by Moebius
Issue 1, July 1993
Epic Comics
The English translation of The Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelious (Le Garage Hermétique de Jerry Cornelius) first appeared in the September, 1977 issue of Heavy Metal, as a prequel of sorts titled 'Major Fatal'.
The series proper launched in the October,1977 issue and ran till the April,1980 issue.
No other comic serialized in the pages of Heavy Metal was as widely touted as 'Garage'. Its meandering plotting, and stunning visuals made it a favorite for the segment of the HM readership with ready access to pot........which I did not have. So maybe that's why I always found 'Garage' to be somewhat underwhelming.
My lack of enthusiasm probably also derived from the fact that the HM editors insisted on publishing 'Garage' in the same way as it originally appeared in Metal Hurlant in 1976 - 1979: as tiny (sometimes just two pages) installments. By releasing it in such truncated fashion, the editors guaranteed that the series' already disjointed, free-form presentation was even more fragmented.
After appearing in HM, the series was reprinted as a graphic novel, Moebius 3: The Airtight Garage in 1987 by Marvel's Epic Comics imprint. Copies of that graphic novel in good condition have asking prices of $83............
In July 1993, Epic released 'Garage' as a four-issue, colored comic book. Along with the comic proper, Moebius also contributed some additional, one-page illustrations that were placed at the end of each issue.
These older Epic comic book issues can be obtained for reasonable prices.
Some changes were made to the story appearing in the Epic series; for example, the references to 'Jerry Cornelius' all were changed to 'Lewis Carnelian'. According to PorPor Books Blog reader Skin2279, this was done because, although Michael Moorcock at first gave permission to use the Cornelius character, he later rescinded this permission.
Being able to read the entire 'Garage' series in these four comics definitely helps. The plot remains only partially coherent, which is maybe for the best, but when seen in its entirety, it makes much more sense than it did when first serialized in Heavy Metal or Metal Hurlant.
I'm going to be posting all four issues of the 1993 comic books here at the PorPor Books Blog.
Moebius's artwork is very impressive in its meticulous detail.However, one drawback to the comic is that the dimensions of the original artwork are drastically shrunk to meet the page size and formatting of the American comic book, giving the art and lettering a cramped, tiny appearance.
As well, the decision to color the comic version of 'Garage' using a flat, early-90s comic book palette - and a large team of five (!) Colorists - tends to detract from the clarity of Moebius's pencil work........
Apparently Michael Moorcock announced at one point that his "Jerry Cornelius" character would be made freely available for others to use. Moebius took him up on this, but after the first episode of the "Airtight Garage" came out, MM rescinded this permission. Hence the change of title.
ReplyDeleteThe name of the protagonist of Mœbius's The Airtight Garage was changed in later editions to "Lewis Carnelian". In 2006, on his website, Moorcock wrote:
ReplyDelete"I didn't retroactively withdraw permission. Moebius was a friend of friends of mine when he started and someone (I don't know who) told him I didn't like the strip. I loved the strip, though I'd said it wasn't really Jerry Cornelius. This got taken to mean by someone that I didn't like it and Moebius, whom I came to know later and explain that I hadn't withdrawn permission, took the JC out of the title. He knows now that I liked it and had no problems with it"