Jean Giraud (Moebius) (1938-2012)

Jean Giraud, who adopted the pen-names Gir and Moebius for his comic strip work, died on Saturday, 10 March, aged 73. In Europe, his Blueberry series of westerns, originally penned by Jean-Michel Charlier but latterly by Giraud, were best-sellers, drawn by Giraud in a realistic style; in America he was best known for his more surreal explorations of science fiction and fantasy, first seen in the pages of Heavy Metal. Giraud was co-founder of the original French magazine Metal Hurlant, for whose pages he drew Arzach, The Airtight Garage and The Incal. These were reprinted in the US by Marvel/Epic and led to Giraud drawing a two-part Silver Surfer story written by Stan Lee.

Giraud was widely recognised within the comics field, winning awards at Lucca, Angouleme and elsewhere; outside the field, he was an acclaimed designer, working on films ranging from Alien to Space Jam. I've written a longer piece for The Guardian which you'll find linked below.

Here I'll just add that Giraud was an occasional contributor to British comics through reprints. His first Blueberry album, 'Fort Navajo', was reprinted in Valiant in 1965 and four albums were translated by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge (better known as the translators of Asterix) for Egmont/Methuen in 1977-78. Some Mobius strips were reprinted in A1 (Atomeka) and various Marvel/Epic collections were distributed in the UK by Titan.

Obituaries: The Guardian (13 March 2012), The Independent (17 March).