Coming Soon: Moebius’ Little Pantheon: Arzak

By John Freeman on September 20, 2023

Moebius' Little Pantheon: Arzak ("Le Petit Panthéon Moebius")

The Book Palace are treating comic fans aplenty right now, with their upcoming distribution of the new Carol Day collection, the ongoing illustrators magazine and now, Moebius’ Little Pantheon: Arzak (“Le Petit Panthéon Moebius”), the first book in a new series focusing on various aspects and characters of Jean Giraud’s artwork.

A dual language book, with French and English test throughout, this new 176-page book, available to preorder and due for release next month, offers an in-depth exploration of the figure with the pointed hat, an emblematic figure of the Möbiusian universe.

“This book is an utter delight! The whole thing is tastefully wrapped in a textile cover,” the Book palace tram tell us. “It’s printed on lovely matt paper stock, which really lets the watercolour examples of his work sing beautifully.

“The book is packed full of paintings, rotring pen drawings, reproductions of his digital works, repros of screenprints… Featured are projects for murals, pages from portfolios, even designs for rubber stamps and reproductions of his colour pencil drawings.”

Moebius' Little Pantheon: Arzak ("Le Petit Panthéon Moebius") - Sample

From the Heavy Metal origins to the androgynous or spiritual representations that followed, this fabulous eight-chapter artbook is a tribute to the many facets and alternative versions of Arzak. It talks about time and space, war and peace, loneliness and multiplicity.

In over forty years of “paper” life, the bond established between Moebius and Arzak is complex and deep. The character’s personal mythology is linked with that of his creator, his style and personality evolving with Moebius over time. A solitary warrior, a sage of the desert or a star watcher, the very essence of Arzak does not change.

Mœbius thus offers an exhilarating and challenging exercise, searching for this figure with a flying cape and piercing eyes, or majestic bird, in every drawing, every cartoon, every interview…

Enriched with various comments, quotations and extracts about Arzak and his parallel representations, this book of images remains above all a beautiful graphic journey that highlights the multiple techniques used by Mœbius: Rotring pen, acrylic painting and digital techniques are many mediums that he did not hesitate to explore, for our greatest pleasure.

Mœbius’ Little Pantheon: Arzak is a must-have for any fan of Mœbius’ work, but will also undoubtedly please those who discover this fascinating universe for the first time.

• Mœbius’ Little Pantheon: Arzak by Moebius is available to preorder from The Book Palace here
Publisher: Moebius Production, due October 2023
Number of pages: 176
Format: Hard Cover; Full Colour illustrations
Size: 10″ x 12″ (250mm x 310mm)
ISBN: 9782908766738

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.