Entry 141: Tribute to Jean "MOEBIUS" Giraud

My entire body of work might as well be in tribute to Moebius. His influence on me is obvious, I think. And my other influences, well they were influenced by Moebius. I was born into a world already affected by the genius of this man. I lived and partook in a Moebius world and I didn't even know it. I was already affected by his work before I had ever picked up one of his comics. And when I did pick up one of his books, it was like a big piece of the puzzle clicked into place. And through his work I could see the roots of so many things that I loved and it gave me a better understanding of those things.

The first Moebius book I picked up was H.P.'s Rock City published by Dark Horse, which, among other short stories, contained "The Long Tomorrow." All of the stories were great, but "The Long Tomorrow" astounds me. With a mere 16 pages Moebius creates a rich, textured sci-fi world full of fantastic, iconic visuals. He creates a genre.

How many graphic novels, movies, books, t.v. shows can be traced back to these 16 pages. A lot, I'm sure.

When I heard that Moebius had died, I was shocked. Not at his death, but at the fact that up until the day before he died, he was a living person. In my mind he's always been some kind of god. Sure, I knew on an intellectual level that he was a person and that he was alive, but it hadn't occurred to me that we lived in the same realm of existence, or that he would ever die.

I don't believe in an afterlife, but with Moebius, it somehow makes sense. Wherever he is, my voice joins in with the chorus of countless others singing out our thanks to him.

This panel cheers me up and reminds me that his work lives on.

Entry 126- Starwatcher

Brandon Graham has started a kind of redraw cover meme. He did a sketch of his own version of Moebius' famous Starwatcher piece and challenged other artists online to do the same. Here's the original Moebius drawing.

 Here's a link to Brandon's blog Brandon Graham

And here's were you can see all of the different takes on the Starwatcher.