R.I.P. MOEBIUS

Listen up, assholes. I'm not in a good mood today. Among other things, I just found out that Jean "Moebius" Giraud lost his battle with cancer this morning at the age of 73. Needless to say, Moebius was an extraordinarily talented artist who elevated bastardly comics to high art without being a pretentious bore and all while using a fucking cool pseudonym that only added to his mystique. Just take a good look at his absolutely fantastic poster art for Jean Rollin's ambitious but ultimately disappointing 1970 suicide cult flick The Nude Vampire. Even tits and red-hooded masters fail to impress after the delightfully wicked promises of Moebius' demonic Art Nouveau ornamentation. Simply put, heavy metal would look very different today without the frequently unacknowledged influence of his complex visionary style. As a matter of fact, Moebius co-founded the "adult" comic anthology Métal Hurlant (Screaming Metal) in 1974 and traces of its far-reaching impact would later be evidenced in such monumental metal milestones as Slayer's Hell Awaits and Voivod's entire dystopian sci-fi mythos. He also lent his creative abilities to such films as Tron (1982), Willow (1988), Masters of the Universe (1987) and Alien (1979) so you can thank him for your happy childhood as well (significantly, on the latter film he was part of a creative team that included H.R. Giger and Joe Petagno!). So raise a flask of whiskey to a brilliant gentleman who probably would've frowned on such raffish American behavior. The French usually piss me off but Moebius rules. R.I.P.