Poor Mojo's Newswire

Moebius changed my life. More than once. Many times. Before I began reading his comics, before I was even reading comics. Jean Giraud, either directly through his involvement or indirectly through his influence, created the aesthetic behind Alien, Blade Runner, Akira, Neuromancer, The Fifth Element, Tron, The Abyss, Frank Miller’s Ronin, Frank Quitely’s X-Men, Geoff Darrow, Walt Simonson, Mike Mignola, Taiyo Matsumoto’s No.5, the Empire Strikes Back, and Nausicaa: The Valley of the Wind – all of which I’d obsessed over and metabolized long before I ever read a single page of Moebius’ comics. The most resonant image of the future, the one which has dominated both the fringe and popular cultures of the past 30 years on three separate continents. No artist, let alone a comics artist, has been as singularly influential on the way we as a species see ourselves moving forward. For good or ill, since Moebius, and his contemporaries, imagined what we now think of as the modern urbanized city (or the cyberpunk city), we couldn’t have conceived of it. While that idea has many, many precedents, none of them ring as true. None of them are still relevant. Not one of them captures what city blocks teeming with dozens of kinds of people all together in one space. Walls of faces, some alien, all familiar. None have the locations and trappings of “the future” as used, lived-in. Science fiction in the past 30 years is indelibly linked to Moebius, he is everywhere you look.

As baby showers go, the party Mary Russell attended to celebrate her niece’s first child was sweet, with about a dozen women offering congratulations over ice cream and cake. But somewhere between the baby name game and the gifts, what had been light conversation took a sharp turn toward the personal and political — specifically, the battle over access to birth control and other women’s health issues that have sprung to life on the Republican campaign trail in recent weeks. “We all agreed that this seemed like a throwback to 40 years ago,” said Ms. Russell, 57, a retired teacher from Iowa City who describes herself as an evangelical Christian and “old school” Republican of the moderate mold. Until the baby shower, just two weeks ago, she had favored Mitt Romney for president. Not anymore. She said she might vote for President Obama now. “I didn’t realize I had a strong viewpoint on this until these conversations,” Ms. Russell said. As for the Republican presidential candidates, she added: “If they’re going to decide on women’s reproductive issues, I’m not going to vote for any of them. Women’s reproduction is our own business.” . . .

The family of a slain black teen is demanding to know why the white neighborhood watch captain who shot him is not behind bars. On February 26th, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a Seminole State College student, shot and killed 17-year-old high school junior Trayvon Martin in the Orlando, Florida suburb of Sanford. Martin, an African-American whose father and stepmother live in the predominantly white gated community of The Retreat at Twin Lakes, was walking home from a convenience store after purchasing a bag of Skittles, when he was confronted by Zimmerman. The official police report says Zimmerman had earlier called to police to alert them of a “suspicious person in the area” and was told not to pursue. He complained that “They always get away,” before continuing his pursuit. According to Zimmerman’s report, Martin, upon realizing that he was being followed, asked the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain what his problem was. At some point a scuffle ensued, and Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest with his 9mm handgun. He later told police he was acting in self-defense. “He had a gun, and Trayvon had Skittles,” said Benjamin Crump, attorney for Martin’s family. “[The police] say they are still investigating. I’m not sure what there is to investigate.” . . .