MOEBIUS CHANGED THE PARADIGM

The French illustrator and writer Jean Giraud, otherwise known as Moebius, is another 1980s world builder who Tony greatly admires. “He was a unique visionary who seemed to know no bounds,” Tony explains. “He was emboldened to draw just about anything: a Wild West story, space stories, fantasy stories and weird stories that just existed in some surreal plane of existence.”

While convention in the world of comics followed on from the likes of Jack Kirkby and Stan Lee, it was Moebius who Tony gravitated towards. “His was another world and I wanted to explore every inch of it. I didn’t always understand what I was reading, but it was effortlessly rendered. His technical skill was unique and instantly recognisable,” says Tony.

SCALE OF MOEBIUS From mythology to science fiction, Moebius always intrigued Tony with surreal, expansive vistas.

VISTAS OF WONDLA This planetscape painted for The Search for Wondla demonstrates a little of Moebius’s influence on Tony and his artwork.