Tag Archives: jean moebius giraud

Madwoman of the Sacred Heart

Hermetic Library fellow T Polyphilus reviews Madwoman of the Sacred Heart by Alexandro Jodorowsky and Jean Moebius Giraud.

Alexandro Jodorowsky Jean Moebius Giraud Madwoman of the Sacred Heart

An intellectually self-absorbed, incontinent university professor serves as the protagonist in this mystical adventure with themes of messianic apocalypse, and eventually psychedelic initiation. Supernatural elements are introduced very gradually, and at first it is easy for the reader to join Professor Mangel in dismissing them. There’s a lot of sex, as Mangel struggles with the reintegration of his carnal consciousness, and his companions foster the revolutionary cult of the god-goddess Jesusa. As Jodorowsky often does in other stories, such as his Incal tales, the skeptical ignorance of the protagonist drives much of the plot and its tension.

This collection makes for a good, self-contained read. It should be avoided by those who don’t appreciate explicit sex, mystical blasphemy, or controversial politics. [via]

 

The Hermetic Library Reading Room is an imaginary and speculative future reification of the library in the physical world, a place to experience a cabinet of curiosities offering a confabulation of curation, context and community that engages, archives and encourages a living Western Esoteric Tradition. If you would like to contribute to the Hermetic Library Reading Room, consider supporting the library or contact the librarian.

Before The Incal

Hermetic Library fellow T Polyphilus reviews Before The Incal Classic Collection by Alexandro Jodorowsky, illustrated by Zoran Janjetov:

Alexandro Jodorowsky and Zoran Janjetov's Before The Incal

 

This volume collects the full-length prequel series that provides background for the classic Jodo/Moebius Incal books. The stories are all set on the planet Earth 2014, and they center on the young John Difool, particularly the vicissitudes of his romance with an aristo girl Luz and his progress from gutter rat to revolutionary to detective.

Jodorowsky’s storytelling is as fun as ever, although these are heavy on the social satire, and they don’t dive as deeply into the mythic strata that dominate The Incal. The sixth and last of the parts of Before the Incal is a little frenetic, making connections and tying up loose ends in order to maintain the continuity between this arc and that one. Even so, it seems like an incipient galactic revolution got lost somewhere between the two books.

Janjetov’s art is terrific. According to the Lambiek Comiclopedia, Janjetov first worked with Jodorowsky and Jean “Moebius” Giraud as a colorist on some issues of the original Incal series, and he had the express blessing of Moebius to continue the work with Jodo. In Before the Incal, he mostly emulates Moebius’s style from the earlier material, but he occasionally experiments (quite successfully) with integrating the more highly-rendered style that he would later use in other Incal-related books (Metabarons and Technopriests). [via]

 

 

The Hermetic Library Reading Room is an imaginary and speculative future reification of the library in the physical world, a place to experience a cabinet of curiosities offering a confabulation of curation, context and community that engages, archives and encourages a living Western Esoteric Tradition. If you would like to contribute to the Hermetic Library Reading Room, consider supporting the library or contact the librarian.