title: Adam Vinatieri

text: Vinatieri played in New England for the first 10 years of his NFL career, during which he played in four Super Bowls, earning three titles.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In 1996, Vinatieri was signed by the Patriots as an undrafted free agent to be a placekicker. In order to become their starter, he had to compete with 17-year veteran Matt Bahr. Bahr at first seemed to be the favorite, as he had a long history with Patriots coach Bill Parcells, including a Super Bowl win under Parcells in the 1990 season. However, Parcells ultimately made the decision to cut Bahr during the preseason and go with Vinatieri, mainly because Bahr was no longer capable of efficiently performing kickoffs.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In his rookie season, he chased down and tackled Dallas Cowboys returner Herschel Walker on a kickoff, leading Parcells to tell his rookie kicker "You're not a kicker—you're a football player." In Week 4, Vinatieri converted five of six field goal attempts against the Jacksonville Jaguars, to earn AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. He converted the 40-yard game-winning field goal in overtime of the 28–25 victory. He finished his rookie season converting 39 of 42 extra point tries and 27 of 35 field goal attempts. His first Super Bowl appearance was in his rookie season of 1996 when he played with the Patriots in their 35–21 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI. All-Pro and game MVP Desmond Howard's Super Bowl-record 99 yard touchdown return ended the Patriots' bid for a comeback. The game would mark the only Super Bowl defeat of Vinatieri's career. Vinatieri was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In Week 7 of the 1997 season, Vinatieri won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after converting all three extra point tries and all four field goal attempts in the 33–6 victory over the Buffalo Bills. In the 1997 season, Vinatieri converted all 40 extra point attempts and 25 of 29 field goal attempts as the Patriots went 10–6 and earned a playoff berth. He was responsible for scoring all of the Patriots' points with two field goals in their 7–6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the .


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In Week 5 of the 1998 season, Vinatieri converted three extra point and three field goals tries in the 30–27 victory over the New Orleans Saints. His last field goal attempt was a 27-yarder with six seconds remaining to put the Patriots in position to win the game. He earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his game against New Orleans. The Saints game was the beginning of a month for Vinatieri where he won AFC Special Teams Player of the Month. He finished the 1998 season converting all 32 extra point attempts and 31 of 39 field goal attempts.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In the 1999 season, Vinatieri won AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September. He converted 29 of 30 extra point attempts and 26 of 33 field goal attempts as the Patriots went 8–8. In the 2000 season, Vinatieri converted all 25 extra point attempts and 27 of 33 field goal attempts as the Patriots finished 5–11.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In the 2000 season, Vinatieri converted all 25 extra point attempts and 27 of 33 field goal attempts in the Patriots' 5–11 season.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In Week 14, Vinatieri converted all four field goal attempts in a 12–9 victory over the Buffalo Bills. The last of the four was the game-winner in overtime. He won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his game against Buffalo. In the 2001 regular season, Vinatieri converted 41 of 42 extra point attempts and 24 of 30 field goal attempts. In the 2001 playoffs, during a blizzard against the Oakland Raiders in the final game at Foxboro Stadium, Vinatieri kicked a 45-yard field goal into a swirling winter wind to tie the game 13–13 and send it into overtime. The Patriots won the game on another field goal of 23 yards by Vinatieri. In Super Bowl XXXVI that season, Vinatieri kicked a 48-yard field goal on the final play to give the New England Patriots their first Super Bowl victory, a 20–17 upset win over the St. Louis Rams, who were 14-point favorites coming into the game.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In Week 17, against the Miami Dolphins, Vinatieri converted all four field goal attempts in the 27–24 victory. The last of the four was the game-winner in overtime. He won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his game against Miami. In the 2002 season, Vinatieri converted all 36 extra point tries and 27 of 30 field goal tries as the Patriots went 9–7 and missed the playoffs in their title defense. He earned Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro honors.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In the 2003 regular season, Vinatieri converted 37 of 38 extra point tries and 25 of 34 field goal attempts. In an almost identical situation to the Super Bowl two seasons prior, he kicked a 41-yard field goal with four seconds left in Super Bowl XXXVIII to boost the Patriots to another championship (after missing one field goal and having another attempt blocked in the first half). This time, the Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers 32–29, making Vinatieri the first player ever to be the deciding factor in two Super Bowl games (Vinatieri kept the balls used on both of these kicks).


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: Vinatieri was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November. In 2004, Vinatieri led the NFL in scoring with 141 points (31-for-33 on field goals, and a perfect 48-for-48 on extra point attempts). In a Week 9 game against the St. Louis Rams, Vinatieri scored 16 points (four field goals and four extra points), and threw a four-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Troy Brown on a fake field goal attempt (that pass gives him a career passer rating of 122.9). For his game against the Rams, he earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. In Week 10, against the Buffalo Bills, he scored a career-high 17 points on five field goals and two extra points. He was named to the Pro Bowl and earned First Team All-Pro honors.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: Vinatieri scored a field goal and three extra points in the Patriots 24–21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In Week 3, Vinatieri earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He hit the game-winning field goal with one second remaining. In the 2005 season, Vinatieri converted 40 of 41 extra point attempts and 20 of 25 field goal attempts.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: By the time Vinatieri finished his final season with the Patriots in 2005, he had kicked 18 game-winning field goals with less than one minute remaining, including the postseason. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, he had a career field goal percentage of 81.9 percent (263/321), fifth-highest in NFL history. In his time in New England, his community involvement included helping Christian athletes, D.A.R.E., and the Governor's Highway Safety Bureau. He was a spokesperson for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island's teen anti-smoking contest, and also appeared in commercials for Boston-based pizza Papa Gino's. Vinatieri finished his 10 seasons with the Patriots as the team's all-time leading scorer with 1,156 points (that record was surpassed by Vinatieri's replacement, Stephen Gostkowski, in 2014). His jersey number 4 was not reissued for the next 14 seasons until quarterback Jarrett Stidham wore it in 2019.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: After the 2005 season, the Patriots chose not to place their franchise tag on Vinatieri as they had the year before, allowing him to become a free agent. He had met with the Green Bay Packers, but was set on signing in either a warm-weather climate or a team that played home games in a dome. On March 22, 2006, Vinatieri signed with the Indianapolis Colts, replacing Mike Vanderjagt, who signed with the Dallas Cowboys. Vinatieri was signed to a five-year contract and received a $3.5 million signing bonus.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: "When the Colts called, I told my agent, 'Let's not screw around,' " said Vinatieri, in his first extensive comments regarding his departure from New England. "I told him, 'If Indy is interested, let's get this done.'" Vinatieri said he has no regrets about not giving the Patriots a chance to counter the offer.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: With the Indianapolis Colts, Vinatieri had been a perfect 10-of-10 in kicks in the RCA Dome. He finished the 2006 season converting all 38 extra point attempts and 25 of 28 field goal attempts. He won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performances in Week 1 against the New York Giants and Week 8 against the Denver Broncos. In the , Vinatieri kicked five field goals in the Colts' 15–6 upset of the favored Baltimore Ravens.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: The Colts reached Super Bowl XLI after defeating the New England Patriots in the . It was Vinatieri's fifth Super Bowl appearance, and his first with the Colts. The Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29–17. Vinatieri converted three of four field goal attempts and one of two extra point attempts, the miss when punter/holder Hunter Smith fumbled the snap on the extra-point attempt after the Colts' first offensive touchdown. He missed a 36-yard kick wide left at the end of the first half—the third time he had missed a kick in the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XLI was Vinatieri's fourth Super Bowl victory. Vinatieri finished the 2006–07 postseason with 49 total points and 14 field goals, both NFL records. He is the only player to have three or more field goals in four consecutive postseason games.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: During the 2007 season, Vinatieri appeared in all 16 games and was 23 of 29 on field goal attempts and 49 of 51 on extra point attempts for 118 points (both missed PATs were blocked). This season marked his 12th consecutive 100+ point season. He kicked his 20th career game-winning FG in the final minute of a fourth quarter or overtime, this time with three seconds remaining against the Kansas City Chiefs on November 18, 2007. In the postseason that year, Vinatieri extended his NFL career postseason records in field goals (41), attempts (50), points (172) and consecutive games scoring (22).


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: Vinatieri made a 47-yard game-winner with three seconds remaining against Minnesota in Week 2. He made a 52-yard FG against New England in Week 9 with 8:05 remaining for the deciding points in 18–15 victory and was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Later that month, in Week 12, Vinatieri hit a game-winner with no time remaining at San Diego. In the 2008 season, Vinatieri appeared in 16 games and converted all 43 extra point attempts and 20 of 25 field goal attempts for 103 points.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In July 2009, Vinatieri had surgery on his right hip to alleviate a nagging injury, but the Colts expected that he would be ready for the season. Also, Vinatieri was placed on the injured reserve list for the rest of the season. However, Vinatieri struggled early in the season and complained of soreness in his knee. Doctors found loose cartilage in an MRI, and Vinatieri underwent arthroscopic surgery during the Colts' bye week. Vinatieri was expected to miss four to eight weeks while recovering. During the season, punter Pat McAfee assumed Vinatieri's kickoff duties, something he would continue to do until his retirement after the 2016 season. The Colts signed former Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover to replace him. There was speculation over whether the Colts could cut Vinatieri, but Colts president Bill Polian stated that Vinatieri would return when he was 100% healthy. Due to the injury, Vinatieri appeared in only six games for the Colts in 2009. He returned to the lineup and kicked a field goal but missed an extra point attempt in a Week 15 loss to the New York Jets, but then was inactive for the final game of the regular season as well as throughout the Colts' postseason run. Vinatieri did not play in Super Bowl XLIV, which the Colts lost to the New Orleans Saints. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame First Team All-2000s Team.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: The 2010 season showed a return to form after Vinatieri's injury-plagued 2009 season. Vinatieri appeared in 15 games that season. He converted all 51 extra point attempts and 26 of 28 field goal attempts. In the final game of the regular season, in which the Colts claimed the AFC South title, Vinatieri recorded his 23rd career game-winning kick in the final minute of regulation or in overtime. He was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time after the game. He led the league in extra points attempted and made. He finished third in total scoring.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: With 53 seconds left in the Colts' against the New York Jets, Vinatieri kicked a 50-yard field goal, his third field goal of the game, to put the Colts ahead 16–14. However, the Jets later won the game on a 32-yard field goal by Nick Folk as time expired.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: With Colts' quarterback Peyton Manning being out for the season due to injury, the Colts offense sputtered and had a noticeable effect on Vinatieri's production. In the 2011 season, Vinatieri converted all 24 extra point attempts and 23 of 27 field goal attempts.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In the 2012 season, Vinatieri converted all 37 extra point attempts and 26 of 33 field goal attempts.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In Week 11, against the Tennessee Titans, he converted all three extra point tries and all three field goal tries in the 30–27 victory to earn AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. In Week 13, against the Titans, he converted all five field goal attempts in the 22–14 victory. In Week 17, Vinatieri converted all three extra point attempts and all three field goal attempts in the 30–10 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars to earn AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. In the 2013 season, Vinatieri converted 34 extra point attempts and 35 of 40 field goal attempts. In the of the playoffs, Vinatieri converted all six extra point attempts and two field goal attempts in the 45–44 comeback victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Against the Patriots in the , Vinatieri became the first player in NFL history to convert 50 field goals in the postseason. On March 11, 2014, Vinatieri signed a two-year extension with the Colts.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In Week 13 of the 2014 season, against the Washington Redskins, Vinatieri converted a career-high seven extra-point attempts in the 49–27 win. Through Week 16, Vinatieri was 28-of-28 in field goals, and was selected to his third career Pro Bowl in December. In the regular season finale against the Tennessee Titans, Vinatieri converted his first field goal but missed on his second attempt, ending his run at a perfect season. He finished the season 30-of-31 in field goal attempts, and did not miss a extra point try in 50 attempts. He was named to his third career Pro Bowl. On January 2, 2015, Vinatieri was selected by the Associated Press as the First-team All-Pro kicker, his third such selection.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: On May 6, Vinatieri was ranked on the NFL Network's NFL Top 100 Players of 2015 list as the 98th best player heading into the 2015 season, becoming the first specialist (kicker or punter) ever to be ranked in the Top 100 Players List, as well as the oldest player to be ranked at the time.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: In Week 4 of the 2015 season, Vinatieri became the Colts' all-time leading scorer and the first player in NFL history to score 1,000 points with two teams. In Week 8, against the Carolina Panthers, he set the NFL's all-time record for overtime field goals made in a career with 10. In Week 11, Vinatieri converted three extra points and a game-winning field goal to give the Colts a come-from-behind win in Vinatieri's 300th NFL game. He was named AFC Special Teams player of the Month for November. In the 2015 season, Vinatieri converted 32 of 35 extra point attempts and 25 of 27 field goal tries.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: On March 8, 2016, Vinatieri signed a two-year, $6 million extension with the Colts. On October 12, Vinatieri was awarded the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week Award for the 16th time in his career, establishing a new NFL record. In Week 5, against the Chicago Bears, he tied his career-high with 17 points (five field goals and two extra points) scored in the 29–23 victory. In a game against the Tennessee Titans on October 23, Vinatieri kicked his 43rd successful field goal in a row to break the NFL record set by Mike Vanderjagt. Vinatieri was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for October. His streak of consecutive successful field goals ended at 44, when he missed a 42-yard kick in the Colts' Week 11 game against the Tennessee Titans. On January 1, 2017, a missed field goal in the season's final game against the Jacksonville Jaguars cost Vinatieri a $500,000 bonus. The bonus depended on Vinatieri finishing the 2016 campaign with a 90% or higher field goal rate. In the 2016 season, Vinatieri converted all 44 extra point attempts and 27 of 31 field goal attempts.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: On September 10, 2017, Vinatieri started his 22nd season in the NFL in a game against the Los Angeles Rams. In Week 5, Vinatieri went 4-for-4, hitting field goals of 23, 38, and 52 yards, followed by a 51-yard game-winner, in a 26–23 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers, earning him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. He finished the 2017 season converting 22 of 24 extra point attempts and 29 of 34 field goal attempts as the Colts finished 4–12.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: The 2018 season was one that featured several major milestones and NFL records for Vinatieri. On February 22, Vinatieri signed a one-year contract extension with the Colts through the 2018 season. In the Colts' 2018 regular season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Vinatieri hit a 51-yard field goal and became the oldest player to hit a field goal of 50 yards or more. In Week 2, against Washington, Vinatieri hit three extra-point attempts to score 2,501 points in his career and became only the second player in NFL history to score over 2,500 points; he also moved into fourth place all-time in extra-point attempts with 828. In Week 3, against the Philadelphia Eagles, Vinatieri connected on an extra point and 3-of-3 field goals, allowing him to tie the NFL record of 565 field goals made by Morten Andersen. In Week 4, Vinatieri hit 4-of-4 extra points and 2-of-2 field goals in a losing effort to the Houston Texans to make him the all-time leader in field goals made. He also surpassed George Blanda, moving him into fourth place all-time in career games played with 341. On October 4, 2018, Vinatieri kicked a 54-yard field goal to break his own record of the oldest player to hit a 50+ yard field goal. He also surpassed Gary Anderson, moving him into second place all-time in field goal attempts with 674. In Week 6, against the New York Jets, Vinatieri scored 10 points, hitting 2-for-2 in field goals and 4-for-4 in extra points, surpassing Anderson and moving into third place all-time in extra-point attempts. In Week 8, against the Oakland Raiders, Vinatieri scored 10 points and became the all-time NFL leader in points scored with 2,550. He earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his game against the Raiders. In Week 14, in a win over the Texans, Vinatieri made 3-for-3 extra points to move into second place all-time with 860 and he also connected on a 54-yard field goal to break his own record of oldest player to connect on a 50+ yard field goal. He also became the fourth player in NFL history to play in 350 games. In a Week 17 game against the Tennessee Titans, at age 46, Vinatieri broke his own record with a 53-yard field goal to become the oldest player to kick a 50+ yard field goal and moved into second place for most extra point attempts with 852. He also became the fourth oldest player to play in a game. He finished the 2018 season converting 44 of 47 field goal attempts and 23 of 27 field goal attempts.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: On September 8, 2019, Vinatieri started his 24th season in the NFL in a game against the Los Angeles Chargers. He had one of the worst games of his career, as he went 1–3 on field-goal attempts and 1–2 on extra points. In that game he became the third-oldest player in NFL history to play in a game and surpassed Gary Anderson for the second-most games played in NFL history. In the following game against the Tennessee Titans, he missed two more extra points. In Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons, Vinatieri rebounded and went a perfect 3 for 3 on extra points and a perfect 2 for 2 on field goals, including a 49 yarder which hit the lower crossbar and barely went over. The 49-yarder also marked the longest field goal ever made by someone his age in an NFL game. In Week 5, Vinatieri made all four field-goal attempts and an extra point in a win over the Kansas City Chiefs. With his 701st field goal attempt, he became only the second player to attempt 700 or more field goals, joining Morten Andersen. In Week 8 against the Denver Broncos, Vinatieri made three field goals, two of which were from 50+ yards away, one of which was 55 yards, thus making him the oldest player to make two or more from that distance in a single game, as well as making him the oldest player to kick a field goal of 55 yards or more, in the 15–13 win. He was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance despite having missed a field goal and an extra point within the game. In the following week's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Vinatieri missed a potential game-winning field goal late in the fourth quarter in the 26–24 loss; this unsuccessful field goal attempt tied him with Andersen for the most field goal attempts in a career. In the next game, Vinatieri became the all-time leader in field goal attempts in a career. On December 9, 2019, the Colts placed Vinatieri on injured reserve after he underwent season-ending knee surgery. Vinatieri finished the year with career-lows in field goal and extra point completion percentage at 68% and 78.6%, respectively. He finished 17 of 25 on field goal attempts and 22 of 28 on extra point attempts.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: On May 26, 2021, Vinatieri announced his retirement from the NFL after 24 seasons on former Colts teammate and punter Pat McAfee’s podcast, "The Pat McAfee Show". He retired as the NFL's all-time leading scorer, as well as the last active player to have played in the 1990s, and the last to play before Tom Brady. His 365 games were the second most by an NFL player all-time, behind Morten Andersen's 382.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: Vinatieri grew up in the Black Hills of western South Dakota. His great-great grandfather was Felix Vinatieri, an Italian immigrant who served as Lt Col George Armstrong Custer's bandmaster. Vinatieri stated that Lt Col Custer told Felix Vinatieri to head back to camp instead of going ahead with the regiment to Little Big Horn, a decision that saved his great-great grandfather's life. He is also a third cousin to the daredevil Evel Knievel and second cousin to scientist and author Tim Foecke (whose mothers are first cousins).


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: Vinatieri's sister is South Dakota politician Christine Erickson. Vinatieri's nephew, Chase, followed in his footsteps as a kicker at South Dakota State.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: Vinatieri took an interest in motor racing, and co-owns Miller Vinatieri Motorsports with former racing driver Dr. Jack Miller, which competes in multiple series in the Road to Indy.


title: Adam Vinatieri

text: Vinatieri once starred in a television commercial for the Snickers candy bar with the tagline, "Split the Uprights with Adam Nougatieri."


title: Classification of Indian cities

text: The "classification of Indian cities" is a ranking system used by the Government of India to allocate House Rent Allowance (HRA) to public servants employed in cities in India. HRA is also used by the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) to provide income tax exemptions. Cities are classified on the basis of their population, as recommended by the Sixth Central Pay Finance. Under the latest HRA city ranking scheme, most popular media and culture considers only Tier-X cities to be metropolitan in nature. These eight cities are considered India's "metros".


title: Classification of Indian cities

text: Under the recommendation of the Seventh Central Pay Commission, the CCA classification was abolished in 2008. The earlier HRA classification of cities was changed from A-1 to X; A, B-1, and B-2 to Y; and C and unclassified cities to Z. X, Y, and Z are more commonly known as Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 cities, respectively. There are eight X cities and ninety seven Y cities.


title: Classification of Indian cities

text: On the basis of the 2011 census, two cities — Pune and Ahmedabad — were upgraded from Y to X and twenty one cities from Z to Y on 1 April 2014.


title: Classification of Indian cities

text: The cities were classified as follows before the Sixth Central Pay Commission's recommendations were followed in 2008. This classification was initially based on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission of India in 1997. Chennai, New Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai were classified as A-1 cities. City statuses were later revised based on the results of the 2001 Census of India. Hyderabad was upgraded from A to A-1 status on 31 August 2007, and the same with Bangalore on 21 September 2007. The CCA classification was abolished in 2008.


title: Classification of Indian cities

text: Under the older HRA classification, most popular media and culture considered only A-1 cities to be metropolitan in nature, therefore India's "metros".


title: Classification of Indian cities

text: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) classifies centres into six tiers based on population. The tables below show the classification.


title: Whey protein

text: Whey protein is a mixture of proteins isolated from whey, the liquid material created as a by-product of cheese production. The proteins consist of α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, serum albumin and immunoglobulins. Glycomacropeptide also makes up the third largest component but is not a protein. Whey protein is commonly marketed as a protein supplement, and various health claims have been attributed to it. A review published in 2010 in the European Food Safety Authority Journal concluded that the provided literature did not adequately support the proposed claims. For muscle growth, whey protein has been shown to be slightly better compared to other types of protein, such as casein or soy.


title: Whey protein

text: Whey is left over when milk is coagulated during the process of cheese production, and contains everything that is soluble from milk after the pH is dropped to 4.6 during the coagulation process. It is a 5% solution of lactose in water and contains the water soluble proteins of milk as well as some lipid content. Processing can be done by simple drying, or the relative protein content can be increased by removing the lactose, lipids and other non-protein materials. For example, membrane filtration separates the proteins from lipids, lactose and minerals in whey, which is followed by spray drying.


title: Whey protein

text: Whey can be denatured by heat. High heat (such as the sustained high temperatures above 72 °C associated with the pasteurization process) denatures whey proteins. While native whey protein does not aggregate upon renneting or acidification of milk, denaturing the whey protein triggers hydrophobic interactions with other proteins, and the formation of a protein gel.


title: Whey protein

text: Microbes have been engineered to produce proteins similar or even "bioidentical" to whey. Companies innovating microbe produced whey and cheese include Perfect Day, California Performance, New Culture, and Motif Ingredients. None of these companies stipulate the protein composition of their products, but they do contain some of the genes needed to make whey proteins. These products are thought to be viewed as similar to current GMO derived food products.


title: Whey protein

text: The protein in cow's milk is approximately 20% whey and 80% casein. The protein in human milk is approximately 60% whey and 40% casein. The protein fraction in whey constitutes approximately 10% of the total dry solids in whey. This protein is typically a mixture of beta-lactoglobulin (~65%), alpha-lactalbumin (~25%), bovine serum albumin (~8%) (see also serum albumin), and immunoglobulins. The third largest fragment of whey protein isolate derived from sweet whey is glycomacropeptide, which is technically not a protein. These are soluble in their native forms, independent of pH.


title: Whey protein

text: Whey protein is commonly marketed as a dietary supplement, typically sold in powdered form for mixing into beverages. Whey protein is also commonly used as a thickener to improve texture and decrease syneresis in many types of yogurt. Yogurt with high amounts of protein have been more commonly found on shelves due to the recently increasing popularity of Greek Yogurt.


title: Whey protein

text: The primary usage of whey protein supplements is for muscle growth and development. Eating whey protein supplements before exercise will not assist athletic performance, but it will enhance the body's protein recovery and synthesis after exercise because it increases the free amino acids in the body's free amino acid pool.


title: Whey protein

text: In 2010 a panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) panel examined the effects on whey protein on weight loss (via both fat loss and increased satiety) and strength and muscle building. The panel concluded that there's no evidence supporting any weight loss claims and that whey protein is roughly as effective for building strength, muscle and lean body mass as other protein sources.


title: Whey protein

text: Although whey proteins are responsible for some milk allergies, the major allergens in milk are the caseins.


title: Whey protein

text: Whey cheese, such as ricotta, is produced from whey and is rich in whey protein (except for brunost). The whey protein accounts for about 40–45% of the solids content of ricotta.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: Venom is a fictional character primarily voiced by Tom Hardy appearing in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Introduced in "Venom" (2018), Venom is depicted as a symbiote who binds with human investigative journalist Eddie Brock after landing on Earth, with the duo subsequently becoming a vigilante jointly known by Venom's name, and later as the Lethal Protector, facing Venom's former team leader, Riot, and later his son, Carnage, in combat. They are the second incarnation of the character in film, after Topher Grace and Tobey Maguire's respective portrayals of Eddie Brock / Venom and a symbiote-enveloped Spider-Man in "Spider-Man 3" (2007).


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: , the character has appeared in three films: "Venom", "" (2021), and an uncredited cameo appearance in the web series "Chen's Market" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film "" (both 2021). Hardy will reprise his role in a third film. His portrayal of the character in "Venom" was met with a mixed critical reception.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: The idea of giving Spider-Man a new costume was conceived by Randy Schueler, a Marvel Comics reader from Norridge, Illinois. In 1982, Schueler was sent a letter by editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, who acknowledged interest in his idea, with Shooter coming up with the idea of a black-and-white costume. "The Alien Costume" first appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #252 (May 1984), before fully appearing as Venom in the 300th issue.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: Venom's subsequent host, Eddie Brock, was created for the 300th issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man" in May 1988 due to cultural sensibilities of David Michelinie's suggestion of a villain consisting of the alien symbiote grafted into the body of a human female that forced him to conceive a male character by editor Jim Salicrup. Brock was later retconned to have a first appearance as a hand in "Web of Spider-Man" #18 (September 1986), but officially debuting in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #300, by Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, alongside Venom, initially presented as his alter-ego rather than as a separate living being.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: By July 2008, Sony Pictures was actively developing a spin-off film based on Venom alongside direct sequels to "Spider-Man 3" (2007), hoping the character could "add longevity" to the franchise in a similar fashion to Wolverine in 20th Century Fox's "X-Men" films. Industry insiders suggested Topher Grace, who portrayed Brock in "Spider-Man 3", should return for the spin-off because "the likeable actor could be a sympathetic evildoer", in response, McFarlane suggested that a "Venom" film could not do well with a villain as the central character.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: In December 2013, Sony revealed plans to use "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (2014) to establish their own expanded universe based on the Marvel properties they had the film rights to, including Venom. Since the film underperformed, in February 2015, Sony and Marvel Studios announced a partnership that would see Marvel Studios produce the next Spider-Man film for Sony, and integrate the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Sony still planned to produce the spin-off films on their own, but by November Sony had been focused on its new reboot with Marvel Studios and were believed to have been canceled.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: In March 2016, Sony revived the "Venom" film, being envisioned as a standalone film launching its own franchise unrelated to Sony and Marvel Studios' MCU "Spider-Man" films. In May 2017, Sony announced that Tom Hardy would star as Eddie Brock / Venom in the film, officially beginning a new shared universe that was later titled "Sony's Spider-Man Universe". The casting of Hardy, whose son was a big fan of Venom, happened quickly after he had left "Triple Frontier" (2019) in April and Sony saw "an opportunity to court an in-demand talent". Brad Venable provided additional voiceover for Venom's pain and grunting sounds in "Venom", his voice being combined with Hardy's for some dialogue, such as "We are Venom". Hardy signed on for three "Venom" films, which included "" (2021).


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: After the "Let There Be Carnage" mid-credits scene showed Brock and Venom being transported from their universe into the MCU, many commentators expected Hardy to reprise his roles in the MCU film "" (2021). Hardy ultimately appeared as Brock in the film's mid-credits scene, though there had been discussions about integrating him into the film's final battle. The character unknowingly leaves a piece of the Venom symbiote behind in the MCU at the end of the scene.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: "Venom" director Ruben Fleischer said that unlike a werewolf or Jekyll and Hyde, the relationship between Venom and Brock is a "hybrid", with the two characters sharing a body and working together. Hardy was drawn to this duality, and compared the pair to the animated characters Ren and Stimpy. Hardy gave Eddie an "aw-shucks American accent" while using a "James Brown lounge lizard"-like voice for Venom, that was later "modulated to sound more sinister". Hardy called Venom an antihero who would "do whatever he has to" to accomplish a goal. "Let There Be Carnage" director Andy Serkis described the pair in the ""Odd Couple" stage" of their relationship, with Venom trapped in Brock's body and just wanting to be the "Lethal Protector" which distracts Eddie from work and putting his life back together.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: Kate Gardner of "The Mary Sue" wondered whether "Venom" had been "queer-coded", a term referring to character appearing queer without their sexuality being a part of the story. Gardner soon noticed fan art depicting Brock and Venom as a couple appearing across social media sites, acknowledging that there were several moments throughout the film that implied such a relationship, including Venom turning against his species because of his time with Brock and deciding to french kiss Brock while transferring from Weying to him. Many of the fans posting the art and discussing the characters' relationship online began using the name "Symbrock" to refer to them. Amanda Brennan, lead of Tumblr's Fandometrics analysis team, said that "Symbrock" fans existed before the film due to comics, but the increase in popularity was "undoubtedly" due to the film's portrayal of the characters which she said made Venom's dialogue more "casual" compared to how he speaks in comics, adding Brennan that dialogue such as "I am Venom and you are mine" was deemed to be particularly romantic by these fans, as was the idea that Venom be seen not as a parasite but as someone who "chose [Eddie] Brock and has a connection to [Eddie] Brock".


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: When Sony began advertising the home media release of the film by presenting it as a romantic comedy focused on Brock and Venom's relationship, "io9" Charles Pulliam-Moore said it was the treatment the film deserved, attributing the change in strategy from the studio to the audience's response to the relationship. He added that it was rare for a film studio to "get on top of a so-so ad campaign" by adjusting towards the public's "reaction to a movie", believing it to have been successful. Michael Walsh at "Nerdist" agreed with Pulliam-Moore, describing the move as "fully embrac[ing] 'Symbrock'" and calling it "brilliant". Walsh said that though the advertisement was clearly a parody, it also "feels like a far more accurate portrayal of what the movie was really like than the initial [marketing] hinted at", and further highlighted the kissing scene.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: After being brought to Earth on a space shuttle by astronaut John Jameson as part of an invasion force of symbiotic lifeforms led by Riot, Venom and his team are captured by the Life Foundation, who bring them to San Francisco to begin a series of human trials in an attempt to achieve "symbiosis" and bind them to living beings, while Riot himself is stranded in Malaysia. Six months later, Venom is freed by an oblivious Eddie Brock as he attempts to free Maria, a homeless acquaintance of his whom Venom has been bound to. Transferring to Eddie's body, leaving Maria dead, Venom escapes the facility, while his two brethren die. As he begins to hear Venom's voice, Eddie reaches out to his ex-fiancée Anne Weying and her new boyfriend, Dr. Dan Lewis, for help and Lewis discovers the symbiote on examining Eddie. After Eddie is attacked by Life Foundation mercenaries to retrieve the symbiote, Venom manifests around his body as a monstrous creature that fights off the attackers and formally introduces himself to Eddie, declaring that "I am Venom, and you are mine."


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: After explaining their origins to Eddie, Venom assists him in breaking into his old workplace in order to turn in evidence of Life Foundation CEO Carlton Drake's numerous crimes, marveling at the cityscape of San Francisco after climbing atop a skyscraper. Subsequently, surrounded by SWAT officers alerted to the break-in, Venom and Eddie are forced to fight to escape, witness by Anne, who uses a MRI machine to separate Eddie from Venom, Dan having concluded that Venom's presence in Eddie's body is killing him: Venom subsequently explains that he would require sustenance from elsewhere to maintain a host, and it was the Life Foundation's decision not to feed him that led to his previous hosts' deaths. After Eddie is captured by Drake, now bonded to Riot (having found his way into the country through several hosts), who is in search of Venom, Anne bonds with Venom herself to free Eddie, who returns to Eddie's body by lifting him up and kissing him. Admitting that he is seen as a "loser" like Eddie on his home planet, Venom decides to abandon the Symbiotes' invasion and prevent Drake and Riot from using a rocket to return to the comet their species came from to acquire reinforcements, instead causing it to explode and kill them, with Venom apparently sacrificing himself to save Eddie. After the incident, Eddie returns to journalism, still secretly bound to Venom without Anne's knowledge, setting out to protect San Francisco by killing criminals. Confronting a criminal who had been extorting local convenience store owner Mrs. Chen, the duo devours him, declaring that "We are Venom." Sometime later, Eddie and Venom help Mrs. Chen film television advertisements for her store, holding her video camera for her before Venom expresses interest in eating Mrs. Chen's model.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: One year later, after Eddie visits incarcerated serial killer Cletus Kasady to interview him, Venom can figure out where Kasady has hidden the bodies of victims, which gives Eddie a huge career boost. After Kasady subsequently invites Eddie to attend his execution by lethal injection, Venom is provoked to attack Kasady via insults towards Eddie. After briefly witnessing Venom's true form, Kasady bites Eddie's hand, unknowingly ingesting a small part of Venom as they reproduce. Eddie is then contacted by Anne, who tells him that she is now engaged to Dan, much to Venom's displeasure.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: Wanting more freedom to eat human brains instead of chicken brains, Venom has an argument with Eddie, and the two end up fighting until the symbiote detaches from his body; they go their different ways. Venom makes his way through San Francisco by hopping from body to body and attending a rave until Anne finds him at Mrs. Chen's store and convinces him to forgive Eddie. She bonds with Venom herself to break Eddie out of a police station after he is arrested on suspicion of aiding in Kasady's escape from prison, as the symbiote piece he had ingested metamorphoses into Venom's offspring "Carnage." Making amends, Venom and Eddie bond again. Arriving at a cathedral with Dan, where Kasady and his lover Frances Barrison plan to get married, after Barrison and Kasady take Anne and Officer Mulligan hostage, respectively. Venom is shocked to see Carnage ("a red one") envelop Kasady and address them as "father", seeking to eat them, refusing to fight until Eddie promises to let him eat "everybody." Venom begins to fight Carnage but is quickly overpowered, and the latter decides to kill Anne atop the cathedral. Venom manages to rescue Anne in time and provokes Barrison to use her sonic blast powers, causing both symbiotes to separate from their hosts as the cathedral collapses and the falling bell kills Barrison. Venom saves Eddie by bonding with him before the impact. Carnage tries to bond with Kasady again, but Venom devours him before biting Kasady's head off and escapes with Brock from the police, bidding farewell to Anne and Dan, and takes a tropical vacation with Brock.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: Later, as Venom tells Brock about the symbiotes' hive mind knowledge across universes, a blinding light transports the pair to an alternate reality where they watch J. Jonah Jameson expose Spider-Man's identity as Peter Parker and as a "murderer" on television. After leaving the hotel, Venom and Brock go to a bar and learn about the new universe and individuals such as Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Thanos, and a major event known as the Blip. As Brock decides to find Spider-Man, he and Venom are returned to their universe with a part of the symbiote left behind.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: "Venom" is primarily based on the 1993 "" miniseries and the 1995 "Planet of the Symbiotes" story arc, borrowing the San Francisco setting of the former. Due to Sony and Marvel Studios' 2015 deal for Spider-Man to enter the MCU, the character could not appear in the film itself, challenging the writers to make a Venom origin story without Spider-Man. The writers and concept artists looked to the Ultimate Marvel version of Venom (created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley), whose origin was not related to Spider-Man and similarly does not have a spider-logo engraved in their chest. Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg were told that Spider-Man could not be in the film before the initial pitch, and took the approach to try to stay faithful to the spirit of the comics even if certain elements had to be changed. Fleischer noted that "Lethal Protector" gave the writers a "solid foundation" to explore the more heroic side of Venom, rather than their more traditional villainous side from the "Spider-Man" comics.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: In "Let There Be Carnage", Venom's characterization takes inspiration from the 1993 "Maximum Carnage" story arc and the 1996 story arc "The Venom Saga" from the 1994 "Spider-Man" animated series. Venom's access to a symbiote hive mind allowing knowledge to be shared across the multiverse, introduced in the film's mid-credits scene as an ability common to all symbiotes, originated from "Edge of Venomverse" #2 (July 2017) as an ability unique to the Venomized Gwen Poole.


title: Venom (Sony's Spider-Man Universe)

text: Hardy's performance received mixed reception upon "Venom" release. He was praised as "wicked fun" and "fun to watch" by Matthew Rozsa at "Salon" and "Time" Stephanie Zacharek, respectively. Writing for "Variety", Owen Gleiberman criticized Hardy's performance as acting like a "stumblebum method goof", while Soren Anderson of "The Seattle Times" said that Hardy was "usually excellent" but "not this time". Jake Coyle from the "Associated Press" was not sure whether Hardy's performance "adds up to anything" in "Venom".


title: Christina Pickles

text: Christina Pickles (born 17 February 1935) is a British-American actress. She is known for her role as Nurse Helen Rosenthal in the NBC medical drama "St. Elsewhere" (1982–1988), for which she received five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She is also known for her recurring role as Judy Geller on the NBC sitcom "Friends" (1994, 1996–2003), for which she was nominated for the 1995 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.


title: Christina Pickles

text: Pickles appeared in Broadway plays in the 1960s and 1970s, including "The Misanthrope" (1968) and "Sherlock Holmes" (1975), and starred on the daytime soap operas "Guiding Light" (1970–1972, 2007) and "Another World" (1977–1979). Her film appearances include "Masters of the Universe" (1987), "Legends of the Fall" (1994), "Romeo + Juliet" (1996), and "The Wedding Singer" (1998). She won the 2018 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for the Vimeo series "Break a Hip".


title: Christina Pickles

text: Christina Pickles was born in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire (now West Yorkshire, the daughter of Arthur Pickles, Liberal politician and Mayor of Halifax, and Gladys (née Crampton) Pickles. She is the niece of radio presenter Wilfred Pickles and the sister of judge James Pickles. Her niece Carolyn Pickles is also an actress.


title: Christina Pickles

text: Christina Pickles began attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London at age 15 and studied alongside Albert Finney, Peter O’Toole, and Brian Bedford. After graduating, she moved to New York City in the late 1950s, residing initially with friend and classmate Donald Moffat and his wife.


title: Christina Pickles

text: In 1961, Pickles began her acting career in "Look Back in Anger" at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC. She performed in "Measure for Measure" in Joe Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park, then won the lead role in George Devine's "The Way of the World", despite auditioning for the maid's role. After her Broadway debut in "A Severed Head" in 1964, other Broadway productions followed, including "Inadmissible Evidence", "You Can't Take It with You", "War and Peace", "The Misanthrope", "Hamlet", and "Sherlock Holmes".


title: Christina Pickles

text: At the same time, Pickles debuted on television, playing Linell Conway on "Guiding Light" (1970–1972, 2007). She played Countess Elena dePoulignac on the NBC soap opera "Another World" (1977–1979). She appeared in such feature films as "Seizure" (1974) and "Rush It" (1977). After moving from New York City to Los Angeles, Pickles was cast as Nurse Helen Rosenthal in the NBC medical drama "St. Elsewhere". The series aired from 1982 to 1988. She remained on "St. Elsewhere" for its entire six-year run and was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work on the series.


title: Christina Pickles

text: She later was a regular on the short-lived CBS sitcom "The People Next Door", which aired in 1989. She went to appear on "Family Ties", "Who's the Boss?", "In the Heat of the Night", "Matlock", "The Nanny", "Murder, She Wrote", and "Touched by an Angel".


title: Christina Pickles

text: From 1994 to 2003, Pickles played the recurring role of Judy Geller, the mother of Ross and Monica Geller (David Schwimmer and Courteney Cox), in the NBC sitcom "Friends", making appearances throughout the 10-year run of the series. She received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series nomination for this role in 1995. Pickles played the mother of Harmon Rabb in the CBS drama series "JAG" from 1998 to 2000. From 1999 to 2000, she starred in the short-lived Fox comedy-drama series "Get Real".


title: Christina Pickles

text: Pickles has appeared in many films, including "Masters of the Universe" (1987), "" (1994), "Legends of the Fall" (1994) directed by Edward Zwick, "Grace of My Heart" (1996), Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" (1996), "The Wedding Singer" (1998), "Sol Goode" (2003), "George of the Jungle 2" (2003), and "" (2011). She has had roles in a number of made-for-television movies.


title: Christina Pickles

text: In the 2000s, Pickles appeared in a few episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" as Lily Aldrin's grandmother, and guest-starred on "The Division", "Medium", and "Childrens Hospital". In 2016, she was cast in the ABC drama pilot "The Death Of Eva Sofia Valdez", starring Gina Torres in a title role. In 2018, she received her seventh Emmy nomination (in category for "Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series"), and her first in 23 years, for the comedic web series "Break a Hip".


title: Christina Pickles

text: Pickles was married to producer/director Victor Lobl for 23 years, divorcing in 1985. She became a United States citizen in 1989. She was romantically linked to actor Herb Edelman, who also played her significant other on "St. Elsewhere", from the mid-1980s until his death in 1996.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (; 8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer who worked in the Franco-Belgian "bandes dessinées" (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim under the pseudonym Mœbius (; ), as well as Gir () outside the English-speaking world, used for the "Blueberry" series—his most successful creation in the non-English speaking parts of the world—and his Western-themed paintings. Esteemed by Federico Fellini, Stan Lee, and Hayao Miyazaki, among others, he has been described as the most influential "bande dessinée" artist after Hergé.


title: Jean Giraud

text: His most famous works include the series "Blueberry", created with writer Jean-Michel Charlier, featuring one of the first antiheroes in Western comics. As Mœbius, he created a wide range of science-fiction and fantasy comics in a highly imaginative, surreal, almost abstract style. These works include "Arzach" and the "Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius". He also collaborated with avant-garde filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky for an unproduced adaptation of "Dune" and the comic book series "The Incal".


title: Jean Giraud

text: Mœbius also contributed storyboards and concept designs to numerous science-fiction and fantasy films, such as "Alien", "Tron", "The Fifth Element", and "The Abyss". "Blueberry" was adapted for the screen in 2004 by French director Jan Kounen.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Jean Giraud was born in Nogent-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne, in the suburbs of Paris, on 8 May 1938, as the only child to Raymond Giraud, an insurance agent, and Pauline Vinchon, who had worked at the agency. When he was three years old, his parents divorced, and he was raised mainly by his grandparents, who were living in the neighboring municipality of Fontenay-sous-Bois (much later, when he was an acclaimed artist, Giraud returned to live in the municipality in the mid-1970s, but was unable to buy his grandparents' house). The rupture between mother and father created a lasting trauma that he explained lay at the heart of his choice of separate pen names. An introverted child at first, young Giraud found solace after World War II in a small theater, located on a corner in the street where his mother lived, which concurrently provided an escape from the dreary atmosphere in postwar reconstruction-era France. Playing an abundance of American B-movie Westerns, Giraud, frequenting the theater there as often as he was able to, developed a passion for the genre, as did so many other European boys his age in those times.


title: Jean Giraud

text: At age 9–10, Giraud started to draw Western comics while enrolled by his single mother as a stop-gap measure in the Saint-Nicolas boarding school in Issy-les-Moulineaux for two years (and where he became acquainted with Belgian comic magazines such as "Spirou" and "Tintin"), much to the amusement of his schoolmates. In 1954, at age 16, he began his only technical training at the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Duperré, where he started producing Western comics, though these did not sit well with his conventional teachers. At the college, he befriended other future comic artists Jean-Claude Mézières and . With Mézières in particular, in no small part due to their shared passion for science fiction, Westerns and the Far West, Giraud developed a close, lifelong friendship, calling him "life's continuing adventure" in later life. In 1956, he left art school without graduating to visit his mother, who had married a Mexican in Mexico, and stayed there for nine months.


title: Jean Giraud

text: The experience of the Mexican desert, in particular its endless blue skies and unending flat plains, now seeing and experiencing for himself the vistas that had enthralled him so much when watching Westerns on the silver screen only a few years earlier, left an everlasting, ""quelque chose qui m'a littéralement craqué l'âme"" (something which literally cracked my soul), enduring impression on him, easily recognizable in almost all of his later seminal works. After his return to France, he started to work as a full-time tenured artist for Catholic publisher , to whom he was introduced by Mézières, who had shortly before found employment at the publisher. In 1959–1960, he was slated for military service in, firstly the French occupation zone of Germany, and subsequently Algeria, in the throes of the vicious Algerian War at the time. Fortunately for him, however, he somehow managed to escape frontline duty as he – being the only service man available at the time with a graphics background – served out his military obligations being set to work as illustrator on the army magazine "5/5 Forces Françaises", besides being assigned to logistic duties. Algeria was Giraud's second acquaintance with other, more exotic cultures, and like he did in Mexico, he soaked in the experience, which made another indelible impression on the young man born as a suburban city boy, leaving its traces in his later comics, especially those created as "Mœbius".


title: Jean Giraud

text: At 18, Giraud was drawing his own humorous, Morris-inspired, Western comic two-page shorts, "Frank et Jeremie", for the magazine "Far West", his first freelance commercial sales. Magazine editor Marijac thought young Giraud was gifted with a knack for humorous comics, but none whatsoever for realistically drawn comics, and advised him to continue in the vein of "Frank et Jeremie".


title: Jean Giraud

text: Tenured at publisher Fleurus from 1956 to 1958 after his first sales, Giraud did so, but concurrently continued to steadfastly create realistically drawn Western comics (alongside several others of a French historical nature) and illustrations for magazine editorials in their magazines "Fripounet et Marisette", "Cœurs Vaillants", and "" – all of them of a strong, edifying nature aimed at France's adolescent youth – up to a point that his realistically drawn comics had become his mainstay. Among his realistic Westerns was a comic called ""Le roi des bisons"" ("King of the Buffalo" – has had an English publication), and another called ""Un géant chez lez Hurons"" ("A Giant with the Hurons"). Actually, several of his Western comics, including "King of the Buffalo", featured the same protagonist Art Howell, and these can be considered as Giraud's "de facto" first realistic Western series, as he himself did in effect, since he, save the first one, endowed these stories with the subtitle ""Un aventure" d'Art Howell". For Fleurus, Giraud also illustrated his first three books. Already in this period, his style was heavily influenced by his later mentor, Belgian comic artist Joseph "Jijé" Gillain, who at that time was "the" major source of inspiration for an entire generation of young, aspiring French comic artists, including Giraud's friend Mézières, interested in doing realistically drawn comics. How major Jijé's influence was on these young artists, was amply demonstrated by the Fleurus publications these youngsters submitted their work to, as their work strongly resembled each other. For example, two of the books Giraud illustrated for Fleurus, were co-illustrated with Guy Mouminoux, another name of some future renown in the Franco-Belgian comic world, and Giraud's work can only be identified, because he signed his work, whereas Mouminoux did not sign his. While not ample, Giraud's earnings at Fleurus were just enough to allow him – disenchanted as he was with the courses, prevalent atmosphere, and academic discipline – to quit his art academy education after only two years, though he came to somewhat regret the decision in later life.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Shortly before he entered military service, Giraud visited his idol at his home for the first time with Mézières and Mallet, followed by a few visits on his own to see the master at work for himself. In 1961, returning from military service and his stint on "5/5 Forces Françaises", Giraud, not wanting to return to Fleurus, as he felt that he "had to do something else, if he ever wanted to evolve", became an apprentice of Jijé on his invitation, after he saw that Giraud had made artistic progress during his stay at "5/5 Forces Françaises". Jijé was then one of the leading comic artists in Europe and known for his gracious tendency to voluntarily act as a mentor for young, aspiring comic artists, of whom Giraud was only one, going even as far as opening up his family home in Champrosay for days on end for these youngsters, which, again, included Giraud. In this, Jijé resembled Belgian comic grandmaster Hergé, but unlike Jijé, Hergé only did so on a purely commercial basis, never on a voluntarily one. For Jijé, Giraud created several other shorts and illustrations for the short-lived magazine "Bonux-Boy" (1960/61), his first comic work after military service, and his penultimate one before embarking on "Blueberry". In this period, Jijé used his apprentice for the inks on an outing of his Western series "Jerry Spring" – after whom Giraud had, unsurprisingly, modeled his Art Howell character previously – "The Road to Coronado", which Giraud inked. Actually, Jijé had intended his promising pupil for the entirety of the story art, but the still-inexperienced Giraud, who was used to working under the relaxed conditions at Fleurus, found himself overwhelmed by the strict time schedules that production for a periodical ("Spirou" in this case) demanded. Conceding that he had been a bit too cocky and ambitious, Giraud stated, "I started the story all by myself, but after a week, I had only finished half a plate, and aside from being soaked with my sweat, it was a complete disaster. So Joseph went on to do the penciling, whereas I did the inks." Even though Giraud did lose touch with his mentor eventually, he never forgot what "his master" had provided him with, both "aesthetically and professionally", the fatherless Giraud gratefully stating in later life, "It was as if he had asked me «Do you want me to be your father?», and if by a miracle, I was provided with one, a[n] [comic] artist no less!".


title: Jean Giraud

text: After his stint at Jijé's, Giraud was again approached by friend Mézières to see if he was interested to work alongside him as an illustrator on Hachette's ambitious multivolume "L'histoire des civilisations" history reference work. Spurred on by Jijé, who considered the opportunity a wonderful one for his pupil, Giraud accepted. Though he considered the assignment a daunting one, having to create in oil paints from historical objects and imagery, it was, besides being the best-paying job he had ever had, a seminal appointment. At Hachette, Giraud discovered that he had a knack for creating art in gouaches, something that served him well not that much later when creating "Blueberry" magazine/album cover art, as well as for his 1968 side project "Buffalo Bill: le roi des éclaireurs" history book written by , for whom Giraud provided two-thirds of the illustrations in gouache, including the cover. The assignment at Hachette being cut short because of his invitation to embark on "Fort Navajo", meant he only participated on the first three to four volumes of the book series, leaving the completion to Mézières. In the "Pilote" era, Giraud additionally provided art in gouache for two Western-themed vinyl record music productions as sleeve art, as well as the covers for the first seven outings in the French-language edition of the "Morgan Kane" Western novel series written by Louis Masterson. Much of his Western-themed gouache artwork of this era, including that of "Blueberry", has been collected in the 1983 artbook "Le tireur solitaire".


title: Jean Giraud

text: Aside from its professional importance, Giraud's stint at Hachette was also of personal importance, as he met Claudine Conin, an editorial researcher at Hachette, and who described her future husband as being at the time "funny, uncomplicated, friendly, a nice boy next-door", but on the other hand, "mysterious, dark, intellectual", already recognizing that he had all the makings of a "visionary", long before others did. Married in 1967, "after" Giraud had become the recognized "Blueberry" artist, the couple had two children, (b:1970) and Julien (b:1972). Daughter Hélène in particular has inherited her father's graphics talents and has carved out a career as a graphics artist in the animation industry, earning her a 2014 French civilian knighthood, the same her father had already received in 1985. Besides raising their children, wife Claudine not only took care of the business aspects of her husband's art work, but has on occasion also contributed to it as colorist. The 1976 feminist fantasy short story, "La tarte aux pommes", was written by her under her maiden name. Additionally, the appearance of a later, major character in Giraud's "Blueberry" series, Chihuahua Pearl, was in part based on Claudine's looks. The "Mœbiusienne" 1973 fantasy road trip short story "La déviation", created as "Gir" before the artist fully embarked on his Mœbius career, featured the Giraud family as the protagonists, save Julien.


title: Jean Giraud

text: In October 1963, Giraud and writer Jean-Michel Charlier started the comic strip "Fort Navajo" for the Charlier-co-founded "Pilote" magazine, issue 210. At this time the affinity between the styles of Giraud and Jijé (who in effect had been Charlier's first choice for the series, but who was reverted to Giraud by Jijé) was so close that Jijé penciled several pages for the series when Giraud went AWOL. In effect, when "Fort Navajo" started its run, "Pilote" received angry letters, accusing Giraud of plagiarism, which was however foreseen by Jijé and Giraud. Shirking off the accusations, Jijé encouraged his former pupil to stay the course instead, thereby propping up his self-confidence. The first time Jijé had to fill in for Giraud, was during the production of the second story, "Thunder in the West" (1964), when the still inexperienced Giraud, buckling under the stress of having to produce a strictly scheduled magazine serial, suffered from a nervous breakdown, with Jijé taking on plates 28–36. The second time occurred one year later, during the production of "Mission to Mexico (The Lost Rider)", when Giraud unexpectedly packed up and left to travel the United States, and, again, Mexico; yet again former mentor Jijé came to the rescue by penciling plates 17–38. While the art style of both artists had been nearly indistinguishable from each other in "Thunder in the West", after Giraud resumed work on plate 39 of "Mission to Mexico", a clearly noticeable style breach was now observable, indicating that Giraud was now well on his way to develop his own signature style, eventually surpassing that of his former teacher Jijé, who, impressed by his former pupil's achievements, has later coined him the "Rimbaud de la BD".


title: Jean Giraud

text: The Lieutenant Blueberry character, whose facial features were based on those of the actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, was created in 1963 by Charlier (scenario) and Giraud (drawings) for "Pilote." While the "Fort Navajo" series had originally been intended as an ensemble narrative, it quickly gravitated towards having Blueberry as its central figure. His featured adventures, in what was later called the "Blueberry" series, may be Giraud's best known work in native France and the rest of Europe, before later collaborations with Alejandro Jodorowsky. The early Blueberry comics used a simple line drawing style similar to that of Jijé, and standard Western themes and imagery (specifically, those of John Ford's US Cavalry Western trilogy, with Howard Hawk's 1959 "Rio Bravo" thrown in for good measure for the sixth, one-shot title "The Man with the Silver Star"), but gradually Giraud developed a darker and grittier style inspired by, firstly the 1970 Westerns "Soldier Blue" and "Little Big Man" (for the "Iron Horse" story-arc), and subsequently by the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone and the dark realism of Sam Peckinpah in particular (for the "Lost Goldmine" story-arc and beyond). With the fifth album, "The Trail of the Navajos", Giraud established his own style, and after both editorial control and censorship laws were loosened in the wake of the May 1968 social upheaval in France – the former in no small part due to the revolt key comic artists, Giraud chief among them, staged a short time thereafter in the editorial offices of Dargaud, the publisher of "Pilote", demanding and ultimately receiving more creative freedom from editor-in-chief René Goscinny – the strip became more explicitly adult, and also adopted a thematically wider range. The first "Blueberry" album penciled by Giraud after he had begun publishing science fiction as Mœbius, "Nez Cassé" ("Broken Nose"), was much more experimental than his previous Western work. While the editorial revolt at Dargaud had effectively become the starting point of the emancipation of the French comic world, Giraud admitted that it also had caused a severe breach in his hitherto warm relationship with the conservative Goscinny, which never fully mended.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Giraud left the series and publisher in 1974, partly because he was tired of the publication pressure he was under in order to produce the series, partly because of an emerging royalties conflict, but "mostly" because he wanted further explore and develop his "Mœbius" alter ego, in particular because Jodorowsky, who was impressed by the graphic qualities of "Blueberry", had already invited him to Los Angeles to start production design on his "Dune" movie project, and which constituted the first Jodorowsky/Mœbius collaboration. Giraud was so eager to return to the project during a stopover from the United States while the project was in hiatus, that he greatly accelerated the work on the "Angel Face" outing of "Blueberry" he was working on at the time, shearing off weeks from its originally intended completion. The project fell through though, and after he had returned definitely to France later that year, he started to produce comic work under this pseudonym that was published in the magazine he co-founded, "Métal Hurlant", which started its run in December 1974 and revolutionized the Franco-Belgian comic world in the process.


title: Jean Giraud

text: It was Jodorowsky who introduced Giraud to the writings of Carlos Castaneda, who had written a series of books that describe his training in shamanism, particularly with a group whose lineage descended from the Toltecs. The books, narrated in the first person, related his experiences under the tutelage of a Yaqui "Man of Knowledge" named Don Juan Matus. Castaneda's writings made a deep and everlasting impression on Giraud, already open to Native-Mexican folk culture due to his three previous extended trips to the country (he had visited the country a third time in 1972), and it did influence his art as "Mœbius", particularly in regard to dream sequences, though he was not quite able to work in such influences in his mainstream "Blueberry" comic. Yet, unbeknownst to writer Charlier, he did already sneak in some Castaneda elements in "Nez Cassé". Castaneda's influence reasserted itself in full in Giraud's later life, having worked in elements more openly after Charlier's death in his 1999 "Blueberry" outing "Geronimo l'Apache", and was to become a major element for his ""-project, which however, had refused to come to fruition for extraneous reasons.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Even though Giraud had vainly tried to introduce his "Blueberry" co-worker to the writings of Castaneda, Charlier, being of a previous generation, conservative in nature and wary of science fiction in general, never understood what his younger colleague tried to achieve as "Mœbius". Nonetheless, he never tried to hinder Giraud in the least, as he understood that an artist of Giraud's caliber needed a "mental shower" from time to time. Furthermore, Charlier was very appreciative of the graphic innovations Giraud ported over from his work as "Mœbius" into the mainstream "Blueberry" series, most specifically "Nez Cassé", making him "one of the all-time greatest artists in the comic medium," as Charlier himself put it in 1982. Artist , who was taken on by Giraud in 1980 for the inks of "La longue marche" ("The Long March") painted a slightly different picture though. Already recognizing that the two men were living in different worlds, he noted that Charlier was not pleased with Giraud taking on an assistant, afraid that it might have been a prelude to his leaving the series in order to pursue his "experimentations" as Mœbius further. While Charlier was willing to overlook Giraud's "philandering" in his case only, he was otherwise of the firm conviction that artists, especially his own, should totally and wholeheartedly devote themselves to their craft, as Charlier had always considered the medium. Even Giraud was in later life led to believe that Charlier apparently "detested" his other work, looking upon it as something akin to "treason", though his personal experiences with the author was that he had kept an "open mind" in this regard, at least in his case. According to Giraud, Charlier's purported stance negatively influenced his son Philippe, causing "their" relationship to rapidly deteriorate into open animosity, after the death of his father.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Giraud returned to the "Blueberry" series in 1979 with "Nez Cassé" as a free-lancer. Later that year however, the long-running disagreement Charlier and Giraud had with their publishing house Dargaud, the publisher of "Pilote", over the residuals from "Blueberry" came to a head. They began the Western comic "Jim Cutlass" as a means to put the pressure on Dargaud. It did not work, and Charlier and Giraud turned their back on the parent publisher definitively, leaving for greener pastures elsewhere, and in the process taking all of Charlier's other co-creations with them. It would be nearly fifteen years before the "Blueberry" series (and the others) returned to Dargaud after Charlier died. (For further particulars, including the royalties conflict, see: "Blueberry" publication history.) After the first album, "Mississippi River", first serialized in "Métal Hurlant" and for two decades remaining a one-shot, Giraud took on scripting the revitalized series after Charlier had died, while leaving the artwork to .


title: Jean Giraud

text: When Charlier, Giraud's collaborator on "Blueberry", died in 1989, Giraud assumed responsibility for the scripting of the main series, the last outing of which, "Apaches", released in 2007, became the last title Giraud created for the parent publisher. "Blueberry" has been translated into 19 languages, the first English book translations being published in 1977/78 by UK publisher Egmont/Methuen, though its publication was cut short after only four volumes. The original "Blueberry" series has spun off a prequel series called "" in the "Pilote"-era (1968–1970), but the artwork was in 1984, when that series was resurrected, left to Colin Wilson and later after the first three original volumes in that series, as well as the Giraud-written, but William Vance-penciled, 1991-2000 intermezzo series called "". All these series, except "Jim Cutlass", had returned to the parent publisher Dargaud in late 1993, though Giraud himself – having already left the employ of the publisher in 1974 (see "below") – had not, instead plying his trade as a free-lancer, explaining the "Jim Cutlass" exception.


title: Jean Giraud

text: While Giraud has garnered universal praise and acclaim for his work as "Mœbius" (especially in the US, the UK and Japan), as "Gir", "Blueberry" has always remained his most successful and most recognized work in native France itself and in mainland Europe, despite its artist developing somewhat of a love/hate relationship with his co-creation in later life, which was exemplified by his regularly taking extended leaves of absence from it. That "Blueberry" has always remained his primary source of income, allowing him to fully indulge in his artistic endeavors as Mœbius, was admitted as such by Giraud as early as 1979: "If an album of Moebius is released, about 10,000 people are interested. A "Blueberry" album sells at least 100,000 copies [in France]," and as late as 2005, ""Blueberry" is in some ways the 'sponsor' of Moebius, for years now."


title: Jean Giraud

text: The "Mœbius" pseudonym, which Giraud came to use for his science fiction and fantasy work, was born in 1963, while he was working on the Hachette project, as he did not like "to work on paintings alone all day", and "like an alcoholic needing his alcohol" had to create comics. In a satire magazine called "Hara-Kiri", Giraud used the name for 21 strips in 1963–64 (much of which collected in Epic's "Mœbius ½" – see "below"). Though Giraud enjoyed the artistic freedom and atmosphere at the magazine greatly, he eventually gave up his work there as "Blueberry", on which he had embarked in the meantime, demanded too much of his energy, aside from being a better paid job. Magazine editor-in-chief Cavanna was loath to let Giraud go, not understanding why Giraud would want to waste his talents on a "kiddy comic". Subsequently, the pseudonym went unused for a decade, that is for comics at least, as Giraud continued its use for side-projects as illustrator. In the late 1960s-early 1970s, Giraud provided interior front, and back flyleaf illustrations as Mœbius for several outings in the science fiction book club series ', a limited edition hardcover series, collecting work from seminal science fiction writers, from French publisher , continuing to do so throughout the 1970s with several additional covers for the publisher's "" (the magazine that introduced Giraud to science fiction at age 16) and ' science fiction magazine and pocket book series. Additionally, this period in time also saw four vinyl record music productions endowed with Mœbius sleeve art. Much of this illustration art has been reproduced in Giraud's first art book as Mœbius, aptly entitled "Mœbius", released in 1980. There actually had also been a personal reason as well for Giraud to suspend his career as Mœbius comic artist; after he had returned from his second trip from Mexico, he found himself confronted with the artist's version of a writer's block as far as Mœbius comics were concerned, partly because "Blueberry" consumed all his energy. "For eight months I tried, but I could not do it, so I quit", stated Giraud additionally. Giraud's statement notwithstanding though, he did a couple of "Hara-Kiri"esque satirical comic shorts for "Pilote" in the early 1970s, but under the pseudonym "Gir", most of which reprinted in the comic book "Gir œuvres": "Tome 1, Le lac des émeraudes", also collecting shorts he had created for the Fleurus magazines, "Bonux-Boy", and the late-1960s "TOTAL Journal" magazine.


title: Jean Giraud

text: In 1974 he truly revived the Mœbius pseudonym for comics, and the very first, 12-page, story he created as such – while on one of his stopovers from America when the "Dune" production was in a lull – was "Cauchemar Blanc" ("White Nightmare"), published in the magazine "L'Écho des savanes", issue 8, 1974. The black & white story dealt with the racist murder of an immigrant of North-African descent, and stands out as one of the very few emphatic socially engaged works of Giraud. Bearing in mind Giraud's fascination with the Western genre in general and the cultural aspects of Native-Americans in particular – and whose plight Giraud had always been sympathetic to – it is hardly a surprise that two later examples of such rare works were Native-American themed. These concerned the 2-page short story "Wounded Knee", inspired by the eponymous 1973 incident staged by Oglala Lakota, and the 3-page short story "Discours du Chef Seattle", first published in the artbook "Made in L.A." ("The Words of Chief Seattle", in Epic's "Ballad for a Coffin"). Giraud suddenly bursting out onto the comic scene as "Mœbius", caught European readership by surprise, and it took many of them, especially outside France, a couple of years before the realization had sunk in that "Jean Gir[raud]" and "Mœbius" were, physically at least, one and the same artist.


title: Jean Giraud

text: It was when he was brainstorming with the founding editors of the magazine (founded by former "Pilote" friends and co-artists in the wake of the revolt at the publisher, when they decided to strike out on their own), that Giraud came up with his first major Mœbius work, "Le bandard fou" ("The Horny Goof"). Released directly as album (a first for Mœbius comics) in black & white by the magazine's publisher, the humorous and satirical story dealt with a law-abiding citizen of the planet Souldaï, who awakens one day, only to find himself with a permanent erection. Pursued through space and time by his own puritanical authorities, who frown upon the condition, and other parties, who have their own intentions with the hapless "bandard", he eventually finds a safe haven on the asteroid "Fleur" of Madame Kowalsky, after several hilarious adventures. When discounting the as "Gir" signed "La déviation", it is in this story that Giraud's signature, minute "Mœbius" art style, for which he became famed not that much later, truly comes into its own. Another novelty introduced in the book, is that the narrative is only related on the right-hand pages; the left-hand pages are taken up by one-page panels depicting an entirely unrelated cinematographic sequence of a man transforming after he has snapped his fingers. The story did raise some eyebrows with critics accusing Giraud of pornography at the time, but one reviewer put it in perspective when stating, "Peut-être Porno, mais Graphique!", which loosely translates as "Porn maybe, but Graphic Art for sure!". In the editorial of the 1990 American edition, Giraud has conceded that he was envious of what his former "Pilote" colleagues had achieved with "L'Écho des savanes" in regard to creating a free, creative environment for their artists, he had already enjoyed so much back at "Hara-Kiri", and that it was an inspiration for the endeavor, Giraud embarked upon next.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Later that year, after "Dune" was permanently canceled with him definitively returning to France, Giraud became one of the founding members of the comics art group and publishing house "Les Humanoïdes Associés", together with fellow comic artists Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Philippe Druillet (likewise "Pilote" colleagues) and (outsider) financial director Bernard Farkas. In imitation of the example set by the "L'Écho des savanes" founding editors, it was therefore as such also an indirect result of the revolt these artists had previously staged at "Pilote", and whose employ they had left for the undertaking. Together they started the monthly magazine "Métal hurlant" ("Screaming metal") in December 1974, and for which he had temporarily abandoned his "Blueberry" series. The translated version was known in the English-speaking world as "Heavy Metal", and started its release in April 1977, actually introducing Giraud's work to North-American readership. Mœbius' famous serial "The Airtight Garage" and his groundbreaking "Arzach" both began in "Métal hurlant". Unlike "Hara-Kiri" and "L'Écho des savanes" though, whose appeal has always remained somewhat limited to the socially engaged satire and underground comic scenes, it was "Métal hurlant" in particular that revolutionized the world of Franco-Belgian "bandes dessinées", whereas its American cousin left an indelible impression on a generation of not only American comic artists, but on film makers as well, as evidenced below.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Starting its publication in the first issue of "Métal hurlant", "Arzach" is a wordless 1974–1975 comic, executed directly in color and created as a conscious attempt to breathe new life into the comic genre which at the time was dominated by American superhero comics in the United States, and by the traditional, adolescent oriented "bandes dessinée" in Europe. It tracks the journey of the title character flying on the back of his pterodactyl through a fantastic world mixing medieval fantasy with futurism. Unlike most science fiction comics, it is, save for the artfully executed story titles, entirely devoid of captions, speech balloons and written sound effects. It has been argued that the wordlessness provides the strip with a sense of timelessness, setting up Arzach's journey as a quest for eternal, universal truths. The short stories "L'Homme est-il bon?" ("Is Man Good?", in issue 10, 1976, after the first publication in "Pilote", issue 744, 1974, which however woke Giraud up to the "unbearable realization" that he was "enriching" the publisher with his Mœbius work, thereby expediting his departure.), "Ballade" ("The Ballade", 1977 and inspired by the poem "Fleur" by French poet Arthur Rimbaud), "Ktulu" (issue 33bis, 1978, an H. P. Lovecraft-inspired story) and "Citadelle aveugle" ("The White Castle", in issue 51, 1980 and oddly enough signed as "Gir") were examples of additional stories Giraud created directly in color, shortly after "Arzach". 1976 saw the "Métal hurlant", issues 7–8, publication of "The Long Tomorrow", written by Dan O'Bannon in 1974 during lulls in the pre-production of Jodorowsky's "Dune".


title: Jean Giraud

text: His series "The Airtight Garage", starting its magazine run in issue 6, 1976, is particularly notable for its non-linear plot, where movement and temporality can be traced in multiple directions depending on the readers' own interpretation even within a single "planche" (page or picture). The series tells of Major Grubert, who is constructing his own multi-level universe on an asteroid named "Fleur" (from the "Bandard fou" universe incidentally, and the first known instance of the artist's attempts of tying all his "Mœbius" creations into one coherent "Airtight Garage" universe), where he encounters a wealth of fantastic characters including Michael Moorcock's creation Jerry Cornelius.


title: Jean Giraud

text: 1978 marked the publication of the 54-page "Les yeux du chat" ("Eyes of the Cat"). The dark, disturbing and surreal tale dealt with a blind boy in a non-descript empty cityscape, who has his pet eagle scout for eyes, which it finds by taking these from a street cat and offering them to his awaiting companion who, while grateful, expresses his preference for the eyes of a child. The story premise originated from a brainstorming session Alejandro Jodorowsky had with his fellows of the Académie Panique, a group concentrated on chaotic and surreal performance art, as a response to surrealism becoming mainstream. Jodorowsky worked out the story premise as a therapy to alleviate the depression he was in after the failure of his "Dune" project and presented the script to Giraud in 1977 during a visit to Paris. Deeming the story too short for a regular, traditional comic, it was Giraud who suggested the story to be told on the format he had already introduced in "Le bandard fou", to wit, as single panel pages. On recommendation of Jodorowsky, he refined the format by relating the eagle's quest on the right-hand pages, while depicting the awaiting boy in smaller single panel left-hand pages from a contra point-of-view. Giraud furthermore greatly increased his already high level of detail by making extensive use of zipatone for the first time. Considered a key and seminal work, both for its art and storytelling, setting Jodorowsky off on his career as comic writer, the art evoked memories of the wood engravings from the 19th century, including those of Gustave Doré, that Giraud discovered and admired in the books of his grandparents when he was living there in his childhood. However, it—like "La déviation"—has remained somewhat of a one-shot in Giraud's body of work in its utilization of such a high level of detail. The story, printed on yellow paper to accentuate the black & white art, was originally published directly as a, to 5000 copies limited book edition, gift item for relations of the publisher. It was only after expensive pirate editions started to appear that the publisher decided to make the work available commercially on a wider scale, starting in 1981. Jodorowsky had intended the work to be the first of a trilogy, but that never came to fruition.


title: Jean Giraud

text: In a certain way "Les yeux du chat" concluded a phase that had started with "La Déviation", and this viewpoint was adhered to by the publisher who had coined the era "Les années Métal Hurlant" on one of its latter-day anthologies. The very first "Mœbius" anthology collection the publisher released as such, was the 1980–1985 "Moebius œuvres complètes" six-volume collection of which two, volumes 4, "La Complainte de l'Homme Programme" and 5, "Le Désintégré Réintégré" (the two of them in essence comprising an expanded version of the 1980 original), were Mœbius art books. It also concluded a phase in which Giraud was preoccupied in a "characteristic period in his life" in which he was "very somber and pessimistic about my life", resulting in several of his "Mœbius" stories of that period ending in death and destruction. These included the poetic "Ballade", in which Giraud killed off the two protagonists, something he came to regret a decade later in this particular case.


title: Jean Giraud

text: In the magazine's issue 58 of 1980 Giraud started his famous "L'Incal" series in his third collaboration with Jodorowsky. However, by this time Giraud felt that his break-out success as "Mœbius" had come at a cost. He had left "Pilote" to escape the pressure and stifling conditions he was forced to work under, seeking complete creative freedom, but now it was increasingly becoming "as stifling as it had been before with "Blueberry"", as he conceded in 1982, adding philosophically, "The more you free yourself, the more powerless you become!". How deeply ingrained this sentiment was, was evidenced in a short interview in "Métal Hurlant", issue 82, later that year, where an overworked Giraud stated, "I will finish the "Blueberry" series, I will finish the "John Difool" ["Incal"] series and then I'm done. Then I will quit comics!" At the time he had just finished working as storyboard, and production design artist on the Movie "Tron", something he had enjoyed immensely. Fortunately for his fans, Giraud did not act upon his impulse as history has shown, though he did take action to escape the hectic Parisian comic scene in 1980 by moving himself and his family as far away from Paris as possible in France, and relocated to the small city of Pau at the foothills of the Pyrenees. It was while he was residing in Pau that Giraud started to take an interest in the teachings of Jean-Paul Appel-Guéry, becoming an active member of his group and partaking in their gatherings.


title: Jean Giraud

text: From 1985 to 2001 he also created his six-volume fantasy series "Le Monde d'Edena", which has appeared in English as "The Aedena Cycle". The stories were strongly influenced by the teachings of Jean-Paul Appel-Guéry, and Guy-Claude Burger's instinctotherapy. In effect, Giraud and his family did join Appel-Guéry's commune on Tahiti in 1983, until late 1984, when the family moved to the United States, where Giraud set up shop first in Santa Monica, and subsequently in Venice and Woodland Hills, California. Giraud's one-shot comic book "La nuit de l'étoile" was co-written by Appel-Guéry, and has been the most visible manifestation of Giraud's stay on Tahiti, aside from the artbooks "La memoire du futur" and "Venise celeste". Concurrently collaborating on "La nuit de l'étoile" was young artist Marc Bati, also residing at the commune at the time, and for whom Giraud afterwards wrote the comic series "Altor" ("The Magic Crystal"), while in the US. It was under the influence of Appel-Guéry's teachings that Giraud conceived a third pseudonym, Jean Gir – formally introduced to the public as "Jean Gir, Le Nouveau Mœbius" in "Venise celeste" (p. 33), though Giraud had by the time of publication already dispensed with the pseudonym himself – which appeared on the art he created while on Tahiti, though not using it for his "Aedena Cycle". Another member of the commune was Paula Salomon, for whom Giraud had already illustrated her 1980 book "La parapsychologie et vous". Having to move stateside for work served Giraud well, as he became increasingly disenchanted at a later stage with the way Appel-Guéry ran his commune on Tahiti, in the process dispensing with his short-lived third pseudonym. His stay at the commune though, had practical implications on his personal life; Giraud gave up eating meat, smoking, coffee, alcohol and, for the time being, the use of mind-expanding substances, adhering to his newfound abstinence for the most part for the remainder of his life.


title: Jean Giraud

text: During his stay on Tahiti, Giraud had co-founded his second publishing house under two concurrent imprints, Éditions Gentiane (predominantly for his work as Gir, most notably "Blueberry") and (predominantly for his work as Mœbius, and not entirely by coincidence named after the series he was working on at the time), together with friend and former editor at Les Humanoïdes Associés, , for the express purpose to release his work in a more artful manner, such as limited edition art prints, art books ("La memoire du futur" was first released under the Gentiane imprint, and reprinted under that of Aedena) and art portfolios. Both men had already released the very first such art book in the Humanoïdes days, and the format then conceived – to wit, a large 30x30cm book format at first, with art organized around themes, introduced by philosophical poetry by Mœbius – was adhered to for later such releases, including "La memoire du futur".


title: Jean Giraud

text: After having arrived in California, Giraud's wife Claudine set up Giraud's third publishing house Starwatcher Graphics in 1985, essentially the US branch of Gentiane/Aedena with the same goals, resulting in the release of, among others, the extremely limited art portfolio "La Cité de Feu", a collaborative art project of Giraud with Geoff Darrow (see "below"). However, due to their unfamiliarity with the American publishing world, the company did not do well, and in an effort to remedy the situation Claudine hired the French/American editor couple Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, whom she had met at the summer 1985 San Diego ComicCon, as editors-in-chief for Starwatcher, also becoming shareholders in the company. Already veterans of the US publishing world ("and" Mœbius fans), it was the Lofficier couple that managed to convince editor-in-chief Archie Goodwin of Marvel Comics to publish most of Moebius' hitherto produced work on a wider scale in the US—in contrast with the "Heavy Metal" niche market releases by HM Communications in the late 1970s—in graphic novel format trade editions, under its Epic imprint from 1987 to 1994. These incidentally, included three of Mœbius' latter-day art books, as well as the majority of his "Blueberry" Western comic.


title: Jean Giraud

text: It was for the Marvel/Epic publication effort that it was decided to dispense with the "Jean [Gir]aud"/"Mœbius" dichotomy—until then strictly adhered-to by the artist—as both the artist's given name and his "Blueberry" creation were all but unknown in the English speaking world. This was contrary to his reputation as "Mœbius", already acquired in the "Heavy Metal" days, and from then on used for "all" his work in the English speaking world (and Japan), though the dichotomy remained elsewhere, including native France.


title: Jean Giraud

text: A two-issue "Silver Surfer" miniseries (later collected as "Silver Surfer: Parable"), written by Stan Lee and drawn by Giraud (as Mœbius), was published through Marvel's Epic Comics imprint in 1988 and 1989. According to Giraud, this was his first time working under the Marvel method instead of from a full script, and he has admitted to being baffled by the fact that he already had a complete story synopsis on his desk only two days after he had met Stan Lee for the first time, having discussed what Giraud had assumed was a mere proposition over lunch. This miniseries won the Eisner Award for best finite/limited series in 1989. Mœbius' version was discussed in the 1995 submarine thriller "Crimson Tide" by two sailors pitting his version against those of Jack Kirby, with the main character played by Denzel Washington, emphasizing the Kirby one being the better of the two. Becoming aware of the reference around 1997, Giraud was later told around 2005 by the movie's director Tony Scott, that it was he who had written in the dialog as an homage to the artist on behalf of his brother Ridley, a Mœbius admirer, and not (uncredited) script doctor Quentin Tarentino (known for infusing his works with pop culture references) as he was previously led to believe. An amused Giraud quipped, "It's better than a big stature, because in a way, I can not dream of anything better to be immortal [than] being in a movie about submarines!"


title: Jean Giraud

text: As a result, from his cooperation with Marvel, Giraud delved deeper into the American superhero mythology and created superhero art stemming from both Marvel and DC Comics, which were sold as art prints, posters or included in calendars. Even as late as 1997, Giraud had created cover art for two DC comic book outings, "Hardware" (Vol. 1, issue 49, March 1997) and "Static" (Vol. 1, issue 45, March 1997), after an earlier cover for "Marvel Tales" (Vol. 2, issue 253, September 1991). Another project Giraud embarked upon in his "American period", was for a venture into that other staple of American pop culture, trading cards. Trading card company Comic Images released a "Mœbius Collector Cards" set in 1993, featuring characters and imagery from all over his Mœbius universe, though his Western work was excluded. None of the images were lifted from already existing work, but were especially created by Giraud the year previously.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Although Giraud had taken up residence in California for five years – holding a temporary residence (the O-1 "Extraordinary Ability" category, including the "International Artist" status) visa – he maintained a transient lifestyle, as his work had him frequently travel to Belgium and native France (maintaining a home in Paris), as well as to Japan, for extended periods of time. His stay in the United States was an inspiration for his aptly called "Made in L.A." art book, and much of his art he had produced in this period of time, including his super hero art, was reproduced in this, and the follow-up art book "Fusions", the latter of which having seen a translation in English by Epic.


title: Jean Giraud

text: Giraud's extended stay in the US, garnered him a 1986 Inkpot Award, an additional 1991 Eisner Award, as well as three Harvey Awards in the period 1988–1991 for the various graphic novel releases by Marvel. It was in this period that Giraud, who had already picked up Spanish as a second language as a result from his various trips to Mexico and his dealings with Jodorowsky and his retinue, also picked up sufficient language skills to communicate in English.