(Total aside: I wonder if Grant Morrison is a Jodorowsky fan? Probably - they both write trippy, out-there comics - maybe Jodorowsky was an influence? It’s funny seeing the character of The Metabaron here because he looks exactly like Morrison does today! Maybe Morrison is a Jodorowsky creation come to life…? Alright, I’ll stop there - I’m just kidding but still I’d bet Morrison was heavily influenced by Jodorowsky.)īesides The Metabaron, the various adversaries chasing John are kinda rushed being setup and I felt a bit overwhelmed at so many characters being thrown at me in one go. Also, unlike a lot of ‘80s comics, The Incal has aged really well and doesn’t look its 35+ years - it still looks very contemporary.

If the sci-fi visuals seem overly familiar it’s because he was one of the original architects for these kind of modern space stories. He’s got an incredible sense of perspective, a keen eye for action and great vision for strange new worlds. Given Jodorowsky’s arthouse background, the story is surprisingly fast-paced, coherent and full of action: from the opening scene, John is thrown off a Judge Dredd-esque Mega-City One high rise and has to outrun cops and thugs with blasters, and aliens and whatnot are getting murked left and right! Coupled with Moebius’ striking art, the book looks and reads a lot like the excellent late ‘90s movie The Fifth Element - not surprising though given that Moebius was a storyboard artist on that film, along with other sci-fi classics like Alien and Tron.Įverything people say about Moebius’ art is right. But others do know and John must stay one step ahead from the various forces arrayed against him!

Set in a futuristic universe full of the usual talking aliens and flying cars, a lowly private investigator called John Difool stumbles across a mysterious glowing object - The Incal - not realising its immense power. And I was wrong - or at least half wrong - when it came to the first Incal book! I put off reading this one after seeing a clip a while back from Alejandro Jodorowsky’s movie The Holy Mountain where a screaming naked old geezer wearing cheetah breasts squirts milk into the face of a kneeling man ( for your trauma/amusement, here’s that scene), thinking that his comics were gonna be equally inaccessible, utterly incomprehensible and way too fartschool-y.

The incal jodorowsky