The Collected Fantasies, Vol. 7: The Goddess

The Collected Fantasies of Jean Giraud #7

by Mœbius

This out-of-print English translation collects The Goddess and Black Thursday by Jean "Moebius" Giraud

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, France, Art

88 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

Jean 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.

Reviews

[Jemppu · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Goddess" is possibly my favorite volume of all the Moebius collections (vol. 5 close second). Concluding the overarching Aedena storyline (which begun in the first volume) in a grand way, dealing with sense of self and societal oppression of it. Also featuring the jovial looking 'nose people' - ever clever both for the distinctive design and for the concept of 'face wearing'.

And the art is perhaps most uniformly phenomenal throughout (even if Jean themself points out disparities in stroke, and sees fault in the method of coloring - such is the artist's self-scrutiny. While recognizing this complaint from technical perspective, I also find the softness which the coloring brings to the lineart to be rather a pleasant factor).

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Goddess is not only the best Moebius story of these 7 volumes so far, it is one of my favorite comics. Moebius's art has been fascinating from day 1; maybe now his writing reaches those vaunted heights, too?

[Clodjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edition is quite faithful to the original French edition (although the quality of the printing leaves something to be desired). (…) This volume 7 of the Collected Fantasies of Jean Giraud has only one additional short story: "Black Thursday" (2 pages). The messenger Jerman Closer is disgusted by the games of the gods and swears to do everything to end it but, of course, without any effect! This is one of his absurd SF stories from the beginning of Heavy Metal (1977). Moebius cites the influence of his favorite authors (Zelazny, Dick), but it is difficult to make sense of such a short story.

The Goddess offers us an interesting story of adventure, full of action and dreams, which is exceptionally linear and coherent. The main attraction is still the superb drawings of Moebius, where brightly coloured images are increasingly blurred by the details of penciling. I find fascinating the discomfort generated by the fact that almost all the characters wear a similar mask and must therefore be distinguished by the colour or the details of their costume. A very good comics to read absolutely.

Read my entire comment on https://clodjee-blog.com/2019/10/27/l...

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this chapter to be a decent return to form after I didn't really enjoy the second chapter. It still wasn't as great as the first but I was interested throughout, and liked the sci-fi setting and story. Overall, it felt as though the series was back on track and had my interest again.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this highlight of the Edena storyline, Moebius narrates the journey of Stel and Atan against the Paternum and the eventual liberation of Edena's oppressed society.

[Seven Pesos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Already read it in the collected "The World of Edena". Fantastic artwork, funny story. Goated.

[John Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story, stunning art

[Jin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some nice drawings of the girl but ultimately pretty blotted story.

[Alexander Lisovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Вступительное слово редактора выдаёт слишком много и настраивает на определённый лад, который, по-моему, вредит впечатлению от третьей главы цикла Le Monde d'Edena (The World of Edena). Я бы рекомендовал отложить его на потом.

Сама история начинается немного вяло [как мне кажется, из-за вышеупомянутого настроя], и представляет собой в целом на сегодняшний день уже достаточно избитую тему "Обитаемого острова", но каково исполнение! И развитие сюжета, и образы, и рисунок, и цвета - книга захватывает с головой и сбивает с ног, подобно трёхметровой морской волне.

Пока что цикл Мёбиуса об Эдене - один из самых мощных комиксов, что я читал (если измерять по эмоциональному воздействию), и лучшее произведение данной антологии.

В конце книги редакторы включили короткую, на две страницы, зарисовку Black Thursday, которую Жан написал в 1972-м (за 18 лет до заглавной истории), и можно сравнить разницу в художественном исполнении. Она колоссальна! Эти две страницы на фоне "Богини" выглядят как криво растянутый пережатый джипег со сбитыми цветами и чересчур толстыми линиями, будто маскирующими неуверенные движения автора.

P.S. Четвёртая часть.

[Luke Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

See Collected Jean Giraud Vol. 9 review...