Back in the day, folk like Jack Kirby, George Perez and John Buscema made me love comics. They were the proverbial “first kiss” which you never forget. Not long after I had discovered the dark, underbelly of comics. The ringmaster…the gatekeeper to that secret world was Richard Corben. He showed me a better drug; a sexier, darker drug which I gobbled-up without pause. My world and view of comics had changed. My young, wannabe-comic book-making brain exploded with excitement. I knew that this was the path I had to tread. I’m happy to see that Mr. Corben has stood the test of time, unlike many of my inspirations. The last few years has seen a resurgence of his career as the mainstream decided to take a peek under the bed. The boogeyman is cranking on all cylinders now and I couldn’t be happier.
Mr. Corben is the main man in Marvel’s HAUNT OF HORROR: LOVECRAFT mini series. This has me excited as Corben goes back to his black and white roots re-exploring some of what made him the enticing boogeyman in the first place. He’ll also be working on another Hellboy story with Mike Mignolla called “THE CROOKED MAN” which I’m jazzed about. I just love Hellboy! If that wasn’t enough, Mr. Corben will also be gracing the pages of Dark Horse’s new CONAN THE CIMMERIAN with a backup feature centered on the adventures of Conan’s grandfather.
Every year I seem to ask myself, “why am I still making comics?”, and every year something rears its ugly head and pulls me back in. This time, that ugly head belongs to the boogeyman. I love it.
Now where’s Moebius!?
Play Nice.
I love Corben too! I think my first exposure to his work was a Den story in Heavy Metal. Around that same time I saw the movie and fell in love with the whole Den thing.
ReplyDeleteCorben's style excited me because it was simultaneously lush, polished, and un-glossy. I mean, if you look at enough of his work you see lots of panels where he seems to get lazy or his basic drawing isn't as solid as others. Yet he plows on and lets that become an element of his style. Kind of bold, and I like that.
I have a different philosophy of comics than he does (or did?). I remember reading an interview with him in which he stated that story should always take a back seat to visuals. It's all about the look. And that's true in his work. The stories are more or less there to serve the art.
Ever read "the Boddessy"?
Was The Boddessy also in HM? If so I think maybe I did. I remember one of his stories in there that really leaped out at me when I first read HM, but it wasn't Den, it was a bit later on. I have a great HM compilation issue of the "Best of Corben" all short stories though. I also have a very old issue of an underground comic called "Slow Death" that I picked up in a thrift store here that has a very early Corben story. Actually that was great a little zine -- a good model for our Wizards of Ur anthology (hey are we ever going to do that or what?!).
ReplyDeleteYes...The Bodyssey was serialized in Heavy Metal back in 1985.
ReplyDeleteWhat hooked me was his short story, "The Hero Within" which was in a magazine called Comix International back in `75. Looking at it now, it seems almost crude but back then when I was immersed in the 4 color marvel world...it blew me away.
Yes...Wiz' of Ur Anthology is good idea.