Möbius is not alone, in there.

Rating: 9/10 (18 May 2003)

From watching The Fifth Element, one cannot escape the "Heavy Metal" look of the movie; the whole movie, the sets, the story, the characters have simply walked-out of a french/belgian comic book...
Like so many millions of french people born in Besson's years, it was hard to grow without reading the "Tintin", "Spirou" and, most importantly, "Pilote" comic magazines ("Pilote" can rightfully claim to be the precursor to "Métal-Hurlant" (translated as "Heavy Metal").
Zorg, the villain, has obviously been patterned after "Zorglub", Spirou's most notorious villain, with only a tiny remnant of his beard, though. Both want to achieve total domination, and they do so with immensely powerful means and an army of docile subordinates, but not without fumbling helplessly with technology. While Zorg's gets killed, Zorglub makes his exit on a lowly bicycle instead of one of his high-tech skycars, after grossly misspelling "Coca-Cola" on the moon.
And about Korben Dallas and LeeLo, don't look towards Jean Giraud (Möbius) for inspiration. Korben is obviously inspired from Christin & Mézières' tech-savvy Valérian, while Leelo is Laureline (a sorceress [witches aren't usually beautiful] who comes into the high-tech stories through magic, and who always saves Valérian's ass when his high-technology gets overwhelmed).
The Fifth Element is obviously a frenchman's satire of the americans, which are regarded as being kitsch and masters of bad-taste, yet not without a hint of admiration for New-York City, the average frenchman's idea of what America is. How better embody this better than with the überkitsch Fhlostom Paradise luxury liner? And to drive the point home even more effectively, Ruby Rhod really rubs-in the epitome of kitschness.
Likewise, Besson's view of futuristic New-York is an endless superposition of clichés; the kamikaze cabbies, the towering buildings, the street violence, the cool policemen going about their business, and the zanyness of some eccentric characters not noticed by the rest of the people... But here, one will have no trouble crediting Möbius for the scenery, directly inspired from the well-cities of L'Incal.
Finally, The Fifth Element is an immensely enjoyable movie, if only because of it's unconventionnal roots: the franco/belgian comic-book science-fiction school.