Jean “Moebius” Giraud, 1938-2012
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?Jean Giraud, better known as the artist Moebius, passed away this weekend at the age of 73 following a long illness. Moebius was instrumental in founding Heavy Metal magazine, but alsp did concept art for Ridley Scott’s Alien, Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element, the doomed Alejandro Jodorowsky version of Dune, and more. In France, he was best known for his comics, including Blueberry and L’Incal.
Moebius was one of the great comic artists of the 20th century, no question, and his contribution to science fiction art cannot be overstated. It’s even more tragic that we lost him just a week after losing Ralph McQuarrie, too. 2012 is shaping up to be a bad year for visionary sci-fi artists, and I do not approve. Can someone please make sure Syd Mead is taking his vitamins?
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.