Since today would have been the 74th birthday of Jean “Moebius” Giraud, I thought I’d share Chris Mautner and Joe “Jog” McCulloch’s countdown of six essential Moebius books:

1. The Airtight Garage (Marvel/Epic). “Is this anything like ‘Naked Lunch’?” That’s what my physical therapist said to me after I had made a remarkably poor attempt at describing what is generally regarded as Moebius’ masterpiece. (What, you mean you don’t talk comics with your health care providers?) I suppose on the surface there are some similarities, most notably that both are obsessed with conspiracies and spying and both show little regard for a straightforward narrative or making any sort of sense whatsoever. However, while Burroughs’ novel tightly coils in around itself, to the point at times where you feel you’re being suffocated by the prose, Garage pulsates with life, slowly unwinding its various plot strands, and delighting you in the various ways those strands connect, or fail to. Despite its title, the book feels surprisingly open and dynamic. Moebius allegedly wrote the story in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, constantly introducing new scenarios and challenges and then attempting to explain them in the subsequent chapters. As a result, attempts a simple plot summation/description fails me, but, as Sean Witzke has noted, Garage might best be described as a whizzing tour through just about every genre the comics medium is known for — westerns, sci-fi, adventure, you name it. References to other cartoonists like Crumb and Eisner pop up unexpectedly. In other words, you can feel the boundless joy Giraud has not only for in taking such risky chances with his story, but for his chosen profession in general. Thus the book manages to perfectly encapsulate that sense of wonder, fantasy and pure grit that runs through so many of the Moebius’ comcis. The Airtight Garage might not be a comic that makes for easy descriptions, but I’ll be goddamned if it isn’t a helluva lot of fun to read. — Chris Mautner

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