Jean Giraud.

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud was raised by his grandparents in Fontenay-sous-Bois after his parents’ divorce in 1941. Growing up, he devoured comics and American B-westerns, and his mother encouraged his drawing. He studied at the École Duperré in Paris alongside Jean-Claude Mézières and Pat Mallet for two years, but found no passion for wallpaper design. Instead, he began crafting his own western comic strips, inspired by André Franquin and Morris. In 1955, he moved to Mexico for eight months with his mother, where he experienced mind-expanding substances, sex, and the desert—a trip that shaped his future work.

Giraud’s first major break came in 1963 when, at the suggestion of Jijé, he began illustrating the western series Blueberry for Pilote magazine. The series, written by Jean-Michel Charlier, became a major European comic. Under his pseudonym Moebius, Giraud co-founded the anthology Métal Hurlant in December 1974 alongside Philippe Druillet and Jean-Pierre Dionnet. There, he published experimental works including Arzach 1975, a wordless pterodactyl-riding warrior story, and The Airtight Garage 1976-1979, an improvisational sci-fi saga. In 1980, he began his collaboration with Alejandro Jodorowsky on The Incal, a cosmic adventure that spawned the Jodoverse. Giraud also contributed to film, doing concept designs for Alien 1977, Tron 1982, The Abyss 1989, and The Fifth Element 1997. He wrote and drew a mini-series for Marvel’s Silver Surfer in 1988-1989. After Charlier’s death in 1989, Giraud continued Blueberry with the Mister Blueberry cycle 1995-2005, taking the character in a more introspective direction.

Giraud married Claudine Giraud conin in 1968; they divorced in 1994. He later married Isabelle Giraud. With Claudine, he had a daughter, Hélène. Giraud used hallucinogenic drugs and followed New Age philosophies, which shaped his Moebius work. In 2011, he became a Knight of the Ordre National du Mérite. He died in Montrouge, France, on 10 March 2012 from cancer.

Moebius entered the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. His work influenced directors Ridley Scott, George Lucas, and Hayao Miyazaki, and comic artists Hergé, Stan Lee, and François Schuiten. The wordless Arzach inspired the video game Panzer Dragoon 1995. The Airtight Garage lent its name to a San Francisco bar and a band. Giraud’s psychedelic imagery and philosophical themes showed new possibilities for comics. He died in 2012, leaving a body of work that still inspires new generations.