JT LINDROOS

Originally published at Bookgasm, August 29, 2011

If you love comics, THE INCAL is an essential classic. Originally published in France between 1981 and 1989, this hardback volume collects the complete six-book sequence under one cover.

Conceived by the great prankster-provocateur Alejandro Jodorowsky, and visualized by the man who is to comics what Jimi Hendrix was to the electric guitar, Jean “Moebius” Giraud, this remains one of the greatest science-fiction graphic novels of all time.

On base level, THE INCAL is a propulsive, futuristic action-adventure on an epic, galaxy-wide scale. It’s hilarious and profound at the same time, filled with preposterous situations featuring a cast of oddball characters attempting to save the universe from an encroaching darkness.

As such, it’s terrific fun, gorgeously illustrated, fast-paced and vividly imaginative.

But bringing in your own interests and input, you can start looking at the book more closely. Adding your own level of knowledge of history, science and the Western esoteric tradition to the narrative, you’ll notice layers upon layers that allow you to approach the book from numerous different angles.

On the far side of brilliant

Writer Jodorowsky (perhaps best known for his films EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and SANTA SANGRE) mines religion and metaphysics for his canvas and digs into the tarot deck for his characters. He shovels in the ultimate killing machine intent on pulverizing both the enlightened and the fools (and the astral plane for good measure) by brutality and vehemence of ridiculous proportions, while juggling multiple plotlines with the nimble beauty of a Gombud master-weaver. The script is on the far side of brilliant.

As the story is told, Chilean-born Jodorowsky — among many other mind-boggling facets of his career — was a master mime who created some of the most recognizable routines of Marcel Marceau after learning his trade in the circus and theater. (He was also the mime teacher for MAD and GROO cartoonist Sergio Aragonés, which kind of sort of makes sense when and if you think about it.)

So when it came time to pen the story of THE INCAL, instead of writing it down on paper, Jodo acted it all out for Moebius, who filled notepads with quick sketches and voluminous notes, which they then discussed and massaged into the finished piece.

From cluttered garbage to luxurious elegance

Moebius, then best known for his BLUEBERRY Western saga, was both at his creative peak and influential prime. His work, appearing in HEAVY METAL magazine, was an acknowledged key blueprint for Ridley Scott in visualizing BLADE RUNNER, not to mention the novel milieu of William Gibson and other cyberpunks. Collaborating with Syd Mead, he would also be responsible of the many key designs in TRON.

What Moebius achieves in THE INCAL is a flamboyant synthesis of his earlier styles. Equally capable of shifting from chunky underground comix penmanship to detailed realism or fluid organic lines, he pulls all those styles into a cohesive whole here.

He can fill a small frame with innumerable detail (like a later disciple, Geoff Darrow of HARD-BOILED fame), but he also understands when empty space is necessary to let the page “breathe.” His futuristic cityscapes range from cluttered garbage heaps to luxurious elegance, from organic to mechanical, with a naturalistic ease that on its own would be enough to make this a significant work.  

They throb. You ooze.

But when you wed that amount of peerless visual artistry with the kind of writing that can turn you into a jellyfish, the result was, is and will remain a masterwork. Whether you take it for a metaphysical satire or a slam-bang, sci-fi actioner, THE INCAL throbs with brilliance.

The book has been released before, but it has always been difficult to find in any cohesive, unmolested form. The last U.S. printing was a re-colorized travesty which destroyed Moebius’ elegant lines with smudgy Photoshop splotches (a nasty modern tradition which has also recently fouled up much of the power of Barry Windsor-Smith’s work in the early CONAN comics).

So it’s not printed in the extra-large format it was originally published in (and reprinted earlier this year in an expensive super-limited edition that sold out in a couple of hours). So I noticed two typos. So what.

THE INCAL CLASSIC COLLECTION from Humanoids is a spectacular bargain at this price. The colors are luminous, the sequence is complete, the artwork unblemished and unedited, the translation superb, and the sturdy hardback book a joy to hold. About goddamned time. More, please.