Sad news about the passing of the great comics illustrator Richard Corben:

[www.syfy.com]

He did several illustrations for stories by CAS, such as "The Empire of the Necomancers":

[www.eldritchdark.com]

...and he also did full comics adaptations of a couple of CAS' Mars stories, such as "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis":

[www.eldritchdark.com]

I love his adaptations of works by Lovecraft and Poe as well, not to mention an incredible version of Hodgson's "The House on the Borderland". He will be missed!

A legend. He will be tremendously missed.

I am very sad to hear this. Richard Corben was one of the greatest and most generous artists ever.

I remember Corben's work well - maybe from Uncle Creepy/Vampirella/Eerie? There was a guy who used to sell old copies of all three from a stall on O'Connell Street in Dublin, back in the day. Bernie Wrightson would have been another big name around then, bigger maybe than Corben, but if Wrightson's style was traditional (albeit impressive) Corben's style was uniquely his own. That said, I never saw his CAS-inspired work.

Apropos weird illustration, has anyone read "Sticks" by Karl Edward Wagner?

What did you think of it? Do you think it maybe influenced "Blair Witch Project" and other subsequent works that feature inexplicable rustic artifacts?

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What did you think of it? Do you think it maybe
> influenced "Blair Witch Project" and other
> subsequent works that feature inexplicable rustic
> artifacts?

"Sticks" is a fun story, and I'd have a hard time believing that it wasn't an influence on "The Blair Witch Project"!

I know the creators behind the HBO show "True Detective" have acknowledged that KEW's story was an inspiration for their first season.

I guess boundary markers are a good way of establishing that the mc is crossing from the familiar and the everyday into the strange and the inexplicable? A recent film ‘The Endless’ (which I’d heartily recommend) has a similar motif - the characters stop at a roadside memorial (to their mother, apparently) en route to visiting the cult where they grew up.

rip!

Thank you for posting on the passing of Comics great Richard Corben. I completely missed this news back in December.

I never met the man, but his work has fascinated me since I first glimpsed it in National Lampoon back in 1977 (a preview of the forthcoming first issue of Heavy Metal). I was 15 years old and had never seen anything similar to his potent mix of exoticism, violence and sexuality.

I'm almost 60. I should not be surprised at people (even famous/admirable/talented/influential people) dying (and, after all, I never met them and had no personal relationship with them). This happens all the time. Diana Rigg, Terry Pratchett, Neil Innes...Good God, I even knew Terry was failing! So why does every sudden obituary still hit me like a blow to the heart?

Thank you, Richard, for sharing your dreams and nightmares with us.

Aside from Richard Corben's perhaps most famous and heralded works, Neverwhere, and Bloodstar (a wonderful and in parts tremendous adaptation of Robert E. Howard's "The Valley of the Worm". I really like the colored version, which I once bought in Paris, although it has been said those are not Corben's colors; whoever it was, did a competent job. I could not understand a word of the French text, but with intelligent narrative art like that it doesn't really matter much), ... here are some of my personal absolute favorites:

Melton's Big Game
A Gothic Tale
The Rats in the Walls
Tarzan: Chance Meeting
Frozen Beauty
Friedheim the Magnificent
Lycanklutz
Terror Tomb
The Hero Within
Child
As Though They Were Living
Top to Bottom
The Woodlik Inheritance
Anti-Christmas
The Believer
The Dweller in the Dark
New Tales of the Arabian Nights
Muvovum

DAGON, a 4 min long feverish film adaption of Lovecraft's short story, which Corben made on his computer. He himself appropriately played the role of the stranded sailor.

And numerous cover paintings for books, magazines, posters. Llana of Gathol and John Carter of Mars, "Abominable Snowman", Richard Corben's Funny Book, Anthology of Slow Death, etc, etc, etc.

He painted beautiful forms, men and women in their vigorous prime, with interesting clothing, askew old wrinkled persons, trees, animals, bizarre monsters, undulating and suggestive landscapes, water, and sky, architecture, old houses. He was master of beautiful glowing colors in sophisticated vibrating combinations, as well as all conceivable variations of subtle earthy hues. He could paint what Clark Ashton Smith described as "a sinister brownish-purple autumn twilight" and a "sun of candent copper in a blackish-blue zenith".

Corben was not like other comic book artists, like Wally Wood and Graham Ingels, who could draw in the same consistent style all through their careers. His work and approach changed with his mood and different phases of motivation through life.

To me he was successor of the truly great in weird tradition that ended with Lovecraft and Smith, although he worked in a different medium, and brought a humorous touch alongside his horrific visions that otherwise would have been unbearable to view.

I used to subscribe to Heavy Metal and Corben had a strip, Den.

It's hard to miss his work. The coloring was lurid; if ever there was a concrete example of what "lurid" means, Den was it. This instantly creates a sort of tension and a bit of anxiety in the viewer/reader. It is very scary stuff in its own way.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hah!

It just occurred to me: is Corben's work, the bulk of it, beautiful?

Why, why not?

I'll be out front: no beauty here folks. Fascination, attraction, but more like a car wreck, or voyeurism.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've seen a little of Corben's work. Not where I'd look for beauty.

That got me thinking about other comic book/comic strip artists. In general I don't think they are attentive to the beautiful. A real exception is Hal Foster (Prince Valiant. His art celebrates human and natural beauty.

Unfortunately, one of the most readily available presentations of it, a series of Fantagraphics reprints from 30 years or so ago, features coloration that makes it seem that everyone is wearing red lipstick. My favorite book presentation of some of Foster's art is seven books issued by Hastings House many years ago, in which the art is presented in black and white, allowing one really to savor Foster's drawing, with the text being an adaptation of Foster by Trell. The ideal presentation of Prince Valiant by Foster would be oversize books, perhaps with careful use of color according to Foster, or else black and white. But the Fantagraphics books are good resources. I'm not sure they are in print; but they seem to be available for reasonable prices on ebay:

[www.ebay.com]

Fantagraphics may have re-presented Foster's Prince Valiant in some other formats, too.

I collected Prince Valiant newspaper strips at the very tail end of Foster's career. I started in mid-December 1969. I was able to get many of the strips as presented in a San Francisco newspaper that printed them in a larger format than did the Portland, Oregon, newspaper that was the alternative available to me.

Note: there have been at least two artists on Prince Valiant since Foster's retirement (and death, I believe). From what I have seen their work is palatable but not as good as his.

Dale, do you recall the Calvin & Hobbes strip?

Distancing ourselves from its intellectual content and considering only the renderings, there were times when the artist went into fantasy or idealized nostalgia, and these were quite striking and I'm tempted to call some of them beautiful.

Does any of this ring a bell? If so, what are your thoughts?

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I certainly recall Calvin & Hobbes. They often possessed real charm. I remember one in which Calvin is messing about with some unappetizing-looking vegetable dish, sculpting with it and enjoying his art, & then his mom scolds him to get him to eat the food, and Calvin looks defeated. There were some outdoors scenes (e.g. sledding on snow) that, within the conventions and limitations of a humorous comic strip, seemed to have a nice feeling for the natural world.