Monday 12 March 2012

Thank You, Moebius



I ate my lunch on that bridge on the edge of Tolly Maw where passers-by, do. I didn’t care about the rain, it seemed fitting, for today was a sad day. Today I found out that on Saturday Jean Giraud died. Giraud more popularly known as Moebius is one of the greatest graphic artists that ever lived, and now died. I wish I owned more of his stuff, I’m sure I will but for now I can only think about the work that won’t be produced. I never met the man, I wish I had. French comics have a freedom and a wonder you don’t find in our own. Moebius drew like no other and this weekend too a very good friend (and the world’s authority on comics) showed me how nowadays the changes towards computerised photo-tracing in comic art. The two facts this morning made me very sad. It’s a slump I’ve not managed to free myself from yet, and as I say I never met the man still less knew him. So I went to the bridge in the hope he would pass by, but he never did.
Giraud’s art was both intricate and had a wonderful sense for space. The line-work exquisite. He worked on such films as Alien and the Fifth Element. Whilst his Jerry Cornelius And The Airtight Garage was later changed to ‘Lewis Carnelian’ through a misunderstanding over Moorcock’s appreciation of the wo rk the very idea of two such greats overlapping makes the sun that much brighter.
I already miss the man I never knew so I’ll go back to the bridge when the sprouts are asleep and I’ll wait, and if he does not pass by then still I’ll raise a glass to him and just thank him for what he left behind, the wonder and the realisation of it all. I need to draw more, and whilst I will never, ever be his equal that’s perfectly fine, I’ll be a better me because of it.
Here’s to you Moebius, and thank you.

1 comment:

  1. But he did and we have and we now try. And the tracers won't last or make the same impact so we can let them go their dull and lifeless way while we fly high on greater hopes and expectations because he did.

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