Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (French:
[?i?o]; 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 (
/'mo?bi?s/;
[1] French:
[møbjys]) for his fantasy/science-fiction work, and to a slightly lesser extent as
Gir (French:
[?i?]), 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
