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Major Grubert #3
The Man from the Ciguri
Mixing humor, psychedelia, sex, and space opera as only Moebius can, The Man from the Ciguri is a book-length continuation of The Airtight Garage. While his friends on the Ciguri search for him, the Major is lost on an alternate earth desperately trying to find his way home, pursued by assassins sent on a vengeance mission by Sper Gossi.
80 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1995
About the author
Mœbius
575 books958 followersJean Henri Gaston Giraud (pen-name: Mœbius) was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer, who worked in the Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées tradition.
Also published as Jean Giraud.
Also published as Jean Giraud.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 6, 2022
I don't think I understand either the 1st or 3rd volumes in the Major Grubert cycle as much as the masterful centrepiece "the Airtight Garage", but the 3rd volume "The Man from the Ciguri" contains some of Moebius' most impressive art depicting life in the 20th century.
You see, this third act has the titular anti-hero - the spacefaring imperialist Major Grubert who functions as the series' Demiurge* figure - thrown into the real world of late 20th century France where he goes on to buy a science-fiction comic book starring himself as a main character! This inspires Grubert to seek out the author. Yes, that is right: Moebius goes into self-parodying meta-fiction here, with amusing results.
The results feel slight after the epic "The Airtight Garage", which fused Michael Moorcock with Carlos Castañeda and Gnostic Christianity with impressive results despite being just as difficult to follow as that list of heady inspirations would imply. "The Man from the Ciguri" is still worth reading, as it shows off some of the finest artwork depicting 20th century France that Moebius ever put on page. Moebius even manages to make real life look as fantastic and strange as his trippy otherworlds. I would call this 3rd volume worth reading for the artwork alone.
*In Gnosticism the Demiurge is a not-quite-selfaware demigod who created the physical universe, the previous volume in the series "The Airtight Garage" contains more Gnostic Christian themes.
You see, this third act has the titular anti-hero - the spacefaring imperialist Major Grubert who functions as the series' Demiurge* figure - thrown into the real world of late 20th century France where he goes on to buy a science-fiction comic book starring himself as a main character! This inspires Grubert to seek out the author. Yes, that is right: Moebius goes into self-parodying meta-fiction here, with amusing results.
The results feel slight after the epic "The Airtight Garage", which fused Michael Moorcock with Carlos Castañeda and Gnostic Christianity with impressive results despite being just as difficult to follow as that list of heady inspirations would imply. "The Man from the Ciguri" is still worth reading, as it shows off some of the finest artwork depicting 20th century France that Moebius ever put on page. Moebius even manages to make real life look as fantastic and strange as his trippy otherworlds. I would call this 3rd volume worth reading for the artwork alone.
*In Gnosticism the Demiurge is a not-quite-selfaware demigod who created the physical universe, the previous volume in the series "The Airtight Garage" contains more Gnostic Christian themes.
February 20, 2024
Tal y como me pasa con cada cosa que leo de Moebius, en cuanto llego a la última página ya se me ha olvidado toda la trama y solo se me quedan en la cabeza mil imágenes y la evocación de un viaje lisérgico.
July 27, 2016
In sostanza, Moebius continua l'operazione iniziata col Garage Ermetico. L'idea è la stessa: costruire un racconto che sembra avere una trama, ma che in realtà non ce l'ha. Le varie informazioni messe una dietro l'altra sembrano voler acquisire un proprio senso, ma ogni nuova sequenza getta quanto letto precedentemente in una vortice di nonsense.
Anche qui, però, ci sono alcuni elementi riconoscibili: il primo è che il Maggiore si trova nel nostro mondo, dove trova un libro che parla delle sue avventure. Il personaggio, quindi, incontra la sua propria storia penetrando nel mondo che lo ospita. Come nella maggior parte dei racconti di Moebius, la gente gira: ci sono personaggi che vagano senza una meta ed è solo un'illusione il fatto che il loro avanzare sia un'avventura, cioè un moto che abbia un senso e uno svolgimento.
La costruzione della trama è completamente onirica: elementi a caso posti l'uno accanto all'altro che hanno come unico scopo la soddisfazione estetica, poiché tutto diventa pretesto di rappresentazione del mondo futuristico.
Tutto ciò rientra all'interno della letteratura postmoderna, dove il discorso metaletterario diventa principio motore della narrazione. Immancabile la trama del complotto, poiché tale Speer Gossi vuole impadronirsi del potere nel mondo del Garage Ermetico, spodestando il suo creatore (il Maggiore). Un suo emissario è uno dei tanti personaggi 'vaganti' di questo volume.
Il finale del libro è il tentativo di trovare un senso a quanto è successo, ma a sua volta questa spiegazione diventa l'ulteriore elemento casuale, frutto dell'emotività di Damalvina, la donna del Maggiore. Infine, si afferma il nonsense della creazione, anche quella artistica, poiché l'importante è l'elemento materiale prodotto e non quanto significato.
Anche qui, però, ci sono alcuni elementi riconoscibili: il primo è che il Maggiore si trova nel nostro mondo, dove trova un libro che parla delle sue avventure. Il personaggio, quindi, incontra la sua propria storia penetrando nel mondo che lo ospita. Come nella maggior parte dei racconti di Moebius, la gente gira: ci sono personaggi che vagano senza una meta ed è solo un'illusione il fatto che il loro avanzare sia un'avventura, cioè un moto che abbia un senso e uno svolgimento.
La costruzione della trama è completamente onirica: elementi a caso posti l'uno accanto all'altro che hanno come unico scopo la soddisfazione estetica, poiché tutto diventa pretesto di rappresentazione del mondo futuristico.
Tutto ciò rientra all'interno della letteratura postmoderna, dove il discorso metaletterario diventa principio motore della narrazione. Immancabile la trama del complotto, poiché tale Speer Gossi vuole impadronirsi del potere nel mondo del Garage Ermetico, spodestando il suo creatore (il Maggiore). Un suo emissario è uno dei tanti personaggi 'vaganti' di questo volume.
Il finale del libro è il tentativo di trovare un senso a quanto è successo, ma a sua volta questa spiegazione diventa l'ulteriore elemento casuale, frutto dell'emotività di Damalvina, la donna del Maggiore. Infine, si afferma il nonsense della creazione, anche quella artistica, poiché l'importante è l'elemento materiale prodotto e non quanto significato.
November 23, 2021
I found this completely baffling, though whether that's because of the plot or the limitations of my French I'm not quite sure. As far as I could tell, some people in a spaceship, the Ciguri, were looking for one of their chaps who was lost and moving between various dimensions. Meanwhile, he finds a book that reveals a knowledge of such travel, and so seeks out the author for help, while we also see scenes from the book. Beautifully drawn and mind-bending, and why it ends where it does I do not know.
July 19, 2022
1.5/5 for the art. Probably I should have read the previous episodes to make some sense of this but I suspect that even if I did, the story would be complete dada to me. Beautiful art was the most I could get out of this.
May 25, 2019
Melkoista tajunnanvirtaa ja nonsensea, mutta hienoja ja upean kahjoja visioita ja maailmoja. Jää kesken, sikäli kun tämmöistä tarinointia malttaisi lopettakaan.
August 8, 2022
Moebius’s The Man from the Ciguri is a promising continuation of the epic Airtight Garage series, but sadly Moebius never finished the story. Kind of like a wacked out sci-fi bend of Kafka’s The Castle (minus significant overlap in themes), The Man from the Ciguri works without an ending. The story is so oddball and unhinged that a satisfactory conclusion is difficult to imagine. (That said I’m sure Moebius could have pulled it off and remain disappointed he didn't attempt it.)
As always the art is incredible. The only drawback was that I had to read it in black and white, and would have love to see colouring by Moebius. But alas, the original b&w comic books were the only affordable option I could track down in English.
I found copies of the original English comics on eBay for quite reasonable prices – highly recommend. The Man from the Ciguri appears in Cheval Noir Issues 26-30, 33-37, 40-41 and 50. The series abruptly cuts off with the 50th and final issue of Cheval Noir (argh!), but was picked up again in the 6-issue Moebius Comics series published by Caliber Comics, although the story’s transition from Cheval Noir to Caliber was patchy.
The Cheval Noir publication of The Man from Ciguri concludes with a woman coming on to Major Grubert in the office of the mysterious author and cartoonist “John T. Archer”. The first issue published by Caliber Comics picks up with a prose recap explaining that this woman was John Archer’s wife, and that shortly afterward the Major is contacted by his other self (a self who we see is dressed in the standard safari-Major get up as opposed to the Frenchman outfit of the RandomEarth Major) sent by that mysterious god figure from whom the Major gained his power to show the stranded Major the way back to the Airtight Garage, in somewhat unsavoury deus-ex-machina fashion. The Caliber Comics issues unfortunately end abruptly with a note explaining that Moebius was too busy to continue contributing at that time and promising to continue in the future. But the series never continued and to my knowledge the The Man from the Ciguri ends there with a number of interweaving plot lines wholly unresolved.
Nonetheless, the story and art are an exceptional pleasure and an incredibly unique and powerful work of science fiction.
As always the art is incredible. The only drawback was that I had to read it in black and white, and would have love to see colouring by Moebius. But alas, the original b&w comic books were the only affordable option I could track down in English.
I found copies of the original English comics on eBay for quite reasonable prices – highly recommend. The Man from the Ciguri appears in Cheval Noir Issues 26-30, 33-37, 40-41 and 50. The series abruptly cuts off with the 50th and final issue of Cheval Noir (argh!), but was picked up again in the 6-issue Moebius Comics series published by Caliber Comics, although the story’s transition from Cheval Noir to Caliber was patchy.
The Cheval Noir publication of The Man from Ciguri concludes with a woman coming on to Major Grubert in the office of the mysterious author and cartoonist “John T. Archer”. The first issue published by Caliber Comics picks up with a prose recap explaining that this woman was John Archer’s wife, and that shortly afterward the Major is contacted by his other self (a self who we see is dressed in the standard safari-Major get up as opposed to the Frenchman outfit of the RandomEarth Major) sent by that mysterious god figure from whom the Major gained his power to show the stranded Major the way back to the Airtight Garage, in somewhat unsavoury deus-ex-machina fashion. The Caliber Comics issues unfortunately end abruptly with a note explaining that Moebius was too busy to continue contributing at that time and promising to continue in the future. But the series never continued and to my knowledge the The Man from the Ciguri ends there with a number of interweaving plot lines wholly unresolved.
Nonetheless, the story and art are an exceptional pleasure and an incredibly unique and powerful work of science fiction.
July 14, 2022
This collection of shorts, currently available on Kindle Unlimited, is a later continuation of the storylines of Le Garage Hermetique. They’re not quite as wild and energetic as the previous collection, but they are nevertheless mind-bending and beautifully done with some disturbing, nightmarish themes. As there’s no rhyme or reason to it all, the collection ends mid-telling and was not continued. There was a sort of fade out to Le Garage, but not here. Maybe Moebius would have produced more in time. Who knows?
June 2, 2024
I should have read the previous parts before because I didn't understand a bit of this. But I loved its art, humour and all those meta levels and how this gently made fun of itself's insanity. The grade might change if I read the other books too, they might open this world to me, or not.
February 8, 2020
Aunque parece descabellada estaba historia es tan MOEBIUS que respira genialidad en todos sus detalles. Abre el apetito por más relatos del universo del Mayor.
June 19, 2020
Un peu haché c'est vrai, puisqu'une compilation de parutions en magazine. De bonnes séquences et des scènes graphiques intéressantes et inspirantes ...
February 21, 2021
La imaginación al servicio de Moebius.
October 19, 2021
Ei yltänyt Ilmatiiviin autotallin eli alkuperäisosien tasolle. Mutta oli tämä kuitenkin taattua Moebius laatua ja ansiokas jatko-osa.
September 23, 2021
A história, se é que se pode chamar assim, não faz sentido algum (mesmo para quem leu as anteriores) e não termina. Mas é assim que as coisas funcionam na Garagem Hermética, ou seja, na mente de Moebius. Stoe orkeo!
February 7, 2015
Supongo que leyéndolo "en contexto", y si uno tiene más o menos idea de los mundos en los que se maneja el Mayor Fatal, debe ser una historieta la mar de interesante y disfrutable. Desde m'inorancia, me enganché con los dibujitos pero estuve dando aletazos la mitad del tiempo en lo que respecta al guion.
¡Ya te voy a agarrar la mano, y Mœbius!
¡Ya te voy a agarrar la mano, y Mœbius!
July 16, 2014
great, short but great
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews