L'Incal Noire

I just finished reading Jodorowsky and Moebius' famous album, The Incal, this last weekend.  While it is considered to be one of the great works of science fiction in its genre, it is more amazing to try and dissect the intracacies.  Having picked up this little tome at The Secret Headquarters, I'm sure there are many in that same shop who have an opinion or two about it.  Well, here's mine at least.

to summarize the plot of The Incal would take way more room than I feel ready to commit to ether, so instead I'll just summarize by saying a galaxy is in jeopardy for the sole purpose of a group of alien beings seeking a mysterious object known as the Incal.  The question of identity, honor, maturity, and birth are examined, but one would expect nothing less philosophical from the writer and artist combination present.  Start to finish, the Incal is a picaresque journey of astrological proportions.  What begins with descent, ends in ascent, figuratively.  It's a delightfully elliptical and inspiring precursor to Metal Hurlant and all the novellas that would come after it.

A few notes, at times it seemed that Jodorowsky was writing this piece on the fly.  If it weren't for the fact that it was too entertaining for me to even care, it would be annoying to picture both he and Jean Giraud cackling at the insanity of each page.  While this is true, I do believe that the work itself cemented Moebius as one of the great visual storytellers of our era.  If you've never seen his work before and are a fan of the medium, it's as mandatory as any Miyazaki film would be to an animation buff.

Although the ending felt slightly disappointing, it ended up making sense in the long run.  The entire theme can be summed up as a great struggle between light and dark, as most adventures can be, but it's as fitting as it is bittersweet.  Packed with imaginative visuals and even more densely crammed with dialog, I'd recommend it to anyone who's a fan of graphic storytelling medium.  If you're but a casual reader, however, I'd save this one for the back of the shelf.