nanotopia
mycelium, Toronto
HOMMAGE is a love letter to Jean "Moebius" Giraud's visionary legacy. An immersive VR experience that reimagines his surreal, expansive universes through a contemporary lens. This work pays tribute to Moebius and his seminal collaborations with Alejandro Jodorowsky, René Laloux, and the revolutionary spirit of Metal Hurlant. Drawing from the dreamscapes of Arzach, Time Masters, The Long Tomorrow, and The Incal, HOMMAGE distills the psychedelic DNA of these worlds. It breathes new life into them as a living, explorable dimension. Inspirations like Fantastic Planet, Holy Mountain, and the cult classic Heavy Metal (1981) serve as spiritual guides—touchstones of the mind-expanding aesthetics and themes woven throughout the piece. Built as a hybrid art world and game space, HOMMAGE invites participants into an unfolding visual poem—a speculative terrain where colour, form, and sound echo the nonlinear storytelling Moebius so masterfully evoked. Our intention is to make visible the invisible threads of influence Jean Giraud cast across popular culture, from sci-fi cinema to concept art and beyond. Through HOMMAGE, we aim to introduce Moebius's fantastical visions to a new generation. To those who may not know his name but have unknowingly seen his fingerprints everywhere. This is not simply nostalgia; it's an invocation, a transformation, and a celebration of imagination without borders.
60 minute tour time • Canada, Germany, US • A collaborative effort
Voice Artists:
Marinda Botha
Ken Rougeau
Christopher Coles
Aldo Pacheco
French version:
Patrice Tremblay
Sarah Gravel
Music and Sound Design:
Nanotopia
Soundscape & FX:
Nanotopia
AutumnBlessings
3D Photography:
Bruno Zaffoni
Dave The Turner
Thank you to:
LuxKitty
CJ (Creator Jam)
Medra
GearBell
Akimbot
TysonX
Maria Rakušanová
Little Poe
Magmorta Plays Games
Divkid
Moby
Concept:
Nanotopia
Co-Conspirator:
Rixx
Collaborators:
James Moffitt
Miss Molly
Nanotopia
Rixx
Rowan Wood
Ziddan
VR Environment--Experience
Greeted by the Loc-Nar
After initial Onboarding area, Players enter a Ruin.
The Loc-Nar speaks to them.
Telling them that if they complete the following steps- they may defeat them.
The Ship, The VW, The Peyote. An invitation to a Psycho-Magic party.
The “bird” drops the Players off on a cliff edge- from here they can see far into the canyon.
Not to far from where they stand is a VW which billows green smoke. As they head over they find Peyote cactus - The 2nd Element appears. At the VW the Players find an invitation to a strange party - the invite suggests they look for a Green Pine Tree - ? This Pine Tree is a car air freshener. There is one in the VW! Clicking on it brings giant bubbles.
Players can walk into the bubbles or equip them.
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Pyramid Portals & Anubis
The Hats tell the Players they must locate the Geode to free the Djinn. Only then will they reach their destiny.
On the table inside the house sat a crystal- touching it opens a portal!
Stepping through the portal brings the Players back to the canyon-desert. Now they find themselves close to a pyramid and a giant statue of Anubis, who is looking at its hand.
Not too far from the statue a large Ankh is stuck in the sand… Will the Players place the Ankh back into the statues hand? Doing so makes the statue stand up and reveal another pyramid.
The 4th element appears
The Players can enter this pyramid.
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Poppy Flower Forest
Players step through the mouth of the Djinn into a forest of giant poppies!
Butterflies and Dragonflies are here for Players to hop onto
The 5th element appears.
The Insects fly the Players up to a floating island in the sky.
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The Incal
The crystal erupts into a huge energy beam that shoots into the sky calling the Incal!
Players watch as the Incal explodes into being and flies to them- now beaming them onboard.
Onboard the Incal - there is a “gallery” space that displays the inspiration for this experience and works of Moebius- his influence on popular culture since Métal Hurlant and work with Jodorowsky and Laloux.
Fini.
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The Universe speaks & Arzach Canyon.
Players exit the Ruin to immediately hear a voice speak to them- an energy beam shoots down from the sky and a part of the Incal appears - the 1st element.
They stand upon a mesa within a vast red rock canyon. Just below the cliff flies a strange pterodactyl-like bird. Petroglyphs on nearby rocks show a figure jumping off the cliff onto this bird. Jumping off, Players land on the bird which flies deep into the canyon. Where is it taking them?
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Fantastic Planet Bubble ride to … the party?
Entering a Bubble, Players float away while eerie music plays.
The Bubbles float up towards a house on the top of a Mesa. This must be where the Psycho-Magic party is happening!
Inside, the house appears empty. There are bean bag chairs and a pipe, a candle and pictures on the walls. Do these items hold clues of some sort?
There are 2 large hats in the house. 1 is white, the other black. Both hold significance.
The hats speak (Jodorowsky) imparting wisdom to the Players.
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The 3rd element is here.
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The Djinn
Players enter the pyramid to find themselves in a pitch black cavern. Floating high above them is a crystal which appears to hold something within it.
The Djinn speaks to the Players, offering to bring the Players to a beautiful world in exchange for its freedom.
Crystal shards are scattered about the cavern. Players must throw shards at the giant crystal to break it. Level: medium difficulty.
Free at last the Djinn opens a portal for the Players.
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StarWatcher floating Island
The insects drop off the Players
Giant crystals grow out of the ground and hills. Some can be shattered to reveal a particle toy. Petroglyphs on rocks show interesting goings on.
Following a crystal path brings the Players to a campfire where a crystal floats above it.
A petroglyph depicting people holding their hands up around a crystal and energy beams shooting out.
Players holding their hands up discover energy coming from the crystal to them- the longer they do this, the brighter the crystal grows until suddenly!
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Inspiration
Étienne Robial - 1975 Logo du magazine Métal hurlant
Métal Hurlant (Literal Translation: Howling Metal) is a French comics anthology of science fiction and horror comics stories, created in December 1974 by comics artists Jean Giraud (Better known as Mœbius) and Philippe Druillet together with journalist-writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet and financial director Bernard Farkas. The four were collectively known as Les Humanoïdes Associés (United Humanoids), which became the name of the publishing house releasing Métal hurlant. It was published in the United States by National Lampoon under the title Heavy Metal. It was published in Germany under the title Schwermetall.
Fantastic Planet (French: La Planète sauvage; Czech: Divoká planeta, lit. 'The Wild Planet') is a 1973 French language experimental independent,
adult animated science fiction, art film.
Directed by René Laloux and written by Laloux and Roland Topor, the latter of whom also completed the film's production design.
The film was animated at Jiří Trnka Studio in Prague.
Arzach (French: [aʁzak]) is a comic book collection of four wordless short stories by artist/author Jean 'Moebius' Giraud, which were originally published in the French sci-fi/fantasy comics magazine Métal Hurlant. The stories follow Arzach, a silent warrior who rides a pterodactyl-like creature through a strange, desolate landscape.[1] The imagery and situations in Arzach are often compared to dreams or the subconscious. These stories had an enormous impact on the French comics industry, and the Arzach character is still among Moebius' most famous creations. It can be defined as a pantomime comic, fantasy comics or an experimental comic.
The spelling of the title, originally Arzach, was changed in each of the original short stories.
Moebius later revisited the character with a story called The Legend of Arzach. This later story contains dialogue, and it ties the Arzach stories into a previously unrelated Moebius story called The Detour.
Moebius' 2010 book Arzak: L'Arpenteur (Arzak: The Surveyor) was the first of a planned trilogy to explore the origin of the character. However, with the death of Jean Giraud in March 2012, this vision was never realised.
Arzach is credited as the inspiration for the final sequence, "Taarna", of the animated film Heavy Metal (1981).
- from Wikipedia
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Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian adult animated science fantasy anthology film directed by Gerald Potterton (in his director debut) and produced by Ivan Reitman and Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine, which was the basis for the film.
The film is an anthology of various science-fiction and fantasy stories tied together by a single theme of an evil force that is "the sum of all evils". It was adapted from Heavy Metal magazine and original stories in the same spirit. Like the magazine, the film features a great deal of graphic violence, sexuality, and nudity. Its production was expedited by having several animation houses working simultaneously on different segments.
Les Maîtres du temps (lit. The Masters of Time, a.k.a.
Time Masters is a 1982 independent animated science fiction film directed by René Laloux and designed by Mœbius. It is based on the 1958 science fiction novel L'Orphelin de Perdide (The Orphan of Perdide) by Stefan Wul.
The film centres on a boy, Piel, who is stranded on Perdide, a desert planet where giant killer hornets live. He awaits rescue by the space pilot Jaffar, the exiled prince Matton, his sister Belle and Jaffar's old friend Silbad who are trying to reach Perdide and save Piel before it is too late.
Jaffar, Silbad, Matton and Belle begin communicating with Piel to give him advice. On Silbad's planet, they witness the metamorphosis of an organism into multiple empathic, sentient homunculi, two of whom, Yula and Jad, stow away on Jaffar's spacecraft seeking adventure.
The Incal (/ˈɪŋkəl/; French: L'Incal) is a French graphic novel series written by Alejandro Jodorowsky and originally illustrated by Jean Giraud (aka Mœbius). The Incal, with first pages originally released as Une aventure de John Difool ("A John Difool Adventure") in Métal hurlant and published by Les Humanoïdes Associés, introduced Jodorowsky's "Jodoverse" (or "Metabarons Universe"), a fictional universe in which his science fiction comics take place.
It is an epic space opera blending fantastical intergalactic voyage, science, technology, political intrigues, conspiracies, messianism, mysticism, poetry, debauchery, love stories, and satire.
The Incal includes and expands the concepts and artwork from the abandoned film project Dune directed by Jodorowsky and designed by Giraud from the early 1970s.
Originally published in installments between 1980 and 1988 in the French magazine Métal Hurlant, and followed by Before the Incal (1988–1995, with Zoran Janjetov), After the Incal (2000, with Jean Giraud), and Final Incal (2008–2014, with José Ladrönn), it has been described as a contender for "the best comic book" in the medium's history.
From it came spin-off series Metabarons, The Technopriests, and Megalex.
"I consider [Moebius] more important than Doré."--Federico Fellini
***
The World of Edena
Stel and Atan are interstellar investigators trying to find a lost space station and its crew. When they discover the mythical paradise planet Edena, their lives are changed forever.
Moebius's World of Edena story arc is comprised of five chapters--Upon a Star, Gardens of Edena, The Goddess, Stel, and Sra--which are all collected here.
A storyboard artist and designer (Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element, among many others) as well as comic book master, Moebius's work has influenced creators in countless fields.
“Moebius is a master draftsman, a superb artist, and more—his vision is original and strong.” —George Lucas