week nine: a wide world of comics

I've always been aware of Moebius's influence in modern sci-fi and fantasy, but I have never looked into his comics before. After reading his work Incal, I felt like I truly witnessed the master of the genre. It drew me into the world that he's built from the first page and kept my attention with bizarre and intriguing visuals and story. I thoroughly appreciated the intricate and fascinating details and his compositions were astounding. He utilized the text to guide the viewers eyes and the colors while simple, showed great depth as if watching a movie. I looked into the life of Jean Giraud (Moebius) and he started off his career with Blueberry comics with Jean Michel Charlier, using an alias Gir. He later wanted to become himself and re-brands his work with a new alias Moebius, inspired by Mobius Strip. With abstract and mathematical visuals, he developed his own world full of new enviornment and civilization with rich, vivid imagery. He said that his strips Metal Hurlant spurred from the movements of underground comics in America during the 70's. With total freedom of style and subject of underground comics, Jean could create intriguing works with provocative elements.

This experience made me question why I haven't had the exposure to this amazing work of art before. It's definitely not the first time that I've realized that I have been missing out on something great, but even then I usually feel like I don't have enough time to discover and examine all the precious gems of art scattered through the endless information of an era we're living in.

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