Although Nicolas Winding Refn‘s plans to adapt Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius‘ seminal graphic novel The Incal haven’t yet gotten off the ground, today we have a short-form cinematic treatment by animator Pascal Blais. A few years back, he worked with a small team to develop a proof-of-concept trailer for an animated adaptation of the sci-fi epic. Though it never went into actual production, it is an intriguing and gorgeously realized tribute to a widely loved graphic novel, which was published by Humanoids, and brought to life Jodorowsky’s fictional universe “Jodoverse,” that was described by many as a contender for the medium’s best work.

It’s set in a dystopian, dominantly human-populated city which resides in a neighboring galaxy to one that hosts aliens named Bergs, who resemble featherless birds. When a Berg dies, a human named John Difool receives the Light Incal, a power crystal that...