This late work by Moebius follows the protagonist of The Airtight Garage (the eponymous Major Grubert) in a series of connected scenes or episodes as he struggles with the role of oracle, the nature of good and bad, and probably something to do with spirals or time or keys or something. It’s likely Moebius would have been equally dismissive about the story in The Major, taking great pleasure in surrealistic twists and leaps in the narrative, characterisation and art style, which can jump from sparse and riddled with peculiar slips in character continuity to incredibly dense and detailed panels that might best be described as a Mayan wall frieze rendered by H.R. Giger on the surface of an acid tab.
It would be very easy to sell up the Carlos Castaneda influenced experimental profundity, and reflections on the nature of time and narrative, of this book, but in reality the philosophical musings come across more sixth former marijuana user mixed with frustrated writer searching for purpose and meaning. However, much more fundamental to the surrealism of The Major is that it’s also very, very funny. Moebius, in dialogue, narration and visual storytelling alike, has a Monty Python knack of undercutting the discomfort of the unreal with sudden everyday bathos and undercutting anything too straightforwardly narrative, or potentially deep, with eruptions of outright silliness.
It’s a relatively short book in terms of plot but, for added casual drug use points, the back section of the book is filled with standalone full-page illustrations that are begging to adorn the walls of the twenty something stoner in your life. So if, like this reviewer, the thought of forced profundity or experimentalism fills you with dread and panic you should rest assured that Moebius knows how silly he is often being and is having an awful lot of fun while doing it. Don’t be afraid to step into that world.
MOEBIUS LIBRARY: THE MAJOR is out now in hardcover and digital from Dark Horse Comics
