''Arzach'' () is a comic book collection of four wordless short stories by artist/author Jean 'Moebius' Giraud, which were originally published in the French

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

comics magazine '' Métal Hurlant''. The stories follow Arzach, a silent warrior who rides a

pterodactyl Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to 6 ...

-like creature through a strange, desolate landscape. The imagery and situations in ''Arzach'' are often compared to

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

s or the

subconscious In psychology, the subconscious is the part of the mind that is not currently of focal awareness. Scholarly use of the term The word ''subconscious'' represents an anglicized version of the French ''subconscient'' as coined in 1889 by the psycho ...

. These stories had an enormous impact on the

French comics French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

industry, and the Arzach character is still among Moebius' most famous creations. It can be defined as a pantomime comic,

fantasy comics Fantasy comics have been around as long as Comic book, comics. The classification "fantasy comics" broadly encompasses illustrated books set in an other-worldly universe or involving elements or actors outside our reality. Fantasy has been a main ...

or an experimental comic. The spelling of the title, originally Arzach, was changed in each of the original short stories. Moebius later revisited the character with a story called ''The Legend of Arzach''. This later story contains dialogue, and it ties the Arzach stories into a previously unrelated Moebius story called ''The Detour''. Moebius' 2010 book ''Arzak: L'Arpenteur'' (''Arzak: The Surveyor'') was the first of a planned trilogy to explore the origin of the character. However, with the death of Jean Giraud in March 2012, this vision was never realised.

Legacy

''Arzach'' is credited as the inspiration for the final sequence, "Taarna", of the

animated film Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

'' Heavy Metal'' (1981). ''Moebius' Arzach'' is a novel by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, published by iBOOKS in August, 2000. The book features a cover and inside illustrations by Moebius, and a map by J.O. Ladronn. The first half of the book is a novelisation of several Arzach stories. The second half recursively introduces John Gerard (a thinly disguised Jean Giraud) and family into the world of ''Arzach''. A brief essay on the publishing history of ''Arzach'' concludes the book. ''Arzach'' was one of

Panzer Dragoon ''Panzer Dragoon'' is a series of video games by Sega. The first three games were developed in the 1990s by Sega's Team Andromeda for the Sega Saturn. The fourth, ''Panzer Dragoon Orta'' (2002), was developed by Sega's Smilebit team for the Xbox ...

's major artistic influences.

Jean Giraud Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (; 8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer who worked in the Bandes dessinées, Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'' (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim under the pseu ...

even contributed in the creative process of

Team Andromeda or Sega Sports R&D is a defunct development division of the Japanese video game company Sega. It was previously known as Smilebit, one of nine semi-autonomous studios which Sega established in 2000. Smilebit was previously known as R&D6 or AM6 w ...

's game with original artwork. ''Arzach'' inspired

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

and he stated in an interview the he 'directed ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'' under Moebius' influence.'

External links

Comic Vine

Official Arzak Rhapsody Website

Sources

References

Arzak_Rhapsody film, DVD Anime
{{Jean Giraud French comic strips 1975 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1975 2010 comics endings Fantasy comics Fantasy graphic novels Male characters in comics Pantomime comics Comics by Jean Giraud Comics adapted into novels Comics adapted into animated series Comics adapted into television series

Legacy

See also

External links

Sources

References