Moebius : the unsung hero to Science fiction genre, that we might not realized.

well, here. I will bring the roots from those big influential cultures this 21st-century.

In this mobilized digital world where people have become usuals to consuming films, music, and TV shows on a daily basis. Moebius became part of and shaped something that we know as pop culture. Society have adjusted to known Studio Ghibli anime movies from Hayao Miyazaki, Fantastic Four from Marvel, or Star Wars-ish galactic sci-fi genre movies.

Jean Henry Giraud the French 20th-century comic artist. some of us might know Jean Henry Giraud as his pseudonym /Moebius/ and some of us, might be a stranger to his masterworks or even his name.

Moebius Biodata

If you're a fan of science fiction genre or movie enthusiast, you must know his name or at least heard about it. Well, let me enlightened you about Moebius and his legacy that inspirers nowadays famous figure behind your favorite subculture.

He is a respective comic artist, not only in French but In the sight of the master who worked to contribute to this pop culture nowadays. Moebius were the creator behind a classical sci-fi comic Arzach, the long tomorrow and founder of Metal Hurlant magazine in France whose later licensed to the United states by Leonard mogel to be a heavy metal magazine. And known for his sci-fi comic publications.

The long tommorow book & panels.

Arzach Comic Panels.

Long before heavy metal was introduced to the United States. Moebius was already gained his reputation in Europe & Japan for his wide imaginative surreal grande sci Fi works. Such as Arzach or even back before his metal hurlant days, his works for pilote magazine for Blueberry: a western cowboy comic he drew at the time.

blueberry & les jeunesse de blueberry

Hayao Miyazaki might be a perfect and the simplest example of Moebius’s influence on pop culture. In 2004 Miyazaki held an exhibition of his latest film at the time, Nausicaa, and invited Moebius to join a coup with him in the exhibition and he agreed. In that exhibition, Miyazaki was interviewed and described what the inspiration for Nausicaa was.

Miyazaki - Through Arzach, which dates from 1975 I believe. I only met it in 1980, and it was a big shock. Not only for me. All manga authors were shaken by this work. Unfortunately, when I discovered it, I already had a consolidated style. So I couldn’t use his influence to enrich my drawing. Though, even today, I think he has an awesome sense of space. I directed Nausicaä under Moebius' influence.

Moebius - I would like to ask a little question, if I dare, or rather, make a small observation about something that struck me from the beginning: it’s the fact that Mr. Miyazaki drew, well, drew inspiration in almost all his fantastic films from Europe, and European mythologies and spaces, be it Italy through Porco Rosso, or some sort of ideal Germany through Kiki or Howl, and even some others, Nausicaä could draw from Finland. We feel that this perception of Europe is very distant, idealized, and liking, amorous. Somewhat akin to how we look at Japan. However, I found that films like Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away at once represent, (he hesitates) a coming home, which is very moving as well.

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All of the exhibition material could be looked at in the summarized book **"MIYAZAKI MOEBIUS:2 ARTISTES DONT LES DESSINS PRENNENT VIE”**

Not just only Miyazaki, who took inspiration from Moebius's works, his works have become a dictionary for artists, film directors, and many game developers.

Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, has stated upon seeing Arzach,

“I fell out of love with American comics, lost interest in the super-hero subject matter, was more interested in the fantasy I saw in the European art”

Writer of Neuromancer and pioneer of the Cyberpunk genre William Gibson who was also said.

So it’s entirely fair to say, and I’ve said it before, that the way Neuromancer-the-novel "looks" was influenced in large part by some of the artwork I saw in Heavy Metal. I assume that this must also be true of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, and all other artifacts of the style sometimes dubbed 'cyberpunk’. Those French guys, got their end in early.

Neuromancer book cover

In his workdays not just as a comic artist Moebius was also work as a character design or visual development artist and collaborated with several movie directors and being part of their pre-production team. He’s been working together with several directors that known to be influential director this days. Such as Ridley Scott(Alien), Steven Liesberger(Tron 1982), James Cameron(the abyss), and the Surrealist Director Alejandro Jadorowsky in Dune Adaptation project from Frank Hubert novel.

the original jadorowsky dune concept art vs Denis villeneuve dune.

Frankly it’s sad to say the project aren’t going anywhere near the release, due to an over budget project that elapsed the given budget and caused the project to collapse at that time. And leaving us with a remaining documentary "Jodorowsky’s Dune" of the project that is available to watch in Disney+.

I was having a sit-down conversation my Concept Artist friend Retrocatto(sulthan) on the other month when i was doing research for my college essay. and he mentioned this monumental and visionary antophology-tv series Love, death, and robots to the table. The influential of Moebius could be traced, precisely in one of the episodes from season 3. Titled The Very Pulse of the Machine.

On the interview with Netflix, Emily Dean(the director) herself was asked a question about how’s the colorful poppy visual style settling in with her vision on the episode. she mentioned that at the very beginning she meant it the visual of this episode to be colorful and having a vice versa with the desperados & bleak emotion that carried the aftermath of that episode. She mentioned that it was her acts to pay a homage to the unsung hero of the science fiction genre [Moebius]

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*from my very first pitch, I came in and I said, “I would love to do a love letter to Moebius.” And I felt like, not that he’s exactly an unsung hero of science fiction, but I felt that, with Love, Death and Robots — because of its connection with Heavy Metal magazine — it was a fitting place for trying his style on-screen, which I hadn’t really seen done in a long time. From my very first pitch, I came in with a lot of artwork that beckoned back to Moebius. And I said, “I believe in this story because of its psychological elements, because of its communing with the outside world,” which is kind of thematic to Moebius and his work, especially his 40 Days in the Desert. It lent itself really well to this psychedelic visual style.*

And not only that. Moebius influence could be seen through at another medium like video game.

A critical acclaim by Metacritic, an open world exploration game Sable(2022) is one of the example games that influenced by Moebius. The Metacritic quote the game as "Generally Favorable" and had a 76 score on the page. A names like gravity rush, Bomb rush cyberpunk and jet set radio future. Shall be mentioned as well on the list.

However right now Moebius works aren’t received the amount of the attention they deserved for their contribution to the sci-fi genre itself. Although Moebius’s works have been looked up and studied as a criterion by many creators' figure from this century, and many of them did mention the name of Moebius in their artworks for His legacy and contribution to the genre. It’s seeming that Moebius is only became a unsung hero for the genre. Who's later the newer generation would give birth to another branch subculture and expansion from sci-fi genre itself. (including movies, games, animation, dystopian genre, artworks) and I’m here driving the nail on the Moebius name so that his influence doesn’t be forgotten.

In the meantime, I've had the opportunity to talked with an indonesian concept art artist based in bali. Sulthan Aladin or known as **@retrocatto** on his social media account. To enhance this article research and to talk about Moebius or further.

Interview With sultan for my research on moebius onfluent to an artist.

Gimana kabarmu Tan? How's working abroad and doing college in Bali by yourself?

Baik, Kerjaan dan kehidupan sejauh ini bagus-bagus aja-Kecuali hubungan-hubunganan… ya begitu lah. Hahaha, trus kuliah juga aman, soalnya kan flexible kan ya,karena ngambil kelas yang flexible juga, jadi bebas.

Gimana So far puasa tan?

Haha, baru juga bolong sehari. lah,ente gimana puasa?

Apakah lu seorang penikmat karya-karya dia (Moebius) tan ?

Iya, mungkin bisa dibilang begitu, karena demen aja dan suka sama art-art-nya dan illustrasinya. Meskipun belom pernah baca komik nya yang bener-bener buku(physical) gitu

Gimana pertama kali tau tentang beliau?

Pertama kali tau, hmm. aku lupa. jujur aja ya haha. Cuma kayaknya dari internet deh. Kayak pas liat di internet(dulu) sebelum tau namanya, tau karya-nya duluan. Kan ikonik banget ya(karya-nya), gradient-gradient dan warna-warna nya. Tapi belum tau namanya, trus aku baru mencoba ngulik-ngulik dikit setelah nonton(series) love,death and robot. Di episode yang in the heart of machine.. Machine gitu lah kayaknya, yang nyeret (mayat) orang.

What do you know about Moebius and his master's?

Aku tau karya beliau dan komik-komik nya cuma belum pernah baca bukunya — Kayak Arzach, The Incal dan lain-lain.

Kan tadi lu bilang tan, bahwa lu tau moebius dulu melalui karyanya sebelum orang dibalik karyanya, dengan tahu karya-karya moebius dulu apakah karya Moebius punya pengaruh dengan gaya Art style atau proses kreatif mu tan?

Dulu pernah kayak nyoba bikin gitu, (karya) ala-ala moebius — weshh.. ala-ala. Tapi, gagal. Cuma udah dulu banget mungkin ya. Kayaknya pas SMP anjir hahaha. (waktu) masih baru-baru nyentuh digital gitu. Nggambarnya di tablet underate-underate gitu. Pake pensil, tapi stylus pen nya dulu aku wrapping pake bungkus taro hahaha, D.I.Y. gitu. Tapi dulu belum tau namanya, cuma yang terkenal dari karya-karya nya kan line weight nya yang gak terlalu keliahatan. Tapi semakin kesini aku udah beralih influence. jadi ada influence lain.

Tapi influnce yang meng-influence aku dia ter -influence dari moebius,hahahaha. Kayak siklus nya gitu mulu pak,bused. salah satu nya calumm alexander watt gitu. itu kan obvious banget dari moebius. Kayak kemana-mana anyink moebius lagi hahaha gila.

Moebius dikenal sama kemampuannya buat membangun dunia imajinatif dan detail visual yang rumit. Gimana implementasi-mu untuk menciptakan dunia yang imersif secara visual dalam karya mu sendiri tan, is there any influence you got from him?

Mungkin lebih ke cara story telling nya ya, dan tiap orang-orang pasti beda. Dan banyak influence yang pasti, kayak bikin dunia yang immersive itu susah susah…nge-balancing-nya.

Kayak oh grounded, oh kayak dunia nyata(karyanya) atau kayak out of this world atau mungkin kayak Lord of the ring kalo soal immersive-nya.

Mungkin itu sih kalo soal immersive-nya, nge-bedain antara fiksi dan non fiksinya(di karyaku)

Banyak tokoh-tokoh yang mengagumi kemampuan Moebius dalam gabungin realisme dengan elemen-elemen fantastis. Dan kayak tadi lu bilang buat bikin world building yang immersive butuh balancing antara science dan fiksinya. bagaimana caramu balancing kedua aspek ini, apakah karya beliau mempengaruhi keseimbangan kreativitas mu?

Ah itu yang susah sih. mungkin klo aku ku balikin ke intention awal direction yang ku tuju — Jadi misal aku ingin dari awal fantastis tapi masih ada elemen mechanical-nya mesti aku balik ke ide awal yang aku catet. Apa yang pengen aku bikin, biar gak kemana mana gitu. Dan pasti cari referensi dari contoh-contoh dari artist-artist lain. Itu salah satu kunci nya.

Tapi balik lagi ke direction, pasti ada “artistic decision” banyak banget di dalam projek. lu harus bikin macem-macem decision. Karena banyak sih faktornya misal : teknis, limitasi, budget kalo misal di dalem produksi.

Cuma In general aku selalu riset dan nge-liat contoh dari berbagai sumber buat mencari balancing-nya.

Melihat ke masa depan, what's your view membayangkan warisan bagaimana Moebius akan terus menginspirasi dan memengaruhi orang-orang(artist) di tahun-tahun mendatang, termasuk diri lu perhaps as an artist?

Pasti bakal nyalur terus sih (influence moebius), mungkin dengan perkembangan internet(semakin) banyak yang mulai me-recognized sumber aslinya (karya-karya moebius). dan orang pasti makin banyak yang nge-share personal experience mereka kan — kayak misal lu bilang “oh inspiration saya gini…gini — hahaha” Dan pasti bakal nyalur terus sih. (influence moebius)

Kadang orang (memang) gak ngulik, walaupun ya emang bukan tugas mereka sih. Cuma itu udah jadi interest pribadi-ku aja sih (untuk ngulik).

“Oh ini interest nya ini, (lanjut) si ini interest nya ini dan mungkin nyalur terus sampai nabi adam mungkin hahaha”

Kadang aku suka nonton interview-interview karena itu juga. Oh mereka kok bisa bikin karya yang gw suka, siapa sih influence mereka?

Menurut lu dengan art style dia yang kayak gini, yang bisa lu liat sekarang apakah masih bisa relevant untuk mungkin 10 atau 20 tahun kedepan mendatang?

Pasti lah, siklusnya dunia pasti kan gitu pak, hal yang vintage pasti nge trend lagi. Hal yang kita suka sekarang pasti bakalan outdated dan nanti pasti bakalan ngetrend lagi. Visual kan kayak gitu juga. Kayak di graphic design, gaya halftone print-print orang jaman dulu mana ada (yang suka). Cuma sekarang kan nge-trend lagi.

Dan moebius ini mungkin yang timeless menurutku, yang menembus jaman. Wessh menembus jaman ga tuh hahaha gile. Lihat di layar hp maupun fisiknya kayak damn. Bisa aja itu keliatan di jaman digital eh ternyata malah sebelum.

Kan kalo lu bilang tadi pengaruh nya secara budaya ya — i suppose, nah gimana kalo pengaruh si moebius terhadap si artist nya tan?

Mau gimana pun artist jaman sekarang pasti nyebut moebius itu master atau ahlinya. Dan semakin massive mungkin, kayak aku pribadi bisa lihat dari zaman sekarang — kayak contohnya dari tv show-tv show tadi love death and robots dan lain-lain.

Ada lagi game nih, sable. itu moebius banget.

Mungkin kalo di dunia seni pun dari dulu juga gitu . zaman sekarang kita masih ngelakuin master studies — kayak kita masih belajar dari karya-karyanya Claude monet gitu-gitu. Dan menarik (untuk) kita lihat perkembangan evolusinya di mendatang.