Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Dark Horse's beautifully produced Moebius Library continues with a meandering, experimental self-examination from late in the artist's career. Drawn during the 2000s, when Giraud was in his 60s and 70s, the work depicts the artist's wanderings through his inner creative space, called "Desert B," as he searches for inspiration and tries to give up the marijuana he smokes while working. He flies through the air, locks himself in boxes, and holds confabs with his characters, his long-haired younger self, and Osama bin Laden. Giraud departs from the precise clear-line detail associated with his art, sketching the stream-of-consciousness narrative in loose but unerring strokes. With his lifetime of experience, drawing is as automatic as breathing, and his pages are carelessly gorgeous. (His characters scoff at his art: "In any case, that's all he knows how to do.") Whether all this is worth reading depends on the collector's level of attachment to Moebius's often rambling thoughts, near the end of his life, on topics ranging from the creative process or his friends in the French comics industry to women's rights and September 11. But wherever Moebius wanders, it always looks stunning. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
In the year 2000, internationally acclaimed French cartoonist Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius (The World of Edena), started illustrating a diary about his decision to stop smoking marijuana. Within a few pages, this record of his impressions of sobriety quickly gave way to a narrative of the artist drawing his wanderings through a vast desert, interacting with various figures from his past, modern culture (Osama bin Laden features in a memorable and extremely bizarre cameo), and, most important, his own creations, who view him as both godlike and a total nuisance. The result is an intriguing meditation on aging, death, sex, religion, and the creative process, as Moebius crafts a sometimes uncomfortably intimate and self-reflective portrait. These two volumes are rounded out with interviews with the artist and commentary from friends and editors, with the promise of a third and final volume completing the story later this year. VERDICT While some knowledge of Moebius's oeuvre is required to grasp fully what's going on here, even those previously unfamiliar with the author will be quickly drawn in by his gorgeous illustrations and probing exploration of universal themes.-TB © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
