Moebius Library: The Art of Edena by Jean "Moebius" Giraud

I don't want to say "art of" books always come out as line extensions after a creator has died and can't produce new work, but...it's pretty darn common.

This book, for example: The Art of Edena, part of the vague "Moebius Library" (which seems to be primarily, if not entirely, posthumous itself). It was assembled in 2018 and credited to Jean "Moebius" Giraud, who had died in 2012. It also lists "Commentary by" Isabelle Giraud (his widow) and Moebius Production, which I suspect is the actual entity that assembled this stuff, signed publishing contracts, checked proofs, and so forth.

It is, as the title implies, an art book related to his graphic novel series The World of Edena - it has four short comics stories set in that world, plus a bunch of paintings, some rough pages, and more than a little text by someone clearly not Moebius about how awesome he was and how special and wonderful his characters Stel and Atan are in these stories.

Luckily, it's the kind of art book that is mostly art, and the art is presented clearly and well on large pages. The text is a bit much, particularly for those (like me) who think the Edena stories are goofy and weirdly lumpy, lurching from one Moebius obsession to another as they were created over a few decades, and not actually reaching a solid ending, either. But you have to assume that the marketing entity set up to exploit a dead creator's work will consider him the best things since spreadable cream cheese, so we just roll with it.

As usually, I find Moebius's art lovely, detailed, and particular while finding his ideas often second-hand, sophomoric, and faintly embarrassing. The stories here - I don't want to claim much; they are short and may be the main selling point but are not a majority of the book - are mostly wordless, which is always a big plus for Moebius.

Potentially positive: this book explains the plots of the Edena books in greater clarity than the books themselves did - at least to me, when I read them. So it does function as a solid companion to the series.

So, all in all, this is a nice book, of most interest to big Moebius fans obviously, with a lot of striking art and a fair bit of broad claims that the reader (if anything like me) will not entirely be able to swallow. Again: a posthumous "art of" book; that's what to expect.