonescia (1989), writer & artist
• Les Vacances du Major (1992), writer & artist
• Le Coeur couronné (The Crowned Heart, English translation, 1992), artist
• Les Histoires de Monsieur Mouche (1994), artist
• Griffes d'Ange (1994), artist
• Little Nemo (1994), writer
• Ballades (1 volume, 1995), artist
• Après l'Incal (2000 - ), artist
• Icare (2005), writer
• Halo Graphic Novel (Originally in English, 2006), artist

Collected editions

Various comics have been collected into trade paperbacks:

• The Collected Fantasies of Jean Giraud (1987–1994):
• Moebius 0 - The Horny Goof & Other Underground Stories (72 pages, Dark Horse, 1990, ISBN 1878574167)
• Moebius ½ - The Early Moebius & Other Humorous Stories (Graphitti Designs, 1992, ISBN 0936211288)
• Moebius 1 - Upon A Star (72 pages, Marvel/Epic, 1987, ISBN 0871352788)
• Moebius 2 – Arzach & Other Fantasy Stories (72 pages, Titan, ISBN 1852860456, Marvel/Epic, 1987)
• Moebius 3 - The Airtight Garage (120 pages, Titan, ISBN 1852860464, Marvel/Epic, 1987)
• Moebius 4 - The Long Tomorrow & Other Science Fiction Stories (70 pages, Marvel/Epic, 1987, ISBN 0871352818)
• Moebius 5 - The Gardens of Aedena (72 pages, Titan, ISBN 1852860472, Marvel/Epic, 1988, ISBN 0871352826)
• Moebius 6 - Pharagonesia & Other Strange Stories (72 pages, Titan, ISBN 1852860480, Marvel/Epic, 1988)
• Moebius 7 - The Goddess (88 pages, Marvel/Epic, 1990, ISBN 0871357143)
• Moebius 8 - Mississippi River (64 pages, Marvel/Epic, 1991, ISBN 0871357151)
• Moebius 9 - Stel (Marvel/Epic, 1994)
• Moebius One - Limited-Signed Edition, Hardcover (266 pages, Graphitti Designs, 1988, ISBN 0936211105)

Film

• Alien (1979)
• The Time Masters (1982)
• Tron (1982)
• Masters of the Universe (1987)
• Willow (1988)
• The Abyss (1989)
• Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
• The Fifth Element (1997) - The production design for the film was developed by French comics creators Jean Giraud (Moebius) and Jean-Claude Mézières and is detailed in a DVD/Blu-ray special feature.
• The Jodorowsky Constellation (1994) - He talks about his collaboration with Alexandro Jodorowsky on the mega film project Dune and on the comic strip the Incal. During the psycho-genealogical session that concludes the film, he also impersonates the father of the filmmaker Louis Mouchet.
• Mister Gir & Mike S. Blueberry (1999) - A documentary portrait by Canadian filmmaker Damian Pettigrew produced by the Centre National de la Bande Dessinée in Angoulême, France. Giraud does numerous sketches and watercolors of his most famous creation, Blueberry, travels to Saint Malo for the celebrated comic-book festival, visits his Paris editor Dargaud, and in the film's last sequence, does a spontaneous life-size portrait in real time of Geronimo on a huge sheet of glass using a felt-tipped pen.
• Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (2002) - Giraud conceived the poster for the documentary's 2003 North American release and appears in the DVD bonus extras of the French version.
• Blueberry (2004) - On the DVD extras Giraud talks about the comic, the film etc., dressed in period costume, apparently having done a cameo role in the film. At IMDB,^[13] Giraud is credited as a writer and uncredited actor in the film.
• Thru the Moebius Strip (2005)
• Giraud worked on Alejandro Jodorowsky's film adaptation of Dune which was never completed.
• Giraud's artwork for the Dan O'Bannon short story comic "The Long Tomorrow" was a key visual reference for Blade Runner.
• Giraud represented the jury of the Paris Storyboard Contest 2005 (Concours SOPADIN - Société Parisienne des Images Nouvelles) and awarded the two young artists and filmmakers "K-Michel Parandi" (Kay Parandi) & "Jean François Guillon" for their work on the futuristic and experimental film "Minuit 14". Jean Giraud was assisted on this by the notorious French director "Gerard Krawczyk" (Taxi, Fanfan la tulipe).
• George Lucas used one of Giraud's designs for the Imperial Probe Droid in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Lucas's later Star Wars films also share many visual characteristics with Giraud's work, particularly the depiction of the city-planet Coruscant.
• Giraud also shared "Story by" credit on the animated film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland.
• Strange frame (2009)
• Métamoebius (2010) - Documentary portrait of Giraud-Moebius directed by Damian Pettigrew and co-written by Jean Giraud for the major retrospective held at the Fondation Cartier for Contemporary Art in Paris.

Video games

• Fade to Black cover art (1995)
• Panzer Dragoon (1995)
• Pilgrim: Faith as a Weapon (1998)
• An arcade and bar based on Giraud's work, called The Airtight Garage, was one of the original main attractions at the Metreon in San Francisco when the complex opened in 1999. It included three original games: Quaternia, a first-person shooter networked between terminals and based on the concept of "junctors" from Major Fatal and The Airtight Garage; a virtual reality bumper cars game about mining asteroids; and Hyperbowl, an obstacle course bowling game incorporating very little overtly Moebius imagery. The arcade was closed and reopened as "Portal One", retaining much of the Moebius-based decor and Hyperbowl but eliminating the other originals in favor of more common arcade games.

Awards

• 1973: Shazam Award, Best Foreign Comic Series, for Lieutenant Blueberry
• 1975: Yellow Kid Award, Lucca, Italy, Best Foreign Artist^[14]
• 1977: Angoulême International Comics Festival Best French Artist
• 1979: Adamson Award, for Lieutenant Blueberry etc.
• 1980: Yellow Kid Award, Lucca, Italy, Best Foreign Author^[15]
• 1980: Grand Prix de la Science Fiction Française, Special Prize, for Major Fatal^[16]
• 1981: Angoulême International Comics Festival Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême
• 1985: Angoulême International Comics Festival Grand Prix for the graphic arts
• 1986: Inkpot Award
• 1988: Harvey Award, Best American Edition of Foreign Material, for Moebius album series
• 1989: Eisner Award, Best Finite Series, for Silver Surfer
• 1989: Harvey Award, Best American Edition of Foreign Material, for Incal
• 1991: Eisner Award, Best Single Issue, for Concrete
• 1991: Harvey Award, Best American Edition of Foreign Material, for Lieutenant Blueberry
• 1997: Designated finalist for induction into the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1989, inducted in 1997
• 1997: World Fantasy Award: Artist category
• 1998: Included in the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame
• 2000: Max & Moritz Prizes, Special Prize for outstanding life’s work
• 2001: Haxtur Award Best Long Comic Strip, for The Crowned Heart

Further reading

• Erik Svane, Martin Surmann, Alain Ledoux, Martin Jurgeit, Gerhard Förster, Horst Berner: "Blueberry und der europäische Western-Comic" (2003, Zack-Dossier 1; Berlin: Mosaik, ISBN 3-932667-59-X)

Notes

1. ^ Comics Buyer's Guide #1485; May 3, 2002; Page 29
2. ^ De Weyer, Geert (2008) (in Dutch). 100 stripklassiekers die niet in je boekenkast mogen ontbreken. Amsterdam / Antwerp: Atlas. p. 215. ISBN 9789045009964. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Jean Giraud". Comiclopedia. Lambiek. http://lambiek.net/artists/g/giraud.htm. 
4. ^ Hachereau, Dominique. "BD - Bande Dessinee et Philatelie" (in French). http://dominique.hochereau.free.fr/bd/lacom.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-18 
5. ^ Official website on the Miyazaki-Moebius exhibition at La Monnaie, Paris
6. ^ Bordenave, Julie. "Miyazaki Moebius : coup d'envoi". AnimeLand.com. http://www.animeland.com/index.php?rub=articles&id=618. Retrieved 2008-05-18 
7. ^ Ghibli Museum, ed (in Japanese). Ghibli Museumdiary 2002-08-01. Tokuma Memorial Cultural Foundation for Animation. http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/diary/004624.html. Retrieved 2008-05-18 
8. ^ Libiot, Eric (4 January 2007). "Giraud s'aventure dans XIII". L'Express. http://www.lexpress.fr/mag/arts/dossier/bd/dossier.asp?ida=454736. (French)
9. ^ Expo GIR et MOEBIUS, 1997, accessed March 12, 2011.
10. ^ "Blueberry au bord du Nervous break-down...", bdparadisio
11. ^ "Jean Giraud sur un scénario de Jean-Michel Charlier", bdparadisio.com (French)
12. ^ "Moebius - Jean Giraud - Video del Maestro all' opera", YouTube, 30 May 2008
13. ^ Jean Giraud at the Internet Movie Database
14. ^ "11° Salone Internationale del Comics, del Film di Animazione e dell'Illustrazione". immaginecentrostudi.org. http://www.immaginecentrostudi.org/saloni/salone11.asp. (Italian)
15. ^ "14° Salone Internationale del Comics, del Film di Animazione e dell'Illustrazione". immaginecentrostudi.org. http://www.immaginecentrostudi.org/saloni/salone14.asp. (Italian)
16. ^ noosfere.org. "Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire". http://www.noosfere.org/gpi/palmares.asp.  (French)

References

• Jean Giraud (Gir, Moebius) publications in Spirou, Pilote, Métal Hurlant, Fluide Glacial, (A SUIVRE) and BoDoï BDoubliées (French)
• Jean Giraud albums Bedetheque (French)
• Moebius albums Bedetheque (French)
• Jean Giraud on Bdparadisio.com (French)
• Jean Giraud Moebius on Artfacts.net, about the expositions of original drawings of Moebius. (English)
• Moebius publications in English www.europeancomics.net (English)
• Illustration Art Gallery
• Jean Giraud at the Comic Book DB

External links

• Official website (French)
• Twists of Fate on France magazine (English)
• Jean Giraud profile on Artfacts (English)
• Giraud on bpip.com (English)
• Jean Giraud on Lambiek Comiclopedia (English)
• Moebius at the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Giraud at the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Moebius Redux biographical documentary.
• Moebius on contours-art.de (German)
• Moebius Interview - Jean Giraud - The eternal traveler.

Persondata
Name	Giraud, Jean Henri Gaston
Alternative names	Moebius (pseudonym)
Short description	French comics artist
Date of birth	May 8, 1938
Place of birth	Nogent-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne
Date of death
Place of death