The first appearance of Arzach in Métal Hurlant, 1975.
Arzak (or Arzach, or Harzak, or Harzakc, etc) is one of the oldest of the comic characters created by Moebius, and an enduringly popular one even though the amount of pages devoted to the character is small. Moebius returned to Arzak sporadically after the first strips appeared in Métal Hurlant in 1975, where the first panel of the first story establishes the principal ingredients: the stern and resourceful explorer navigating an alien world on the back of a large white bird. Arzak’s flying companion is often described as a pterodactyl but it’s really a Moebius bird whose ancestors or cousins may be seen elsewhere in the Moebius-verse, notably the character of Deepo from The Incal.
Arzak Rhapsody is a late entry in the Arzak mythos, a series of 4-minute animated films made for French TV in 2002, all of which were written by Moebius. The animation is crude when compared to René Laloux’s Moebius-designed Time Masters (1982), but the Moebius aesthetic is present throughout, from the desert landscapes of his early strips to the glowing crystals of his later work. The stories recycle moments from the comics, most of which concern Arzak evading one of the many lethal hazards presented by the flora and fauna of the place named in the animations as “Desert B”. All 14 episodes may be viewed here with the superfluous narration translated into English. Now when do we get to see Time Masters on blu-ray?
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The Captive, a film by René Laloux
• The horror
• Chute Libre science fiction
• Heavy Metal, October 1979: The Lovecraft Special
I lived next door to Stella Langdale in Santa Barbara, California. I was born in 1956 and we both lived in the Edgerly Arms complex on 105 W. Sola Street. The complex was owned by my step-grandfather, Myron “Bud” C. Bledsoe. There was a large hotel, part of the complex, that displayed many of Ms. Langdale’s paintings. I have a small collection including aquatints, and two oil paintings. Sadly, there are not in museum quality condition. As they are old paintings and the some of the cardboard frames are torn, I do not know the cost of restoration.