Jean Giraud. Illustrations for “The Eyes of the Cat”, 1978, Graphic Novel,
Born at Nogent-sur-Marne in May of 1938, Jean Giraud, known as Moebius, was a French artist, writer, and cartoonist who worked in the Franco-Belgian “bandes dessinées” tradition. These “drawn or strip
stories” have been a long tradition in Belgium and France that, starting in 1945, became a major style on the comic scene. Among the most popular “bandes dessinées are “Herge’s “The Adventures of Tintin”, Andre Franquin’s “Gaston”, and Pierre (Peyo) Guilford’s “Smurf”.
The only child of insurance agents Raymond Giraud and Pauline Vinchon, Jean Giraud was raised by his grandparents after his parents’ divorce. Introverted with health issues, he found both escape and comfort in Fontenay-sous-Bois’s small theater where he watched its many American Western B-movies. In his formative years at the Saint-Nicolas boarding school, Giraud began drawing Western-themed comics and became acquainted with the Belgian comics, “Tintin” and the weekly comic magazine “Spirou”.
At college, Giraud became a lifelong friend of future comic artist Jean-Claude Mézières, creator of the sci-fi comic series “Valérian and Laureline”. His first freelance commercial success was a 1956 series of humorous Western comic shorts, “Frank of Jeremie”, for the “Far West” magazine published by Mireille. Giraud continued to publish comics, both Western and French historical, for a variety of magazines. During this period, 
his style was heavily influenced by Belgium comic artist Joseph “Jijé’ Gillain, whose work was regularly published by Fleurus Presse in Paris. Through Fleurus, Giraud published his first three illustrated books.
Jean Giraud’s most famous works include the “Blueberry” series, a collaboration with writer Jean-Michel Charlier, that featured one of the first anti-heroes in Western comics. Under the pseudonym Moebius, he created surreal, almost abstract-styled fantasy and sci-fi comics. Among these was the series of short graphic stories, “Arzach”, that followed a silent warrior who rode a pterodactyl creature. As a designer and storyboard artist, Giraud constributed to such adventure and sci-fi films as “Alien” (1979), “Tron” (1982), “The Abyss” (1989), and “The Fifth Element” (1997). His designs for Ridley Scott’s “Alien”, the attire of the Nostromo’s crew and particularly their spacesuits, appeared on screen exactly as designed.
The 1978 “The Eyes of the Cat” was Giraud’s first collaboration with the filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, who became a close friend and co-author. The portfolio-sized, 56-plate book was never meant for widespread distribution. It was printed in a limited edition of five hundred copies as an internal thank you gift for friends and clients of French comic publisher Les Humanoides
Associes. Due to popular demand, it was reprinted on bright yellow paper in 2013 as a hardcover edition entitled “The Eyes of the Cat: The Yellow Edition”. In 2021, the story was reissued as a softcover by publisher Humanoids, Inc.
“The Eyes of the Cat” tells the text-free story of a cat who is attacked by an eagle as it wanders through a decaying city in the future. Told through a series of twelve by sixteen inch (30.5 x 40.6 cm) detailed black and white lithographic illustrations, the tale is both gritty and violent. The mood of the story was influenced by Alejandro Jodorowsky’s association with the Panic Movement, a surrealistic collective he founded in 1962. The movement concentrated on chaotic and surreal performance art; it often staged shocking events designed as a response to the mainstream acceptance of surrealism.
Note: A short August 2020 article on “The Eyes of the Cat”, written by Ben Herman, can be found at the “1st Comics News” site: https://www.firstcomicsnews.com/comic-book-cats-number-33-the-eyes-of-the-cat/
A more extensive March 2012 biography of Jean “Moebius” Giraud, written by Kim Thompson, can be found at “The Comics Journal” website: https://www.tcj.com/jean-moebius-giraud-1938-2012/
Lambiek Comiclopedia, an excellent source for information on all comic illustration, has a biography of Jean Giraud with illustrations on its site: https://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/giraud.htm
Top Insert Image; Photographer Unknown, “Jean Giraud”, Gelatin Silver Print
Second Insert Image: Jean Giraud, “Les Réparateurs”, Illustration for “Le Monde d’Edena (The Aedena Cycle) #6”, 1988-1994, Marvel/Epic Comics
Bottom Insert Image: Nicolas Guérin, “Jean Giraud (Moebius)”, Date Unknown, Gelatin Silver Print
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