Jean Giraud

Jean Giraud
Giraud in 2008
BornJean Henri Gaston Giraud
(1938-05-08)8 May 1938
Nogent-sur-Marne, France
Died10 March 2012(2012-03-10) (aged 73)
Montrouge, France
Area(s)Writer, Artist
Pseudonym(s)Gir, Moebius, Jean Gir
Notable works
CollaboratorsAlejandro Jodorowsky, Jean-Michel Charlier
Awardsfull list
Spouse(s)
Claudine Conin
(m. 1967⁠–⁠1994)
Isabelle Champeval
(m. 1995⁠–⁠2012)
Children
  • Hélène Giraud [fr] (1970)
  • Julien Giraud (1972)
  • Raphaël Giraud (1989)
  • Nausicaa Giraud (1995)
Signature
Signature of Jean Giraud
moebius.fr

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (French: [ʒiʁo]; 8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist and writer who worked in the Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim predominantly under the pseudonym Mœbius (/ˈmbiəs/;[1] French: [møbjys]) for his fantasy/science-fiction work, and to a slightly lesser extent as Gir (French: [ʒiʁ]), which he used for the Blueberry series and his other Western themed work. Esteemed by Federico Fellini, Stan Lee, and Hayao Miyazaki, among others,[2] he has been described as the most influential bande dessinée artist after Hergé.[3]

His most famous body of work as Gir concerns the Blueberry series, created with writer Jean-Michel Charlier, featuring one of the first antiheroes in Western comics, and which is particularly valued in continental Europe. As Mœbius he achieved worldwide renown (in this case in the English-speaking nations and Japan as well – where his work as Gir had not done well), by creating a wide range of science-fiction and fantasy comics in a highly imaginative, surreal, almost abstract style. These works include Arzach and the Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius. He also collaborated with avant-garde filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky for an unproduced adaptation of Dune and the comic book series The Incal.

Mœbius also contributed storyboards and concept designs to numerous science-fiction and fantasy films, such as Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element, and The Abyss. Blueberry was adapted for the screen in 2004 by French director Jan Kounen.

  1. ^ An evening with "Moebius" A CTN exclusive special event (2010) on YouTube
  2. ^ Screech, Matthew. 2005. "Moebius/Jean Giraud: Nouveau Réalisme and Science fiction". In Libbie McQuillan (ed.) The Francophone bande dessinée. Rodopi. p. 1
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Screech2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).