Métal Hurlant: 1974 – 1987. Révolution of the Humanoïdes. (Part 4)
Clip from Jodorowsky’s DUNE documentary. Referring to the work ethic of Jean Giraud.
Jean Giraud’s concept art for ALIEN (1979)
Panel from The Long Tomorrow (1976). Which influenced the set design for the 1982 production of BLADE RUNNER.
Le Monde d’Edena: “The World of Edena” (1983)
“Silver Surfer” panel drawn by Jean Giraud (1988)
Jodorowsky assembled one of the most creative teams he could muster for the ambitious film project, with the likes of the concept artists such as H. R. Giger and Chris Foss, Giraud created all the character and set designs, with Dan O’Bannon to handle the special effects. Jodorowsky, in similarity to Giraud, drove the preproduction into a hyper intensified project, remixing Frank Herbet’s DUNE universe within his own take of its conceptional ideas, the 1st draft of the script and story board turned out to be massive, estimated that it could end up being a 4 hour movie. The extensive array of drawings provided by Giraud was phenomenal, who, by Jodorowsky’s standard had never seen an artist work as quickly and precisely as Giraud. In 1976, after the extensive amount of post production was put in place, the studio canceled the project due to apparent financial issues, Jodorowsky’s DUNE never saw the light of day.
With the DUNE project now shelved, Giraud, who had already been working on simultaneous projects of his own with Métal Hurlant, was in the throes of burnout. Jodorowsky, who became depressed after his version of DUNE was canceled, commissioned Giraud to work on two comic projects with him, however, Hollywood has a knack of recycled ideas and more particularly shelved preproduction teams, with UK director Ridely Scott’s space horror ALIEN about to begin production, he morphed Jodorowsky’s DUNE team onto his new project, including Giraud. H.R. Giger conceived the visual concept for the iconic Alien creature, Giraud designed the space outfits for the doomed crew members, giving their own aesthetics a very humanist, yet also an almost xeno edge. It was to the credit of the set designs for ALIEN, which came from Jodorowsky’s ex-creative dream team, that ended up defining Ridley Scott’s space horror. Showcasing their ability to create unique differentials between the human and alien set pieces, whilst complementing each other onto an original concept. From that point, working with Ridley Scott, Giraud’s skills as a conceptual designer were now being seen within Hollywood, despite Jodorowsky’s failure to produce his version of DUNE, the Métal Hurlant presence was now been sourced by some of the grander science fiction productions, to which a Giraud was now mingling with the American creatives, such as Dan O'Bannon who was to create the special effects for the ill fated DUNE project. Also ended up working on ALIEN, later offering a story for Giraud to illustrate, titled “The Long Goodnight” for the 1976 issue of Métal Hurlant, that in turn, ended up, once again influencing the preproduction of Ridley Scott’s next science fiction movie BLADE RUNNER which was released in 1982, with its dytopian backdrop of a future city fused with the old and new. Yet, these ideas of a archaic retrofitted future, were not entirely the ideas of Giraud, they had previously explored by the generalist theme from the pages of Métal Hurlant since its first publication in 1974.
As the 1970s came to a close, so did Philippe Druillet’s and Jean Giraud professional relationship together, neither would have anything to do with each other’s art or ideas further into the 1980s and the years thereafter. Druillet would say that it was a clash of egos, as both men were accomplished and extremely talented artists working under the Les Humanoïdes Associés banner, more specifically they were the original creators of Métal Hurlant magazine. Giraud continued working with Hollywood and a concept designer, designing the set background and costumes for the 1980 scifi movie TRON, with a robotic design for George Lucus’s sequel to Star Wars, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1982). There is an interesting irony of a man, who, when he was younger studying the 1950s Hollywood Western movies to an absolute degree, recopying as a spectator into a version that his first commercial comic book character Blueberry accentuated, however by the early 80’s Giraud decided to leave the comic book industry or at least in sentiment. Decreeing that he would finish drawing the mammoth L’Incal (The Incal) series, Jodorowsky’s brainchild project, which was essentially the DUNE script reworked into a graphic novel format and quit the industry.
Giraud didn’t stop drawing comics altogether, by the end of 1982 after living in Paris, by that time he had already met in 1980 the philosopher and ‘new age’ spiritualist Jean-Paul Appel-Guery, moving his family to Pau at the foothills of Pyrenees, where he engaged further with Appel-Guery, sensing a burnt out Giraud, Giraud began to backlash on his own early work, citing the teachings of Appel-Guery that he needed to pacify the negative and focus of positive aspects of his subconsciousness. Giraud dropped the Moebius pseudonym, incorporating a new pen name “Gir” he quickly went to work on a new comic, inspired by the commune he had his family were now part of, the new publication was influenced Appel-Guery to which the comic was titled Le Monde d’Edena or The Adena Cycle which was a dramatic shift away from Giraud’s more darker and apocalyptic and dystopic visions that Métal Hurlant represented, this new comic encapsulated his new found philosophy. However, after the comic was released Giraud became disillusioned with the cultist aspects of Appel-Guery teachings, soon after relocating his family to Tahiti to join a newly created commune, Giraud by 1984 once again resettled his family, setting up base in Los Angeles, California. For an extended period into the late 1980s, Giraud, who was no stranger to the creative elite of movie industry, initiated by his early days with Métal Hurlant up until the late 1970s when Alejandro Jodorowsky’s DUNE failed to materialize, morphing, without Jodorowsky, onto other major Hollywood productions such as ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER. In 1987 the influential magazine Métal Hurlant folded and in an interesting turn of events, much like Giraud’s colleague Jean Pierre Dionnet earlier venture in trying to enter the American comic book industry, Métal Hurlant being the risqué French publication that it was, Giraud ended up, after the final issue of the magazine that he was a part of, also represented by his own convoluted artistic path; was offered to draw for the mainstream Marvel comic book company, more so the very American story of “The Silver Surfer” written by Stan Lee. Yet, the what was released under Giraud’s artistic direction, ended up being very much alike to the Métal Hurlant formula of metaphysical, apocalyptic and fatalistic concepts.
In the years that followed the end of Métal Hurlant, the Les Humanoïdes Associés continued on, which owned the rights to the now defunct magazine ideas and concepts, continued on as a publishing house. To which Giraud was loosely associated with on the bases of works he had already produced under the Association. Yet, throughout the 1990s he continued working on major Hollywood projects as a conceptional designer for several large scale productions, there was an ironic twist to the influential impact that Métal Hurlant had on Hollywood and its producers, that in 2004, after many years of being plundered for its ideas, Les Humanoïdes Associés finally put its foot down and issued a law suit against the French director Luc Besson and his 1997 science fiction movie THE FIFTH ELEMENT, staring American actor Bruce Willis to which Jodorowsky also claimed had plagiarized Giraud’s and his 1980 L’Incal graphic novel. With Giraud almost now completely immersed within the Hollywood complex and actually working on the set design for the Fifth Element, to which, according to an interview with Giraud, so was his daughter, although she did not appear in the credits. The contradictory aspects of his personality, although subtle in its impression, began to be revealed, the law suit was subsequently dismissed against Besson, but the schism between the original creatives for Métal Hurlant in all retrospect probably solidified. Giraud in the 2000s maintained his solid work ethic, although mostly showing in gallery exhibitions and producing various anthologies of his past work. In 2012, March the 10th Jean “Moiebus” Giraud passed away aged 73 from a long illness with cancer.
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A. Glass 2021
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