RIP Moebius 1939--2012

Moebius (AKA Jean Giraud) died Saturday, March 10.  He was Seth's hero. 

When Seth graduated from college, the first thing he did was to apply to the JET program, Japan's English teaching program in which English-speaking auxiliary teachers are hired for every high school and junior high school in Japan.  He wanted to live in Japan where comic books are so much more a part of the general culture than they are in the US.  But initially he was not accepted into the program.  So he was casting about for something to do that would further his goal of becoming a comic book artist.  He hit upon the idea of asking Moebius if he would take him on an apprentice.  This idea would have had one big problem, as Seth spoke no French, and was not so good at languages as to be able to pick it up easily.  But he pondered the plan seriously for some time. 

Then the acceptance came from the JET program, and his future was set, at least for a year or two.  (It turned out to be three years in the program, four years in Japan that first stretch, a joyful and productive time for Seth.) 

This little picture was done during the time he was an English teacher in the Oki Islands in Japan.  Though Moebius' work is not so familiar to me as it was to Seth, to me this lovely drawing has a bit of the character of Moebius' later drawings, that combination of broad blank spaces with areas of small detail.