Do you guys know Alejandro Jodorowsky? How about Jean Giraud, AKA Moebius the creator of Incal?
If not, do I have a story to tell you.
First, an introduction. Alejandro “Jodo” Jodorowsky is a Chilean-French filmmaker, known for his cult films that mix magical realism of Latin America with some of the most powerful surreal imagery that you have ever seen on the big screen (for one of his masterpieces look to El Topo from 1970). Both satirical and mystical, Jodorowsky has since the late ‘60s been boggling our minds with awesomeness.
Airtight garage
The other person in this story, the aforementioned Jean Giraud, or Moebius, was a French artist, cartoonist and writer, and what a writer he was! He’s the guy behind such wonderful works such as Arzach, Airtight Garage, Blueberry as well as his impeccable contributions to storyboards of films such as Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element and The Abyss.
These two masterminds got together in 1980, after their failed attempt to produce the first film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s book Dune, and decided to reinvent the material they already created into a science fiction comic book named The Incal, which will mark a milestone in science fiction.
The Incal
Arzach
The story of this amazing space opera starts with John DiFool, a class R detective, and his attempted suicide in a dystopian megapolis, who is somehow saved from his fate and taken into a frenetic adventure where he will seek a mystical artifact called The Incal in order to save the galaxy and face great foes going by names such as the Technopope and the Metabaron, galaxy’s warrior of fame.
This fantastic title vibrates with incredible plot elements, such as body harvesting, “necro-panzers”, a Prezidential robotic juggernaut, “homeo-whores” who are designed from a computer menu, a star child, etc. But, The Incal is not just weird in a most thrilling manner, what can be seen as revolutionary is the way Moebius represents space, and the amount of detail that he put into every panel is truly stunning. Moebius has always been seen as one of the greats in the world of comics, but in some ways, The Incal stands at the pinnacle of his work.
The Incal
This fruitful cooperation between the two geniuses lasted throughout the 80s.Afterwards, Jodorowsky continued working on the the Jodoverse with a Serbian artist named Zoran Janjetov, writing the prequel Before the Incal (duh), and kept developing it for the next 25 years.
French director Pascal Blais attempted to adapt the story to the film in the 1980s with artists he gathered from Heavy Metal, the magazine where Moebius once worked, but unfortunately never managed to get further than a trailer. Some four years ago, Pascal Blais and his animation studio, being huge fans of the work released a reboot of the original trailer, which can be seen here.
This work of art is one of the best investments for holiday season, to snuggle up with a cup of joe and a dip into the madness which is The Incal. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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