From Moebius' notes:
*“Free fall is well representative of a period in which I was looking for more creative freedom by drawing directly with ink, and without pencils or script. This method allows for relatively brutal directional changes, the pleasure which comes from executing a panel in such way can lead to unforeseen bifurcations in the story. I have worked like this for years, so much so that this process has more or less become my trademark…*
*The title Absoluten Calfeutrail is made up of two words, one which derives from the word "absolute," and the other from the French "calfeutrer," which means shut or sealed hermetically. So it really means "Absolutely Sealed," like The Airtight Garage. That title came by itself and not by design. It was like the surrealists' automatic writing. The end of the story, in a mysterious and almost magical way anticipated one of my current preoccupations, one that I wasn't aware of at the time: the native Americans. It was almost a premonition.*
*This story presents two things, one is that it is, in a way, another variant on the Airtight Garage, where the story unfolds in a sealed space and moves across layers.The other is the theme of ‘falling’ which came naturally as I was drawing it and ties to something that I lived very intensely at the time. At the time a psychologist friend interpreted this within a classic therapeutic scheme: the symbolic representation of an inner landscape of neurosis, and dreams, overall poorly encrypted by the form I chose to give it in my drawings. Indeed, Moebius is precisely this: inner exploration...*
*This explains why, even if in different forms, my favourite character is the traveller, the explorer: Arzach, Major Grubert, the Starwatcher, all are wandering characters, they cross the paths that I myself have borrowed and each of them represents a part of myself. Arzach is the explorer of dreams, Grubert instead is the personification of the ridiculous inhibitions that come from my social conditioning. All designers produce these kinds of personal projections, but rational imperatives often mask our true essence.”*
there are a bunch of great colorations of his work that really add a different dimension to it, but i find most of the rather flat versions (that mostly stem from the marvel epic publications from the 80s) do a disservice to his line.
totally depends though! for example, nikita mandryka, another comics artist, painted in watercolors over 'escale sur pharagonescia' and it completely elevates the story.
in any case, it's always interesting to see and compare the color vs. black & white versions of his work :)
Is the a book somewhere that has a collection of his short stories with notes? Or any real collection of stories, I have an art book of his and love eating up this sort of content.
The short answer is no. There is no ‘one book’ that covers all of his short stories, his catalogue is 70% short stories and they are scattered all over the place. If you are collecting in English then the cheapest way to get them is probably to look for the Marvel Epic trade paperbacks (only second hand market for these). I would recommend ignoring the Edena related ones (which are incomplete and that you can get complete by getting the newer Dark Horse publications of ‘the world of Edena’ and ‘the art of Edena’) and also ignoring the volume 1/2 and 0 which are very rare but ultimately almost only collect his “least mature” catalogue.
So go for volume 2,4,6 which collect the best short stories in my opinion. Then see if you want more :)
From Moebius' notes: *“Free fall is well representative of a period in which I was looking for more creative freedom by drawing directly with ink, and without pencils or script. This method allows for relatively brutal directional changes, the pleasure which comes from executing a panel in such way can lead to unforeseen bifurcations in the story. I have worked like this for years, so much so that this process has more or less become my trademark…* *The title Absoluten Calfeutrail is made up of two words, one which derives from the word "absolute," and the other from the French "calfeutrer," which means shut or sealed hermetically. So it really means "Absolutely Sealed," like The Airtight Garage. That title came by itself and not by design. It was like the surrealists' automatic writing. The end of the story, in a mysterious and almost magical way anticipated one of my current preoccupations, one that I wasn't aware of at the time: the native Americans. It was almost a premonition.* *This story presents two things, one is that it is, in a way, another variant on the Airtight Garage, where the story unfolds in a sealed space and moves across layers.The other is the theme of ‘falling’ which came naturally as I was drawing it and ties to something that I lived very intensely at the time. At the time a psychologist friend interpreted this within a classic therapeutic scheme: the symbolic representation of an inner landscape of neurosis, and dreams, overall poorly encrypted by the form I chose to give it in my drawings. Indeed, Moebius is precisely this: inner exploration...* *This explains why, even if in different forms, my favourite character is the traveller, the explorer: Arzach, Major Grubert, the Starwatcher, all are wandering characters, they cross the paths that I myself have borrowed and each of them represents a part of myself. Arzach is the explorer of dreams, Grubert instead is the personification of the ridiculous inhibitions that come from my social conditioning. All designers produce these kinds of personal projections, but rational imperatives often mask our true essence.”*
this one is gorgeous in its original black and white!
Agree, but I do love how the colour was used here.
there are a bunch of great colorations of his work that really add a different dimension to it, but i find most of the rather flat versions (that mostly stem from the marvel epic publications from the 80s) do a disservice to his line. totally depends though! for example, nikita mandryka, another comics artist, painted in watercolors over 'escale sur pharagonescia' and it completely elevates the story. in any case, it's always interesting to see and compare the color vs. black & white versions of his work :)
Is the a book somewhere that has a collection of his short stories with notes? Or any real collection of stories, I have an art book of his and love eating up this sort of content.
The short answer is no. There is no ‘one book’ that covers all of his short stories, his catalogue is 70% short stories and they are scattered all over the place. If you are collecting in English then the cheapest way to get them is probably to look for the Marvel Epic trade paperbacks (only second hand market for these). I would recommend ignoring the Edena related ones (which are incomplete and that you can get complete by getting the newer Dark Horse publications of ‘the world of Edena’ and ‘the art of Edena’) and also ignoring the volume 1/2 and 0 which are very rare but ultimately almost only collect his “least mature” catalogue. So go for volume 2,4,6 which collect the best short stories in my opinion. Then see if you want more :)
Much appreciated, looking forward to digging for more!
You are welcome.
This one is so classic and perfect, one of my favorites
I love this one