Wicked Comics (organisers of the Malta Comic Con and promoters of the comic culture worldwide) mourns the loss of one of the greatest creators, Jean Giraud Moebius.
March 10th of this year will be remembered in history as a sad day for the world wide comic scene as one of its greatest and influential artist died at the age of 73.
French comic artist Jean Giraud aka Moebius was born on the 8th May 1938 in the suburbs of Paris. His earlier work was into Western comics which led him to create one of his most famous characters – Lieutenant Blueberry. He was also one of the founding members who started the comic magazine – Metal Hurlant, which was translated into English in the popular Heavy Metal. Some of his famous Science Fiction comics are – The Airtight Garage and Arzach. He was admired by Marvel comic icon and creator, Stan Lee. They worked together to produce a Silver Surfer limited series. Numerous Science Fiction films had their storyboards illustrated by Jean Giraud amongst others are Alien, The Fifth Element and Tron.
Throughout the years, Moebius won various awards for his contribution to the comic industry.
In my opinion, comic fans often have a tendency to solely admire those artists dominating the American and Japanese comic scene, at the expense of ignoring European talent, though the latter played an instrumental role in the development of comic art. Moebius was one of the most influential artist who has left his mark in comics, art, and films with his detailed artwork and the choice of colours.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/magazinedetails/magazine/art/Death-of-a-dreamer-20120313
Further reading –
http://www.moebius.fr/
http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/giraud.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Giraud