Book to Film Comparison: The Incal and The Fifth Element

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nReading Alejandro Jodorowsky’s legendary graphic novel ‘ThenIncal’ is no easy task. Here I fancy myself a science fiction super buff with anbrain, yet even I found it a challenge to comprehend a lot of the situationsnand plotlines in the book. This is not to say that it’s completely incomprehensible,nwhat I mean is that this is the kind of book you have to read on variousnoccasions to fully grasp. It’s the kind of graphic novel you should read once,nwithout trying to make sense of it. Hopefully some of its essence shouldntransfer onto your brain on your first read, then when you read it again, keepnadding bits of information to what you already know, that’s the best way to gonabout it. The thing is that The Incal is a barrage of information, an avalanchenof science fiction awesomeness. An amalgamation of mystical artifacts, aliennraces, political intrigue, god like beings and amazing outlandish vistas.Onenthing is undeniable, this graphic novel, which is really a compilation ofncomics that were printed separately through a period of seven yearsn(1981-1988), is a juggernaut of a masterpiece, a work of art with a resoundingnimpact on anyone who ventures into its pages. Each page is a gift from thencomic book gods known as Moebius and Jodorowsky.
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nAlejandro Jodorowskynis one of my favorite persons in the world, not just for his films which Inadore, but also because of who he is as a person. When I hear him talk in say, thendocumentary called Jodorowsky’s Dune’s (2014), it’s like I’m listening to ankindred spirit. A true ateur, a realist, a humanist, Jodorowsky has always usednhis art to comment on humanity, our craziness, our subconscious preoccupations,nour collective worries and thoughts. This is why I adore every single one ofnhis films. Yet I had never read any of his comic books, I just had tonexperience this other area of his art. So I started at the beginning, with ThenIncal, a graphic novel that is the foundation for ‘The Jodoverse’ a series ofncomics written by Jodorowsky. Interesting how it was his frustrations withnHollywood that turned Jodorowsky to comics. You see, once upon a time, Jodorowskynattempted with great enthusiasm, to make a major Hollywood science fiction filmnbased on Frank Herbert’s Dune. It was going to be the end all, be all ofnscience fiction films. He had the conceptual art, the actors, the specialneffects technicians, he just needed the millions. Sadly, Hollywood got coldnfeet and slammed the door on his face. I’m almost 100% sure Hollywood producersnsaw him as a quack, a nut job, an unreliable director who was probably going tonmake a movie that was going to be unmarketable and over budget. But what didnthey know, right? As Jodorowsky himself always says, all geniuses are a littlencrazy.
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nThe comic book world was a world where Jodorowskysnimagination was not limited by budgets or back stabbing producers. Here was anmedium in which his imagination could go anywhere it wanted, and boy did hentake it places! His writings include: Before The Incal, The Incal, The FinalnIncal, Metabarons Genesis: Castaka, Megalex and The Technopriests, among many others.nThe good thing about Jodorowsky’s comic books is that he always partners upnwith amazing artists, which is what we’re here to talk about today. Jodorowskynpartnering up with Jean Giraud (a.k.a. Moebius) to produce The Incal, a seminalnwork in comics, and by seminal I mean you’d better read it at some point innyour life, there’s still nothing like it out there. It’s the story of an anti-hero named John Difool who suddenly comes upon a magical artifact known as The Incal. Once he obtains it everybody in the universe wants it for their own dark purposes. In essence it is a story of ultimate evil vs. ultimate good, about the ambiguity of life and about the unpredictability of life, sometimes you do what you got to do, whether you planned it that way or not.
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nThe story behind The Incal is that Jodorowsky took conceptsnhe had prepared for his adaptation of Dune and jam packed the The Incal with them.nI honestly don’t see a lot of Dune in The Incal, save for the fact that thengood guys are escaping an evil government and that they have to do something tonstop it, I’m thinking he put more of the conceptual stuff he had planned for Dune into The Incal, spaceships, buildings and the such. The real issue here though is how much The Incal has influencednfilmmakers and comic book artists from all over the globe. One such filmmaker isnLuc Besson, the director behind The Fifth Element (1995). The dirt on The FifthnElement is that Luc Besson ripped off Jodorwsky’s The Incal. I’d say this isn’tnentirely true. Sure there’s some similarities, you’re definitely going to see them.nBut in my opinion, many of these similarities are visual in nature and don’tnnecessarily subscribe themselves to the plot. An interesting aspect of thisnwhole Incal/Fifth Element issue is that Moebius actually worked as a conceptualnartist for Besson on The Fifth Element; so it’s doesn’t really surprise me thatnMoebius’s style is all over the conceptual part of The Fifth Element. Thensimilarities bothered the folks at Humanoid Press, the company that prints ThenIncal in Europe, so they sued Luce Besson for supposedly stealing ideas fromnThe Incal for his film. The question is :did Besson deserved to be sued?

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nMoebius worked as a conceptual artist on some of the bestnfilmmakers. For example, he worked on Willow (1988), Masters of the Universen(1987), Tron (1982), Little Nemo Adventures in Slumberland (1989) and The Abyssn(1989). He also conceptualized many of the flying cars, buildings and charactersnseen on The Fifth Element, which is probably why The Incal and The FifthnElement share a few similarities. First time I saw The Fifth Element (1995) inntheaters back in 1995 it seemed so new and so fresh to me, I had never seennanything like it before, in fact, I went to see it a record setting five timesnto the theater! I haven’t done that for a film in a while, my limit nowadays isnthree times if I really love a movie. It was only years later, after I startednreading Moebius’s work that I learned about what an influential artist he wasnand about how the reason why I loved The Fifth Element so much was because itnwas partially conceptualized by Moebius.

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nHere’s a list of the similarities:
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nThe novel starts with John DiFool, the protagonist of the story, being thrown from the balconynof a building. On his way down he has to avoid a zillion flying cars as henmakes his way down to the grimiest parts of the city, the lower levels. Thisnhappens in The Fifth Element when Leeloo jumps from a building also having tonavoid a zillion flying vehicles on her way down to the most uninhabitable partsnof the city. The architecture in these scenes is extremely similar to certainnimages from The Incal. But of course, Moebius was the artist behind both projects;nit makes sense that they’d have some similarities from a visual standpoint.
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nIn The Incal, the main character is a man called JohnnDiFool. He’s a private detective, but also your typical loser type, hence thenplay of words on his name. It sounds like John ‘The Fool’. He doesn’t want tonbe a hero, in fact, he’s an anti-hero. He saves the day anyway, but he isnconstantly finding a way to avoid responsibility, he seems to only want to livenfor fun. John Difool likes smoking, drinking and what he refers to as “homeo-whores”.nIn The Fifth Element the main character is also a loser type, he lives in andingy little apartment filled with crap, he looks, un-kept. He doesn’t take shitnfrom anybody, but he also doesn’t give a shit. He’s a taxi driver about to losenhis job (and his license) because he has way too many parking tickets, yet endsnup being the films hero anyways. Korben ends up making out with a god likenbeing, same as John DiFool in The Incal.
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nIn The Incal there’s this black liquid that’s taking overneverything which is referred to as “The Great Darkness”. It is turning everybody evil. Our hero John DiFool and his friends mustnbattle it in order to save the universe, they all end up battling it together. In The Fifth Element a black planetnkeeps approaching the earth and if Korben Dallas doesn’t find The Fifth Elementnand activate it, the black planet will destroy the earth. Korben and his friends end up helping him uncover the powers of The Fifth Element. Also, same as in ThenIncal, the black evil takes liquid form. It can be seen two times during thenfilm, dripping from the forehead of the films villains.

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nOne of the chapters in The Incal is actually called ‘ThenFifth Essence’, this should be enough for anyone to see the influence.
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nAt the end of the day, I would say that The Fifth Elementnborrowed a bit from The Incal, but its different enough that it’s not really a ripnoff; which is probably why Humanoid Press didn’t win the lawsuit. I mean ifnVanilla Ice could get away with ripping off Queen’s Under Pressure as blatantly as he did,nanybody can rip off anything. But then again, that’s the trick ofnborrowing ideas, you have to change them just enough to make them your own. Innfact, if we get down to it, The Fifth Element feels like a dumb as hell movienwhen compared to the complexities on The Incal. Speaking of rip offs, I’d saynthat if The Fifth Element ripped off anything it was actually a segment fromnHeavy Metal (1981) called ‘Harry Canyon’, which plays out note for note exactlynthe same as The Fifth Element (1995). If you don’t believe me check out my review for it, in which I detail the similarities between both films, or better yet, check out the segment for yourself. So while ThenFifth Element blew my mind the first time I saw it in theaters, it was actuallyna rehash of previously conceived ideas from various films and comics. I’m stillnwaiting for a brave filmmaker to make a film adaptation of The Incal. The onenproblem that an adaptation like that will confront is that The Incal is justntoo freaking weird, jam packed with ideas and craziness all the way through.nYou hardly get a chance to catch your breath when the next crazy adventurenbegins. The Incal is an onslaught of craziness, but in a real good way. So whoever decides to tackle The Incal’s cinematic adaptation will have one huge challenge ahead of them. I hear that Nicolas Windig Refn the director behind Drive (2011) and Only God Forgives (2013) has talked with Jodorowsky about translating the book into a film, the two have created a kinship, so let’s hope this project comes to fruition at some point. Jodorowsky and Moebius never spelled things out for us, when you read ThenIncal, you are not treated like a fool or an idiot. It is expected that younhave a brain on you and that you are fully capable of using it! So use it, and immersenyour neurons in this one of a kind comic book experience.    

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