El Incal

The Incal Saga #1

by Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mœbius (Illustrator), Carlos Mayor Ortega (Translator)

Esta es la epopeya de John Difool, un detective de poca monta que al recibir un extraño objeto debe enfrentarse, sin habérselo propuesto, a los altos poderes del cosmos. Mientras, irrumpen varias rebeliones a la vez en el imperio galáctico; siembran el caos, así como la caída y el renacimiento de múltiples poderes y contrapoderes. Difool deberá viajar, junto a la abigarrada compañía metafísica que forman su pájaro Deepo y otros cinco elegidos, por el magistral universo futurista creado por Jodorowsky y Moebius. El Incal es, sin duda, un clásico de la ciencia ficción en el que la aventura y la filosofía copulan sobre los más asombrosos pasajes lisérgicos.

Este volumen incluye siete títulos en uno:
— El Incal Negro (1981)
— El Incal Luz (1982)
— Lo que está abajo (1983)
— Lo que está arriba (1985)
— La quintaesencia I. La galaxia soñadora (1988)
— La quintaesencia II. El planeta Difool (1988)
— Los misterios del Incal (1989)

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

492 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Also credited as Alexandro Jodorowsky

Better known for his surreal films El Topo and The Holy Mountain filmed in the early 1970s, Alejandro Jodorowsky is also an accomplished writer of graphic novels and a psychotherapist. He developed Psychomagic, a combination of psychotherapy and shamanic magic. His fans have included John Lennon and Marilyn Manson.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that seeing the documentary Jodorowski's Dune helped prepare me for this book, since I knew what I was getting into. In a lot of ways, The Incal does what Jodorowski wasn't able to do with his film adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel.

As far as I can tell, The Incal is about...proto-scientific neo-spiritual existentialism? That sounds about right. In a weird way, this story reminded me of C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy--not a connection I was expecting to make as I read this.

My suggestion for tackling The Incal is to leave your expectations of traditional storytelling at the door. It starts weird, and gets weirder, so it's more important to just appreciate the unbridled creativity that Jodorowski and Moebius bring to life. If you spend time trying to find the threads of an actual narrative here, it'll just drive you nuts every time someone yells, "Oh no! The Necrodroid!" or "Quickly, Metabaron! We must stop the shadow egg from devouring the sun!" Just don't ask questions and you'll be fine.

[Nate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great art, awful writing.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Down and out class R detective John DiFool has a powerful artifact, The Incal, fall into his grasp. But what is the Incal? And what will other people do to get it?

Yeah, that's grossly oversimplifying it but The Incal throws so many concepts at you it's hard to simplify. Do I mention the far-future, near dystopian setting where most of humanity spends most of its time watching TV? Or the giant flying space jellyfish? Or the dark eggs? Or The Metabaron, the biggest bad ass in the galaxy? Or the Prezident and his hunchbacks? Or the conjoined twins that rule the empire, The Emperoress?

The story starts at street level with John DiFool finding the Incal and scales up a few times until it's the ultimate battle between light and darkness with the entire universe at stake. Jodorowsky throws idea after idea at the reader without much breathing room.The story gets a little incoherent at times but it's best to hold on and pay attention as best you can. I have to think Grant Morrison borrows a lot from this.

The art is by Moebius and is quintessential Moebius: an orgy of clean lines and minimalist but still intricate art. I'm a little saddened that it's taken me this long to discover Moebius but I'm glad I have a lot his comics ahead of me. The presentation, with the original colors on slick paper, is akin to the Dark Horse Moebius Library. It's built to last and I plan on putting it to the test.

Things got really crazy toward the end. I'd say The Incal is more about the journey and the ideas along the way than the destination. While I enjoyed this quite a bit, I think I'll leave John DiFool's other adventures on the shelf. The poor bastard has been through enough!

While I didn't like this one quite as much as World of Edena, I'll be tracking down more of Humanoids' Moebius titles some time soon. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

[Sean Francisco Yau-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Jean Giraud or Moebius passed away, the international "comic book" or "graphic novel" lost the last of the 4 great giants who shaped the medium (the other three being Osamu Tezuka, Will Eisner and Jack Kirby)- geniuses who combined an innovative and unique look and feel, with a tremendous breadth of work. While American exposure to Moebius actual comic book work was limited- his overall effect in terms of design and mass media can't be understated - first through the translations of "Metal Hurlant" into "Heavy Metal"- but then coming to full fruition as designer for "Alien", "Tron", Blade Runner" and "The Fifth Element". Arguably, while the techno-fetish side of cyber-punk was influenced by Japanese Manga (Otomo's "Akira")- Giraud gave it the "film-noir" aspect. And of course- cyber-punk went and informed everything else.

To re-read The Incal- is to revisit and artist at his creative prime, working with his best life-long collaborator - Alejandro Jodorowsky. The result is a great visual jazz riff between the two. Moebius lays down sheet after of stunning visual layouts and details- while Jodorowsky's plot twists and turns keep you running with the momentum. Reading this now, 30 years after it's launch, a lot might seem familiar- the work influenced a lot of current science fiction - "the Fifth Element" and even the Matrix- but that's because this is the source material for what we see now.

TBH- a feel this piece time-travels a lot better than "The Watchmen" or "Dark Knight"- it maintains a fresh, vital take on the world around it.

Hopefully, more of Moebius work will finally make it to the US. In the meantime don't miss this.

[Blake Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moebius: Great at art. Genius of western comics.

Jodorowsky: Great concepts, but has the biggest, dumbest lead foot when it comes to execution. At the very least, can someone call a cease-fire to his out of control use of exclamation points? If you expect character development, coherent plot, robust and convincing dialogue, and any respect for subtlety at all, apply elsewhere. In fairness to Jodo - his films are amazing when any pretense of these elements of storytelling are bypassed completely. Surreal audiovisual experiences. But when you have something that resembles a plot, and you have enticing character concepts, and you have constant dialogue, and you have to spend more than two hours with it, it clearly kind of falls apart here.

I have to admit, I'd probably be more forgiving if everything Jodorowsky releases here in the states wasn't prefaced by some hyperbolic statements to the tune of "the books the form was made for." I wonder if these people read that much? Science fiction, comics, or otherwise?

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sammy Haggar sings:

“It's your one way ticket to midnight
Call it heavy metal
Higher than high, feelin' just right
Call it heavy metal
Desperation on a red line
Call it heavy metal noise!”

Yeah, the Red Rocker knows what’s up.

Moebius and Jodorowsky’s WEIRD 1981 graphic novel reminded me of the 1981 Canadian-American adult animated science fantasy anthology horror film directed by Gerald Potterton. Both are very strange but also very fun.

What was in the water in 1981????

The film did have the advantage of some good music, so I chose to listen to a special mix while I skated through this funhouse:

Baby Please Don’t Go – AC/DC

Institutionalized – Suicidal Tendencies

Circumstances – Rush

Anthem – Rush

War Pigs – Black Sabbath

Girlfriend is Better – Talking Heads

Breaking the Law – Judas Priest

Rock and Roll – Led Zeppelin

Gimme Shelter – Rolling Stones

Soul Kitchen – The Doors

Oye Como Va – Santanna

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Metallica

Miserlou – Dick Dale and his Del-Tones

White Man in Hammersmith Calais – The Clash

Golden Years – David Bowie

Listen to this while trying to figure out what the hell is going on here and then forget about trying to figure it out and just enjoy.

We follow protagonist John DiFool around on lots of adventures, there’s violence and sex and more violence – did I mention it was really weird? If you ask me a year from now about this graphic novel, I will remember that, it was very weird.

One word will stand out: Psychorats.

It may help if you’ve read Philip K. Dick or Borges or seen Mulholland Drive before, or if you have the occasional acid flashback, but maybe not.

Cootchie, Cootchie.

[Algernon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some claim Dune is the greatest science-fiction series. Similar claims have been made about this comic book known as the Incal . I decided to check out for myself.

Both are technically space-operas, and the links between them go deeper than I initially thought: the inception of the comic lies in what is probably the greatest movie adaptation that was never made. The creative team of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean Giraud [Moebius] was developing the ambitious project of filming the first book in Frank Herbert’s series, with Salvador Dali and Orson Welles in the cast, H R Geiger designing the aliens and a soundtrack by Pink Floyd. When they failed to get enough funding for actual filming, the two artists used the Dune concepts and the storyboards for a new story, a combination of Jodorowsky’s reactionary ideas and mysticism with Giraud’s detailed, futuristic artwork.
After I finished this complete collection of the six albums that form the original Incal run, I tend to agree with the superlative comments about the scope and the artistry of the project. I even felt the need to re-read it before trying to put down my thoughts in a review, because on the first run through I was gripped by the feverish pacing and overloaded by the massive worldbuilding infodump that includes, but is not limited to : cybo-cops, alien bergs, amok killers, garbage eater mutants, combat robots, hunchbaked presidential bodyguards, techno-techno specialists, aristos, magnanats, psychorats, necrodoids, shadow eggs, perfect androgynes, purple endoguards, gold planets, arhat guardians and dreaming medusae



Before I try to sketch the simplified plot line and the main characters, I feel I should make one last reference between the Incal and the movie The Fifth Element by Luc Besson: they have practically the same plot and the same artistic vision, and I believe the only reason the copyright issues were settled was because Moebius actually worked on both projects. You might notice from the list of albums included here that even the title was ‘borrowed’ by Besson:

The Black Incal
The Luminous Incal
What Lies Beneath
What Is Above
The Fifth Essence part one: The Dreaming Galaxy
The Fifth Essence part two: Planet Difool

The journey begins with the introduction of a rather ragged and down-on-his-luck private investigator named Korben Dallas John Difool. John is beat up and thrown into a gravity well by a group of thugs, but this is just the beginning of his troubles, as he is about to become the most hunted man on his home planet, all because of a mysterious object that has been handed to him by a dying monster:



Police, emperors, revolutionaries, aliens, mercenaries and techno freaks all want to get their hands on this mysterious artefact known as the black incal. John Dyfool manages to both escape the attentions of his pursuers, with a little help from his pet, a concrete seagull named Deepo, but also to activate the psychic powers of the incal, with often scary and sometimes helpful results





I’m jumping over a lot of details here and over a lot of bloody fighting and explosions, but it slowly becomes clear that a fellowship of seven companions is thrown together in this hostile environment, a brotherhood of the two aspects of the incal artefact [the dark and the light, the yin-yang duality] comprised of John Difool, the talking bird Deepo, the mercenary Metabaron, his son Solune, Tanatah the Queen of Amok, the rebel Kill Wolfhead and Animah the Rat Queen



Together, they must save the Incal from the metal claws of the Emperor turned Necrodroid and travel deep into the bowels of their home planet in search of spiritual enlightenment

The Key That Will Open the Interior Sun’s Door Is a Peaceful Heart

Both Jodorowsky and Moebius put great emphasis on this spiritual angle of the quest and on eco-friendly, save-the-planet/galaxy plotlines, something that I also noticed in the original Dune series. The white bearded gnomes known as the arhats play the role of teachers and guardians of nature , tasked with saving humanity from its own sins of greed and pollution and reckless destruction.



They must oppose both the threat of insectoid bergs from a different galaxy and of their own technocrats and magnanats [business leaders?], decadent epicureans and a population addicted to their home entertainment screens



Once the seven samurai of the incal take off into space, the story gets even weirder and their adventures wilder, framed into an existential struggle between light and darkness, with often painful yet humorous encounters between the reluctant hero John Difool and more aliens bent on dismembering him and his companions.
One of his most memorable misadventures takes place on Orgargan, the Berg home planet, where the great five thousand year nuptial games are about to begin. Difool is about to become the prince consort of the hive queen of the Bergs.
[As a side note, some of the panels throughout the series are sexually explicit and adult oriented, but I am glad I got my hands on the original Humanoids Associes material and not on the bowdlerized version aimed at a younger audience]

The last part of the series, known as the Fifth Essence, is probably as good as what went before, but I was reaching saturation point and the mystical elements such as a tenebrae virus and a theta dream come to dominate the story. Still, the ending was both spectacular, amazingly drawn by Moebius and satisfactory in bringing the complex plot to a logical conclusion.
I am tempted to read the other albums that share the same worldbuilding, although the reviews are not as good as with this original run.
I do include as one of my favorite space-operas in comic book format.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book drips in pure sci-fi creativity. It seems like every page has a new, cool concept put forth; all within a cohesive narrative. (I won't give any examples, as I think that would take away from the enjoyment of reading this book).

Moebius's art is fantastic. The new reprinted of The Incal respectfully retains the original coloring (which is especially nice since many reprints seem to replace the original color with some awful modern rendering). I see so many artists that I love within Moebius. I imagine those artists reading the same pages that I was and falling in love with the style and later adopting it into their own.

The story-telling is a bit dated, and I usually hate saying that something is worth a read for its supposed historical importance (as if I would have any conception of which books are historically important); but I can't help but see so many elements here that were used by latter creators like P. Craig Russell, Paul Pope, Frank Miller, and numerous sci-fi films, and would recommend a read on that basis alone.

Brian Michael Bendis wrote a forward to the new edition which consists mostly of him getting angry at people ripping off The Incal. He claims, rightfully, that people should be inspired by the creative impulse that possessed Jodorowsky and Moebius to create this book.

[Billie Tyrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art by Moebius is great (as to be expected) and gave me the impression that all the planets and realms in The Incal were real places, but the weakest link in this whole collaboration is Jodorowsky... one of the most overrated men ever... whose process is to throw random ideas at the wall and trust that they'll all dribble together as long as nobody questions it. All the characters are two dimensional cyphers, all the women are strong, independent, sassy and often naked. The satire is muddled, inconsistent and doesn't really say much except "stop watching the television and start dreaming maaaaan". The esoteric spirituality combined with science fiction does admittedly make The Incal's universe pretty unique, though at the same time it ends up creating a universe wherein there are no rules. The ending is extremely unsatisfying, making it seem like none of it really mattered. Saying that, it's still pretty good, in spite of all these things. It holds together well enough and I'll likely read other stuff set in the "jodoverse" or whatever it's called.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most impressive achievements in the comic book medium and science-fiction + fantasy literature. Despite its ambition and complexity, it is also one of the best places to start with both artist Moebius' comic books and author Alejandro Jodorowsky's output.

"the Incal" starts out as a futuristic hardboiled noir detective story with a couple matching supernatural artifacts as MacGuffins. As the story ends up drawing in more weird alien races, galactic empires and religious cults scheming for control over the known universe a la Frank Herbert's "Dune" but a level more eccentric "the Incal" turns into one of the weirdest head trips ever committed to the printed page. Jodorowsky uses this premise as a springboard to explore his convoluted theories about several heady topics including politics, religion, gender roles and mass media through science-fiction allegory. Come to think of it, the fusion of the hardboiled detective fiction and space opera genres found in "The Incal" is probably the best fictional medium for that purpose: The former genre has a long tradition for plot structures revolving around convoluted conspiracies and gambits piling up on each other, with the latter genre you can draw as much weird and silly stuff into the setting to use as metaphors for your philosophical message as necessary without the audience balking. Another element holding all the peyote-munching mysticism and philosophy together with the convoluted space opera/film noir plot is the anti-hero John Difool, who is both a pitch perfect parody of the typical hardboiled detective and a convincing everyman figure who reacts to all the weird shit going on around him the same way most readers would in the same situation. It makes the strange universe and plot more believable, and adds a sense of humour.

The artwork is also absolutely gorgeous even by Moebius' standards, and sets the gold standard to this day for both colourful future metropolises and neo-feudal space opera with machine-worshipping priesthoods and galactic empires. It is clear when reading "The Incal" that as different science-fiction properties as "Warhammer 40,000" and "The Fifth Element" borrowed quite a few ideas from this! Be sure to get the original 1980's versions with bright psychedelic colours, by the way. Newer omnibus reprints use more realistic colours that just don't feel right because the use of colour contrasts chosen for aesthetic effect over realism is a huge part of Moebius' appeal at least for me.

[Jemppu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review? Perhaps eventually, if I'll ever feel worthy... This was quite phenomenal.

Words in the reading updates below.

Edit 31/03/2022: Just learned that Taika Waititi of all people is set to bring this epic onto the screen. And I can't now imagine a more perfect realizer for it; the sheer power in the mixture of these artists' disciplines gets you exceedingly excited for what is surely about to be the most rivetingly absurd, psychedelic trip (created for mainstream consumption), and a feast for senses.

[Max]

Wild, expansive, profoundly weird space opera fairy tale replete with Dune-like bits. Lots of union-of-genders-mystic-tantra stuff here, too—definitely bears the mark of being written in the 80s. Amazing art, vivid, fast-moving action. As Brian Michael Bendis points out in his forward, it's painfully obvious that some people have spent their whole careers ripping this off, I mean, creating vivid homages.

[Doyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would have been better as a silent art book. Moebius's art is astounding, but Jodorowsky's story is trash.

[Jerry Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book a little too much that I will refrain myself from reviewing it.

This is Kilger Trout in graphic novel format with one of the most unique and most amazing artwork ever.

[Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has got to be the craziest comic book I’ve ever read! It reads like what a desperately horny sci-fi fan would see on acid after reading the Book of Revelation. Things start sedately but get nuttier with each page turned until all pretense at “characterization” and “skill in writing” has flown out the window—yet there’s a hidden logic which escapes you and you’re drawn into the book if only to see what weirdness it’ll throw at you next. It doesn’t get much cooler than this!

[Merl Fluin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Film-maker Jodorowsky is my darling, so it's very ridiculous that I had never read this before. Of course, it's spectacular. Jodo's world-building is masterful, and Moebius's drawings pop in every frame. So many ideas, such an intricate story, all rendered in beautiful images. Sublime.

[Metin Yılmaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Başlarında farklı tarzı ve güzel çizgisiyle sizi yakalıyor fakat sonrasında ne olduğunu anlamadan, neyin ne olduğu belli olmadan, bir yerlere sürükleniyorsunuz. Senaryosal bir sıkıntı olduğunu düşünüyor, kopukluk yaşıyorsunuz. Özellikle sonlara doğru bu kopukluk daha da artıyor. Fakat herşeye rağmen farklı bir çizgi roman okumak isteyenler için doğru adres. Taytlı pelerinli, hep aynı sona sahip çizgi romanlardan değil en azından.

[Marcos GM · Rating 4 out of 5]

[ESP/ENG]

Acabo de leer esta obra, y me pregunto cómo hacer la reseña. Porque de primeras es bastante sencillo, pero tiene tal cantidad de cosas de "fondo" que es complicado. Para ponerse en situación: John Difool es un detective privado clase R, que por avatares de la vida acaba siendo lanzado al vacío por algo que no sabemos (esta imágen es de las más reconocidas)

Esta es la primera página de la obra, y a partir de ella se puede ver en que va a consistir: situaciones surrealistas, espacios vastos y abarrotados, el tipo de arte que va a tener... Y es que El incal es tanto obra de Jodorowsky como de Moebius. Ambos empezaron a colaborar en el fallido proyecto de Dune (hay unos mentrek en lugar de mentat, hay ciudades pozos, la cofradía...), y aquí decidieron volcar muchas de las cosas que habían preparado para aquello. Debo decir que la historia se sigue bien si te quedas en lo narrado, si quieres profundizar ya tienes que estar más preparado y dispuesto, hay muchas cosas que he preferido no pensar demasiado por si me da un parraque. En cuanto a la ilustración, funciona de maravilla en los planos grandes, donde se ven naves inmensas o macro ciudades . Cuando se trata de los personajes me falla más, si bien es cierto que hay planos muy bonitos y bien hechos, otros son fallidos. Por suerte son los (muy) menos.

Normalmente en este tipo de aventuras esperamos encontrar una terna de protagonistas bien escritos y diferenciados. Esto segundo lo cumple, pero con lo primero no lo veo tanto. El propio John Difool es un protagonista atípico, puesto que en todo momento está protestando, pensando únicamente en si mismo (su fijación con echarse un whisky, un cigarro, una caja de droga y una homeoputa puede hacerse difícil a veces) y siempre va lastrando al resto.

El final me ha gustado mucho. Tiene a ciencia cierta más trasfondo del que le puedo sacar yo, pero lo que entiendo me gusta, me parece bien traído, y el momento final de la obra me ha pillado descolocado para bien. Me deja muchas ganas de seguir con el resto de obras que salieron como precuelas o secuelas.

No lo recomendaría a la ligera, ya que no es un cómic al uso. Pero si te gusta la ciencia ficción, los cómics (aunque en este caso es europeo) y quieres probar algo diferente, puedes probar con esto, aunque siempre negaré haberlo recomendado 😂


---------------------


I just read this work, and I wonder how to do the review. Because at first it's quite simple, but it has so many "background" things that it's complicated. To put yourself in a situation: John Difool is a class R private detective, who ends up being thrown into the void due to the vicissitudes of life for something we don't know (this image is one of the most recognized)



This is the first page of the work, and from it you can see what it will consist of: surreal situations, vast and crowded spaces, the type of art that it will have... That is because The Incal is both the work of Jodorowsky and Moebius. Both began to collaborate in the failed Dune project (there are some mentrek instead of mentat, there are well cities and so), and here they decided to dump many of the things they had prepared for that. I must say that the story follows well if you stay in what is being narrated, if you want to go deeper you already have to be more prepared and willing, there are many things that I preferred not to think about too much in case it gives me a headache. As for the art, it works wonderfully in large shots, where huge ships or macro cities are seen. When it comes to the characters, it fails me more, although it is true that there are very nice and well-done shots, others are unsuccessful. Luckily they are the (very) least.

Normally in this type of adventure we expect to find a shortlist of well-written and differentiated protagonists. The latter I can aknowledge, but with the former I don't see it so much. John Difool himself is an atypical protagonist, he is always complaining, thinking only of himself (his fixation with having a whiskey, a cigarette, a box of drugs and a homeo-whores can be challenging at times) and he is always weighing down the rest of the cast.

I liked the ending a lot. It certainly has more background than I can get from it, but what I understand I like, it seems well brought to me, and the final moment of the work has caught me out of place for good. It makes me really want to continue with the rest of the stories that came out as prequels or sequels.

I wouldn't recommend it lightly, as it's not the typical comic. But if you like science fiction, comics (although in this case it is European) and you want to try something different, you can try this, although I will always deny having recommended it 😂

[Jeff Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

***1/2 stars. I can see why this epic has inspired so many other sci-fi and comix creators - it's spilling over with fascinating ideas about media and technology, compelling adventure scenes and detailed cityscapes, and Moebius's eye-popping graphics. It was a fun read though also a bit clinical. The characters are all one-dimensional archetypes, there's no emotion generated, and the scenes about convincing entire galaxies to meditate had an awkward New Age feel to them. But if you're a fan of Moebius and/or Jodorowsky, this is well worth your time.

[Ill D · Rating 1 out of 5]

Incal is the most unintentional anti-drug advertisement of all time.

[S.A. Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept picking up this graphic novel, reading a few pages, only to then put it down again. I could never get into it. The story zooms everywhere and is very epic, but the characters are not really developed and the dialogue is at times kind of preachy. I don't know if it all reads better in the original French or not. This story is heavy in metaphysics, and it felt like a lot of the supposed profundity of the text whizzed over my head, or maybe Jodorowsky tried to jam too much into this one story. Like I don't understand why he felt the need to introduce the five humors of John Difool, portrayed as funny little cartoon imps, when they didn't seem to add anything to the story or maybe that whizzed over my head, too. But there is a lot going on in this book and stuff is introduced on the fly that seems to be really big, but we don't get to spend any time on it. I thought maybe I wasn't really reading the first in a series and some of the characters were developed in previous stories, but though Jodorowsky wrote some prequels, this was supposed to be a standalone story. There are so many characters that we don't get to know any of them, except possibly Difool, and he just barely. Though I felt like I wasn't getting much of the story, I persevered because I'd never read a work drawn by Moebius and wanted to keep looking at his artwork, and I had to read to understand what the artwork was portraying.

The introduction to this book was by Brian Michael Bendis, which consists of him beseeching the reader not to rip off this book. I admit many of the elements in this story were familiar from other stories, notably The Fifth Element. Jodorowsky and Moebius sued the director Luc Besson for copyright infringement. They didn't win their case, but I think they had plenty of cause, and I think Jodorowsky and Moebius' estate may want to take a hard look at the past series of Dr. Who because there are a lot of things that are very similar. I recognized the microscopic spaceship and possibly the protoqueen/the flesh as being from this book. I'm sure there are more.

[Siona Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished this a couple of days ago but apperently I forgot to add that to goodreads. Anyway, really enjoyed this, althought it feel like there were 4 different endings to this book but Jodo kept going "and now THIS!". Which I suppose my be okay for some people, but it got to the point where I really identified with John Difool about being tired of it all lol. But there were a lot of great elements in this book that make up for it. Would definitely say to check it out!

[Pablo Mallorquí · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un clásico de la ciencia ficción al que me he acercado con temor porque, aunque el dibujo de Moebius es sublime, el guion es de Jodorowsky y es un personaje cuyos intereses esotéricos no van conmigo. Y en El incal me he encontrado precisamente con una plasmación de dichos intereses bajo la forma de una space opera metafísica. La obra se lee con interés, porque el mundo de Moebius hipnotiza y los personajes tienen complejidad. Pero a medida que avanza la trama esta acaba siendo un delirio simbólico que se cree más profundo de lo que de verdad es. Aunque toca temas alquímicos y religioso que me interesan y la lectura es amena, acabo un poco decepcionado y saturado.

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 5 out of 5]

The comic book magnum opus.

EDIT: Just got it as a early christmas present, time to finally re-read and dive into the spin-offs!

[Hosein · Rating 3 out of 5]

سه ستاره، فقط هم برای تصویرسازی و طراحی بی‌نظیر این کمیک. داستان به طرز ناراحت کننده‌ای بی سر و ته و غیرمنطقی بود.

[Negativni · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Incal je kultni strip koji je napisao Alejandro Jodorowsky, a nacrtao Moebius. Jodorowskom je ovo bio prvi strip koji je napisao i najavio ga je skromno kao "roman koji će promijeniti način na koji francusko tržište razmišlja o stripu".

Jodorowsky je poznat po svojim kvazi-umjetničkim filmovima El Topo i The Holy Mountain, koje ja vidim kao proto-hipsterske, u njima je "čudno" prodano pod originalno, a simbolika nema dubinu, ili ja jednostavno nisam podešen na sličnu frekfenciju kao Jodorowsky pa tu ne vidim ništo osim onog očitog. Filmovi su vjerovatno i uspjeli, jer su snimljeni u vrijeme kada je new age mistika bila u usponu.

Nakon gledanja odličnog dokumentarca Jodorowsky's Dune, jasnije je kako je The Incal nastao.

Jodorowsky je htio ekranizirati popularni Frank Herbertov znanstveno-fantastični roman Dune, ali naravno u svom stilu, dokumentarac odlično prati događaje oko projekta, tu su razgovori sa glavnim akterima, a naravno tu je i sam Jodorowsky, koji govori o tome kako je on zamislio film. U biti od romana bi ostao isti naslov i imena likova. Neke ideje koje je spomenuo su urnebesne, ali da sad ne otkrivam stvarno vrijedi pogledati dokumentarac. Uglavnom projekt je propao i roman je na kraju ekranizirao David Lynch. Jodorowsky je ostao sa hrpom tih ludih ideja i kontakta sa raznim ilustratorima, između ostalih i sa legendarnim Moebiusom koji je i radio skice i nacrte scenarija. Oni su onda od toga na kraju napravili The Incal. Jodorowsky je tu natrpao sve i svašta, bez nekog posebnog smisla ili logike, dok je Moebius nadmašio samog sebe i napravio hrpe predivnih ilustracija.

Moebius mi je jedan od dražih crtača i dobri su mi njegovi stariji stripovi u kojima je također miješao mistiku i humor sa znanstvenom fantastikom, sa većim naglaskom na fantastiku, no tamo je to bolje funkcioniralo, možda zato što su ti stripovi puno kraći i nerijetko bez teksta.

Za strip veličine The Incala treba puno više priče i sadržaja, nisam ga mogao čitati ni kao nenamjerni trash, nego mi je ostao nekako između i jednostavno mi je bio iritantan. Možda i zbog te pompoznosti Jodorowskog koju sam osjetio kao sveprisutnu. Dvojku sam dao samo zbog Moebiusovog crteža, jer je meni ovo nečitljivo.

[Xavier Hugonet · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I finally get to read those classics of French sci-fi thanks to an Humble Bundle from Humanoids.

« But, aren’t you french ? »

Well, yes. But I’m not the kind of French to pay 15€ for 48 pages of comic, and to wait a year between two installments.

So, The Incal is the start of the whole Metabarons universe. We follow the misadventures of a low rather private eye caught into events bigger than himself. Is it good ? Yes, it’s written by Jodorowski. Is it well drawn ? Yes, it’s drawn by Moebius.

However, I’ve heard for decades about the genius of Jodorowski and Moebius creation and, reading it now, I can’t help but notice it borrowed heavily from the pages of early Judge Dredd in its world building. Maybe it’s a coincidence. I don’t want to be sacrilegious. But, we have human bodies recycling à la Rezyk, snarky TV holofeeds, bloc wars, etc... That’s a lot of coincidences.

Still, well worth the very low price of admission.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple amazing. The art, the concept, the execution. It's a multilevel sci-fi that speaks volumes on spirituality, religion, technology, sexuality, human sacrifice, the duality of man and the connection between these concepts and many more. "The Incal" is one of the best choices you'll ever make, yet another proof (of too many to count) of Moebius mastery and genius. He's truly transcendent, Jodo was lucky to share some of his light with this comic.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have known that this would be weird knowing that it is written by Jodorowsky. It was nice to see the art by Moebius. I just didn't like this.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Up with techno-techno science!