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French Comic Artist/Illustrator Moebius Passes Away (Updated)
posted on by Egan Loo
Acclaimed French comic artist and illustrator Moebius passed away on Saturday, March 10. He was 73. He had been struggling with illness in recent years.
The artist was born under the name Jean Giraud in France in 1938. He created the popular Blueberry character for a series of stories set in the American West. He then assumed the name Moebius for such science-fiction works as Arzach and The Incal (l'Incal in French).
Moebius not only shaped the direction of comic art in his native country, but he also influenced generations of comic and animation creators in Japan, America, and other countries. He collaborated with another award-winning artist, Jiro Taniguchi, on the manga Icaro (Icare).
Moebius also worked on Little Nemo - Adventures in Slumberland, Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element, Panzer Dragoon and many other film and game projects worldwide. He maintained a friendship with manga creator and anime director Hayao Miyazaki (another artist initially attached to Little Nemo) for decades; he named his own daughter after Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and both visited Miyazaki and his son Goro Miyazaki in Japan.
Sources: animeanime.jp, RFI
Update: Another peer, manga creator and anime director Katsuhiro Ōtomo, posted an open message addressed to Moebius on Sunday. Otomo mused about how distant is the horizon that Moebius drew, and asked if Moebius may wait for him there if he is able to go there himself. Otomo explained that he still had more that he wished to say to Moebius when they meet again. [Via Catsuka]
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