Editing Jean Giraud (section)

====''L'Écho des savanes'' (1974)====
In 1974 he truly revived the Mœbius pseudonym for comics, and the very first, 12-page, story he created as such &ndash; while on one of his stopovers from America when the ''Dune'' production was in a lull &ndash; was "[[Cauchemar Blanc]]" ("White Nightmare"), published in the magazine ''[[L'Écho des savanes]]'', issue 8, 1974. The black & white story dealt with the [[racist]] murder of an immigrant of North-African descent, and stands out as one of the very few emphatic [[Social engagement|socially engaged]] works of Giraud.<ref name="cauch">[[#Sources|Frederiks, 1982, p. 79]]</ref> Bearing in mind Giraud's fascination with the Western genre in general and the cultural aspects of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] in particular &ndash; and whose plight Giraud had always been sympathetic to{{efn|name="apaches"|While the ''Blueberry'' authors have always treated Native-Americans with sympathy in their series, it was in the last series outing of 2007, "Apaches", that Giraud took his most outspoken stance in regard to the plight of Native-Americans. In the album &ndash; composed from Blueberry's [[Geronimo]] recollection segments as featured in the five-volume ''OK Corral'' story-arc &ndash; Geronimo's son Dust is captive of the whites and imprisoned in a [[Native American boarding schools|Native-American boarding school]], headed by a misguided and puritanical parson, who ruthlessly tries to "civilize" his wards. Blueberry manages to free Dust and return him to his father, whereas the parson's sympathetic daughter is killed in the process, presented as a thinly veiled moral punishment for her father's wrongdoings. Though an anachronism in the comic, the boarding school is clearly patterned after the historical [[Carlisle Indian Industrial School]], where [[cultural assimilation of Native Americans]] into white society was attempted, also referred to by outspoken activists as "[[cultural genocide]]", and the story stands out as Giraud's most outspoken condemnation in his main body of work of the white American's attempts to snuff out Native-American culture.}} &ndash; it is hardly a surprise that two later examples of such rare works were Native-American themed.{{efn|name="seattle"|On the inspiration for "The Word of Chief Seattle" Giraud has stated in 1989, "Through a book from a young woman, Jeanine Fontaine, who had lived with Pilipino warriors. She cited [[s:Chief Seattle's Speech|the speech]], as she was very touched by it. When I read it, it awoke an ancient anger within me, [the same anger as "Cauchemar Blanc" twenty years earlier], absolutely the same anger, the same outrage. And this is the extent of my political engagement. I take an emotional stance, when I'm deeply moved. Then I am unable to suppress the impulse to create a pamphlet!"<ref>[[#Sources|Sadoul, 1991, pp. 77-78]]</ref>}} These concerned the 2-page short story "Wounded Knee",<ref>First published in [https://www.bedetheque.com/BD-Recueil-Tintin-Super-Tome-5-Special-western-44336.html ''Tintin Super 5'': "Spécial western"] (80 pages, Brussels:Le Lombard, April 1979), published in English in the [[#HM Communications|1981 "Mœbius" book]] from HM Communications, but '''not''' in any of the 1980s Epic publications.</ref> inspired by the [[Wounded Knee incident|eponymous 1973 incident]] staged by [[Oglala Lakota]], and the 3-page short story "Discours du Chef Seattle", first published in the artbook "Made in L.A."<ref name="madela">[https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/20849_Made_in_LA_1_Made_in_LA "Made in L.A."] (136 pages, Tournai:Casterman, September 1988, {{ISBN|2203346019}}), stripINFO.be {{in lang|nl}}; includes other language editions.</ref> ("The Words of [[Chief Seattle]]", in Epic's [[Blueberry (comics)#English translations|"Ballad for a Coffin"]]). Giraud suddenly bursting out onto the comic scene as "Mœbius", caught European readership by surprise, and it took many of them, especially outside France, a couple of years before the realization had sunk in that "Jean Gir[raud]" and "Mœbius" were, physically at least, one and the same artist.<ref name="cauch"/>

It was when he was brainstorming with the founding editors of the magazine (founded by former ''Pilote'' friends and co-artists in the wake of the revolt at the publisher, when they decided to strike out on their own), that Giraud came up with his first major Mœbius work, "Le bandard fou" ("The Horny Goof"). Released directly as album (a first for Mœbius comics) in black & white by the magazine's publisher,<ref name="bandard">[https://www.stripinfo.be/reeks/strip/17029_De_erectomaan_1_De_Erectomaan/showall "Le bandard fou"] (54 pages, Paris:Les Éditions du Fromage, 1974, no ISBN), stripINFO.be {{in lang|nl}}; includes other language editions</ref> the humorous and satirical story dealt with a law-abiding citizen of the planet Souldaï, who awakens one day, only to find himself with a permanent erection. Pursued through space and time by his own puritanical authorities, who frown upon the condition, and other parties, who have their own intentions with the hapless ''bandard'', he eventually finds a safe haven on the asteroid ''Fleur'' of Madame Kowalsky, after several hilarious adventures. When discounting the as "Gir" signed "La déviation", it is in this story that Giraud's signature, minute "Mœbius" art style, for which he became famed not that much later, truly comes into its own. Another novelty introduced in the book, is that the narrative is only related on the right-hand pages; the left-hand pages are taken up by one-page panels depicting an entirely unrelated cinematographic sequence of a man transforming after he has snapped his fingers. The story did raise some eyebrows with critics accusing Giraud of [[pornography]] at the time, but one reviewer put it in perspective when stating, "Peut-être Porno, mais Graphique!", which loosely translates as "Porn maybe, but Graphic Art for sure!".<ref>[[#Sources|Frederiks, 1982, pp. 82-84]]</ref> In the editorial of the [[#Marvel/Epic|1990 American edition]], Giraud has conceded that he was envious of what his former ''Pilote'' colleagues had achieved with ''L'Écho des savanes'' in regard to creating a free, creative environment for their artists, he had already enjoyed so much back at ''Hara-Kiri'', and that it was an inspiration for the endeavor, Giraud embarked upon next.