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Underground > Comic Books >

Alejandro Jodorowsky

No star here laces

09:16 / 16.11.04

I've been on an extended Jodorowsky phase recently, buying up and reading anything he's done that I can get my hands on. Here is not the forum for discussing his film work (which is utterly deranged) but suffice to say that if you're amused, tickled or intrigued by El Topo or Santa Sangre, you NEED to check out the comics.

Ones I've read are:

The Incal
The Metabarons
Son of the Gun

The Incal is probably his best-known work. It's quite a tight story about a futuristic dystopia (so far, so yawn) but is gleefully over-the-top and has a breakneck pace and surfeit of ideas that will be glorious to anyone who's ever enjoyed a Gilbert Morrison comic.

I love the fantastic depravity of the Aristos (queuing up to burn suicides alive) and the imagery of the amorine drug, plus the whole vignette with the bambi-head girl wanting to give her virginity to John before becoming an Amorine factory, but instead being raped to death by John's dad in the guise of a hunchback! Heady stuff...

Um, yeah, any other fans here?

14:46 / 16.11.04

Aye, I've read the first book of the Incal and have been meaning to pick up the other volumes that have come out. I think it's probably the most accesible of his comics work that I've read, tried one of the Metabaron's books and found it a bit tedious, I may just have chosen a bad volume though. Can't remember the name of it, was about the lineage of metabarons going back into history, fairly pedestrian sci-fantasy for the most part. I read the curiously titled 'Madwoman of the sacred heart' at some point as well, which was OK but again a bit disappointing if you're expecting something like his film work... which is probably an unfair standard to judge by.

Incal was great though, I love the way you think you know the general territory of the story and then he'll suddenly throw some batshit crazy incongruous idea into it that shakes your perception of the story. Are the later books as good as the first one?

I might go back and re-read that Metabaron's volume though, as I saw a documentary on Jodorowsky recently where he was discussing his theories about how family and ancestors shape a person's behaviour, and I think a lot of this material was probably the basis for the extended history in Metabarons. Jodorowsky worked as a family counselor in Paris at one point, and wrote a series of books on the subject, that remain untranslated into English, drawing on themes like ancestors and tarot imagery. Quite an interesting aspect of his output. Although I'm not sure which maniac watched El Topo and though "Yeah, let's hire that guy!"...

04:13 / 17.11.04

Speaking of Jodorowsky, San Franciscan Barbeloids can see him in person next Monday at CIIS, where he's appearing as part of their Enlightened Duality series (scroll down, he's the final guest speaker):

Psychomagic: Beyond Therapy
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Monday, November 22, 7pm, CIIS
Admission: $15 general/$10 students & seniors

Alejandro Jodorowsky, Chilean-born mystic, director, author, and esoteric comic book artist, speaks for the first time in North America on Psychomagic, his healing practice that uses the language of the subconscious to undo our deepest knots, phobias, fixations, and obsessions. He is the writer and director of the film El Topo.

08:42 / 17.11.04

That bit at the end of the blurb that says "He is the writer and director of El Topo" almost sounds like a warning doesnt it. I read it as:

"Alessandro Jodorowsky speaks for the first time about his healing practice and system of therapy. He is a fucking lunatic."

11:17 / 17.11.04

I've been getting the Incal-world stuff since the DC reprint thing. Technopriests is my fave.

They read a bit funny compared to US comics, lot more rhetoric and sneering.

09:58 / 30.11.04

I've been a fan of Alexandro Jodorowsky since I read his first Incal series with Moebius in the eighties. I picked up the prequel drawn by Zoran Janetov (avant le Incal)which was published by Humanoids and suddenly the story became clearer. The american Humanoids edition however was sadly lacking s it was censored, reduced in size (as are all the new american editions)and recoloured. Some time ago I read the first part of the new Incal series (Apres de Incal: La Noveau Réve)with Moebius in danish and it was very good. The Technopriests and Megalex is in the same universe as the Incal and Metabarons.
HOT

04:01 / 01.12.04

Yes, Technopriests is absolutely bugfuck crazy amazing. It sent me on a Jodo kick too. Liked White Llama immensely, was very impressed by Son of the Gun, and bought but have yet to read Metabarons. A recolored Incal tpd collection (multiple volumes) is on the horizon, god knows what miracles computer coloring will do for that masterpiece, as is the Incal prequels material.

I've enjoyed lots of Humanoids books, actually, particularly The Hoard (not as mad as jodo, but spitting distance) and the Bilal volumes.

Saw him at an LA signing @ La Luz de Jesus gallery, and he was hilarious and cool. if you know Spanish, there's a bio out, and it looked to be lavishly illustrated. His life & career are as freaky & amazing as his work. Wish the bio was available in English...

04:03 / 01.12.04

RE: the jodo Bio, by "lavishly illustrated" I mean with photos. it's not a comeek booke.

No star here laces

07:49 / 01.12.04

re: Metabarons

I totally agree, on first read it IS pedestrian sci-fi. I picked up one of the single issues years ago and it put me right off until now.

However the ancestor thing is spot on - this series comes alive when you start reading through more than one generation of Metabaron. Each succeeding Metabaron has different issues to the preceding one, and they become successively more brutal and efficient warriors.

Once you get to the story of "Steelhead" you're hooked, though - from that point on it turns into THE most fucked family saga you're ever likely to come across, complete with multiple incest, brain-swapping, self-mutilation etc. etc.

I've read up until "Immaculate conception" which is the TPB which deals with the fourth Metabaron.

One of the nice things (for us wilful obscurantists) is how hard it is to get a hold of all of Jodo's work. Whenever I see something by him, I buy it, because I don't know when I'll come across it again.

Re: Humanoids

Their stuff causes consternation in me because those big, hardback, large format editions are so beautiful, but my cheapskate side always ends up buying the smaller ones because they're so much of a better deal. Feels like putting money before art...

16:35 / 01.12.04

"Their stuff causes consternation in me because those big, hardback, large format editions are so beautiful, but my cheapskate side always ends up buying the smaller ones because they're so much of a better deal"

Tell me about it! After buying White Llama & Son of the Gun, I found the original hbs at The Iliad, an *amazing* used bookstore here in LA. They were so reasonably priced as to equate with the cost of buying two volumes of the Humanoids reprints.

The Timaximus, The!

03:59 / 19.04.07

Once you get to the story of "Steelhead" you're hooked, though

And then, of course, you run out of English editions. Bah! Amazon.com has "Steelhead and Dona Vicenta" as having been published June 2005. I doubt a fourth book is coming any time soon. Is there any way for an Anglophone such as myself to read "Aghora" and "Nameless?"

04:19 / 19.04.07

I've seen Jodorowsky scanlation attempts online. No links on hand, but googling around ought to turn something up. Unless you feel that that's theft - and wrong - at which point, you'll just have to wait awhile. Possibly forever. Or learn new languages.

08:01 / 19.04.07

I've been reading Metabarons recently, and you know what strikes me? Just how bloody misogynistic the guy is. Women are, without fail, whores or mothers, and in one instance both a man's whore and quite literally his mother. In fact the whore/mother distinction kind of breaks down because it would seem that ultimately all women are there to care from you, be fucked by you, and to die for you, usually brutally. Oh yeah, and subservient robot narrators like to talk about fucking constantly and how great it would be to be fucked. Also, they sometimes faint.

Okay, there's a lot more to be said here, but for the moment I only have one word: weird.

It is trangely compelling, however. In the manner of a car crash I mean.

lord nuneaton savage

09:22 / 19.04.07

He actually considers himself a feminist, which can be a bit hard to square with his work. I think he's one of those folk who like their women displayed on archetypal pedestals. Certainly the films (especially 'El Topo' and 'Fando Y Lis') contain some dodgy images.

I still fucking worship the technicolour carpet he glides on, though.

Just finished doing a review of Jodorowsky's ouvre for the next issue of 'Plan B', so he's fairly fresh in my mind at the mo'.

11:23 / 19.04.07

Fancy emailing us a copy of yer article or am I going to have to spend my own Christing money?

23:45 / 19.04.07

Les Yeux Du Chat; just phenomenal; in Taboo 4 if I remember rightly.

Imagine if he'd done Dune with Moebus...would have been a very unusual piece of work; it almost makes De Laurentis picking Lynch a second best option; which I guess it was (I heard Lynch was asked to direct Return of the Jedi can you dig it?)

The saga and sprawl of Metabarons reminds me a lot of Dune and though I'm not sure of the timing I'd say it was Jodo exorcising the demons of not doing Dune as a feature.

I caught the last half hour of The Holy Mountain five years ago on SBS here in aus, wish I'd seen the whole thing. Does anyone know if its had a DVD release?? What about Sangre and El Topo what kind of extras would have been included...

Love the mans work; a true visionary.

lord nuneaton savage

08:21 / 20.04.07

May the 14th is when the remastered versions of 'El Topo' and 'The Holy Mountain' are released. There's a six dvd box set coming out soon after which has 'Fando Y Lis' in it, as well as cds of the OSTs of all three films.

Yow-fucking-sa!

17:21 / 20.04.07

The saga and sprawl of Metabarons reminds me a lot of Dune and though I'm not sure of the timing I'd say it was Jodo exorcising the demons of not doing Dune as a feature.

I was thinking the same thing.

20:11 / 20.04.07

I made the 'Dune' connection but I never made the 'didn't get to make 'Dune' connection', which is probably right on the nail-head.

I tend to think of his virgin/whore dichotomy as a trope he likes to pull out for its supposed simplicity or purity-of-metaphor, along the same lines I use to excuse lots of stuff in Ken Russell films. A lot of his work his precision-meanness, regardless of gender or how much sex is involved. Even the nice stuff is well, crushing kids feet.

fish confusion errata

18:30 / 25.04.07

Here's Jodorowsky on his aborted attempt to film Dune, with Moebius, O'Bannon, Dali, etc.

I love how his stories keep going in wildly unexpected directions. I especially love The Incal, Metabarons, and Face de Lune, which is not in English but I've "translated" the first 4 books. Le Lama Blanc is awesome too.

I wonder if the rest of Après l'Incal will ever be published? I heard that Moebius no longer wants to work on it.

I wasn't very impressed with Technopriests. It suffers form a hero who can do anything the plot requires. And the virtual worlds do not have much detail at all.

May 1 is the release of Fando y Lis, El Topo, and The Holy Mountain on DVD!

fish confusion errata

23:15 / 25.04.07

Women are, without fail, whores or mothers

Not all of the time. The main female character of Face de Lune is neither.

06:58 / 26.04.07

Well, I did say I'd only read Metabarons.

I think "a lot of the time" is enough, frankly.

fish confusion errata

19:38 / 26.04.07

Fair enough. I'm just saying, for the sake of accuracy or whatever.

AIUI Jodo met Moebius through Dune. It was after that fell through that they worked together on The Incal. Metabarons came later.

Here's the commercial for the movie version of The Incal that was never made...

19:47 / 26.04.07

That trailer is very cruel for not having a film to back it up.

Otherwise, yep, that's basically what the book felt like reading, I'd say. (Also, we need a better word for intake of comics than 'reading' because it isn't, really.)

fish confusion errata

01:20 / 27.04.07

Castaka vol 1: Le premier ancêtre is the first book in a prequel series to Meta-Barons, by Jodorowsky and Das Pastoras.

04:48 / 02.05.07

ITS OUT....DROOL

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32495

anyone else got this yet; trying to get a copy sent out to NZ
perfect therapy for my cactus fueled broken neck

22:45 / 03.05.07

Yeah, mine arrived yesterday, smack in the middle of my own exam-time, and posing a serious threat to my own productivity. So far I've only watched "El Topo," which was pretty amazing. I hadn't seen any of this stuff before; I bought the boxed set pretty much on the basis of The Incal & this thread alone.

Will be screening Holy Mountain here next monday, if anyone in the NC area is interested.

My only criticism of the boxed set is that the inclusion of soundtracks brings almost no added value, but maybe I'll change my mind about that. In any event, the thing is rather reasonably priced.

fish confusion errata

03:11 / 04.05.07

I got mine today. The restored Holy Mountain looks pretty amazing. La Cravate is such a sweet movie. Girl find guy, girl takes guy's head...

fish confusion errata

03:17 / 04.05.07

That review says "Rappers will start quoting HOLY MOUNTAIN" - they have... that track on Company Flow's Funcrusher Plus. Lune TNS I think.

08:45 / 04.05.07

Films to be discussed in the correct forum please.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

00:37 / 11.02.08

Finished the two Humanoids Incal books (excluding the Before... because I couldn't find it at the shop) this weekend, having finally given in and picked them up after much deliberation -- one of the few times that I came across something without prior notions of it, beyond the fact that I like Moebius -- I hadn't heard of it on the Lith yet, not yet (though it this thread was here and it's cropped up other places since I picked them up).

I liked it, though I found it remarkably uneven. My favourite character was probably Animah, because she seemed to defy narrative & character assumption; she reminded me a lot of Leilah/Lilith in Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve, shifting between the visceral Queen of Rats aspect and the later astronaut-empress. She fails to be a sex object and simply knows what's going on more than John Difool did.

The ending -- I don't know. I can see what it means, what it signifies, but it feels too easy, you know? But perhaps that's simply because it's been copied in the years since...

Can't say I'm that interested in reading more about the Metabaron, but that's just me.

02:11 / 11.02.08

Humanoids was suppsed to get back up and running: anybody have any news? I am too lazy to google! I'd love to see more Technopreists.

15:43 / 11.02.08

yup, i just recently read the technopriests books assuming that the narrative had been finished.

i really enjoyed reading it but felt the plot structure made it quite hard going. the art was amazing and the crazy psychedelic science fantasy is spot on.

any news? can't find anything online- its quite confusing the way its sometimes grouped in books, sometimes volumes...

17:16 / 11.02.08

There was supposed to be a v4 from DC/Humanoids, IIRC. There was even more new untranslated material over in France after the DC deal went tits up (alas, alack!).

The books can def feel a little "lumpy" but it's just a matter of adjusting to Jodo's narrative speed and tics. Lots of mind blowers on many pages.

17:57 / 11.02.08

I caught the first tow books of Before Incal, and though they are quite fine, I honestly can't see how the original INCAL story can be improved. In fact, this might just open space to ruin everything. I mean, why not just go ahead and make The Airtight Garage, The Lost Years? (different author, I know but you get the picture)

anyway, my next ficsuit is gonna be Defiant Metabaron...