RIP Jean "Moebius" Giraud

May 8, 1938 - March 10, 2012

1988 - Silver Surfer: Parable

Silver Surfer: Parable

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Moebius

Silver Surfer: Parable was first published in the 4-colour comic book format (a special request by Moebius) as a two-part miniseries and then as a deluxe hardcover in December 1988. More recently, it’s been reprinted in a trade paperback in 1998.

This story came about when Stan Lee and Moebius met at the 1988 San Diego Comic Convention and had lunch. Stan proposed a stand-alone story and Moebius jumped at the opportunity.

About writing this story, Stan said in a interview in Marvel Age #71:

“They were very easy to write ... though ironically, they took about three times longer to write than normal -- I was such a nervous wreck about doing justice to the work!”

A starving Galactus returns to Earth, but is well aware of his vow not to consume the planet. However, he sets himself up as a God and tries to steer them towards self-destruction. A TV evangelist is more than happy to take up his cause and preaches Galactus’ message in hopes of setting himself up as his prophet.

The Silver Surfer, who had hoped to leave the human race behind to its self-inflicted misery, cannot sit back while all this is happens and takes action against Galactus.

About the story, Moebius had this to say in the Afterword of the Hardcover version:

“I found the story wonderful. It’s full of personal and philosophical considerations which I think are very, very interesting. It’s obviously something very close to Stan’s heart. It’s not all pretty and nice and shallow, like a lot of the usual super-hero stories. In fact, I found it a rather sad and dark story, but at the same time, it is cast in a different light.”

Stan Lee returns the Silver Surfer to his brooding, philosophical self, spending his time contemplating humans and their place in the universe. The Silver Surfer is a great vehicle as he serves as a unique observer of human kind, forcing us to look at ourselves in unique ways. While the dialog has the trademark Stan Lee-isms, the themes of Silver Surfer’s loneliness and frustration with human kind are wonderfully evoked. The story is simple enough and yet is surprisingly effective and thought provoking. What’s nice as well as, is that it’s just the Silver Surfer and no other super heroes.

Moebius adds a bit of Kirby-ese flair to his art work. His fluid art gives a real futuristic feel to the story. His bold colours and fine detailed line work are powerful as they are unique. Interestingly, he wanted to use the limited palette of the newsprint colour comics and saw it as a challenge to bring about the feelings and mood he wanted.

Moebius also chose to do the lettering, but I found his style to be distracting ad its legibility was a bit difficult. His take on it was simple and I can appreciate what he’s saying: “I don’t really understand how an artist can entrust something that is that important to a fired hand, no matter how good he may be. To me, it’s monstrous to have an important part of the look of page determined by an outsider.”

Seek out either the trade paperback or the hardcover as the issues’ poor paper quality really does the art and colour a disservice.

Here’s a sample of Moebius’ rough breakdowns from Stan’s plot. Moebius got a real kick out of using the Marvel Method to put this book together.

 

 And here's an unpublished page:

1987 – Moebius – The Airtight Garage

Moebius’ The Airtight Garage was volume #3 in a series of graphic novels published by Marvel Comics under their imprint, Epic Comics. This series of graphic novels reprinted Moebius’ work from the late 1970s with a translation from French to English done by Jean-Marc Lofficier.

For the 1980s, these graphic novels had a hefty price of $12.95US/$16.95 which put them out of my financial reach back then.

Apparently, The Airtight Garage took Jean “Moebius” Giraud four years to write and draw. This graphic novel presents the story in colour, which Moebius insisted either be done by himself or by assistants under his direct supervision. It also features a new translation which apparently corrected a few story inconsistencies.

Despite being popularly known as The Airtight Garage, a more accurate translation of the title is “The Garage Hermetic of Lewis Camelian”.

From Moebius’ introduction:

“With The Garage, it all started like that. I drew the first two pages with the feeling of making up a big joke, a complete mystery, something that could not possibly lead anywhere. And yet, at the same time, I was trying to create something that captured a feeling of joy and fantasy that I felt inside me, almost as if I was remembering the incomplete part of a dream.”

While I had difficult time with the story and the story-telling techniques, what kept me turning the pages was the art. Stunningly beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe Moebius’ work. Incredibly rich panels, stunning linework, and layouts with spectacular sci-fi fantasy scenes and technology. His detailed art work is balanced with simple caricatures that draw attention to themselves as your eye scans the panel. The colour work is beautifully done as well considering the technology of the mid-1980s.

I found the story difficult to follow and can honestly said I didn’t get it. The art is breathtaking, but the overall package didn’t work for me. The material felt very foreign and I’m bilingual in French! I can’t help but wonder what my 16 year-old self would have thought about the comic in 1987. He’d probably have been bummed out after dishing out $17 on this. 

An interesting homage to Will Eisner: