John R. Fultz's Blog, page 71

Cosmic Thoughts: VIII

“Unfocused awareness is the source of creativity.” —Chopra

 

Richard Corben’s BLOODSTAR

Cover of the ’79 Ariel Books edition of BLOODSTAR

I find the fantastic work of Richard Corben endlessly inspiring. Tonight I dug out my cherished copy of BLOODSTAR and treated myself to a re-read. This classic tale of post-apocalypse sword and sorcery is a great example of why Corben is a legend.

BLOODSTAR is an adaptation of my favorite Robert E. Howard story, “Valley of the Worm,” but it is so much more than that. One of the first true graphic novels ever published, it originally saw print in 1976 and was reprinted in 1979 (I have the ’79 edition from Ariel Books). Rather than doing a straight adaptation of Howard’s “Worm,” Corben and his collaborator John Jakes crafted a greater, more detailed story and wove Howard’s tale into their own creation.

Whereas Howard’s tale is set in the primordial age of humankind, BLOODSTAR tells that same story as the “Act 3″ of a drama that occurs in the distant future, after mankind has been driven back into the stone age by a cosmic catastrophe. This is actually quite fitting, however, as Howard intended his original story of Niord the Worm-Slayer as an archetypal monster-slaying legend that was played out again and again through history. So it makes a kind of weird sense that the story would play out in the far future as well.

Howard’s barbarian character Niord is renamed Bloodstar, and he’s given a much richer history in this tale of tribal warfare, jealousy, vengeance, and primal love. What Corben and Jakes added to Howard’s concept was a depth of character for the admittedly savage tribesmen who inhabit the tale.

The story of Bloodstar’s heroic self-sacrifice to avenge his slaughtered tribe is told in the form of a flashback by his old friend Grom. Grom is telling the story to Bloodstar the Second, the son of the original hero. Grom reveals how his tribe and Bloodstar’s tribe went from war to peace, and how Bloodstar spared his life and became his friend.

Grom’s narrative carries through the blossoming romance between Bloodstar and Helva, the chieftain’s daughter who is ordained by tribal custom to wed Bloodstar’s friend Loknar when he takes on the duties of chieftan. As in any good romance, true love cannot be denied, and the passion between Bloodstar and Helva bursts forth and results in Bloodstar’s banishment from the tribe. Helva, Grom, and Bloodstar form a singular family unit in the wilderness and enjoy a peaceful existence and the birth of a son.

When Bloodstar and his family attempt to return to the tribe of Aesir they discover a terrible slaughter. At the same time Helva is abducted and the trail leads to the cursed valley where Grom’s people believe a demon called the King of Northern Abyss dwells.

Without giving away the plot, which is far more intricate than you might expect from a sword and sorcery book inspired by 30s pulp and retooled in the mid-70s, let me say that the final confrontation with the hideous, Lovecraftian monstrosity of the cursed valley is the stuff of legend. It is in this confrontation that the adaptation cleaves most closely to Howard’s classic tale.

BLOODSTAR has never been reprinted as far as I know, but you can still find copies on eBay and from various comics retailers. If you’re a Corben fan, it’s a must-own. If you’re a Robert E. Howard fan, likewise. And if you haven’t yet discovered the genius of Richard Corben, there is no better place to start than BLOODSTAR.

Now, it’s time to re-read my way through Corben’s other masterpiece, the DEN series.

Why Comics Are Losing Me…

I’ve been a comics fan my entire life. The comics medium is such a wonderful and powerful art form, the perfect blend of word and image. Lately, however, I’ve been worried.

I usually hate it when someone tells me “Oh, I don’t read comics anymore” or “Today’s comics just aren’t any good.” I dislike blanket statements, generalizations, and judging the many by the work of the few. But I’m still worried.

Comics are losing me.

It started with DC’s “52″ relaunch. The company restarted/relaunched every single title in the line. I was intrigued, like every other comics fan, but when all was said and done there were only THREE titles that grabbed my interest: OMAC, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, and BATWOMAN. I’ve always been the kind of fan who is more interested in the creative teams than in the characters–I’ll give any character a chance if the creative team “wows” me. Only three teams did this in the 52 relaunch.

OMAC was an homage to the great Jack Kirby, and Kieth Giffen did a great job of capturing the feel of Kirby’s classic creation, but updating it for the modern reader. In my book, it was the very best of the “New 52.” However, DC cancelled this title after about six issues. What a terrible move. Strike one.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK combined one of my favorite writers, Peter Milligan, with some of my favorite characters (Shade the Changing Man and Deadman), with amazing art by newcomer Mikal Janin. For a few issues, it felt like one of my all-time favorite comics, SHADE THE CHANGING MAN, had been resurrected. Yet, after only a few issues, this comic was ruined for me by a crossover with some vampire comic that DC was doing (I, VAMPIRE). My interest might have survived this misstep in launching a new book (Why not let the book get established before shoehorning in other characters and concepts that are obviously there for marketing reasons???). However, after six issues or so the departure of Milligan was announced, and new writer Jeff Lemire announced that he was taking the emphasis of the book off Shade. As far as I can tell, Shade might even be removed from the book altogether. Strike two.

BATWOMAN was an amazing comic for awhile because of one thing and one thing only: the amazing J.H. Williams. His art is phenomenal, and when he left the title’s art duties after only a few issues, the book no longer worked for me. It really wasn’t fair to ask Amy Reeder Hadley (who had done a terrific job on Vertigo’s MADAME XANADU a few short years ago), to fill the shoes of such a giant as Williams. Another bad decision. Strike three.

That meant there were no longer any DC books that could hold my interest. Thank the Comic Gods for SCALPED, which remains my favorite DC/VERTIGO comic. However, that amazingly good title is going to end in a few issues, and I haven’t seen anything from VERTIGO lately that has me convinced it will fill the SCALPED void. So, for the first time in decades, I’m not reading any DC comics. (Except for SCALPED, which is almost over.)

Now, I’ve always been more of a Marvel Comics fan, in general. The books that have been blowing my mind in the recent years are mostly the ones written by Ed Brubaker, Rick Rememder, and Matt Fraction. Not that I read everything these guys are writing, but all three of them have done work that continues to thrill and amaze me. Yet Brubaker put his best book, CRIMINAL, on indefinite hiatus to do another book for Image–a horror/crime hybrid that (for me) doesn’t live up the gritty, street-level genius of CRIMINAL. Bru also seems to be drawing his amazing CAPTAIN AMERICA run to a close–it feels like he’s done what he wanted to do with the character is and ready to move on. However, he’s moving on to WINTER SOLDIER–one of the year’s best new comics. With the aid of the amazing Butch Guice, this could be Marvel’s best comic right now.

Fraction’s new DEFENDERS relaunch grabbed me and left me wanting more, and his CASANOVA book is one of my favorite non-superhero titles in the last ten years. (Yet it appears sporadically because Fraction has so much mainstream Marvel work.) Remender made me love a book I never thought I’d be reading: UNCANNY X-FORCE. All of these books remain strong (at present) and I hope they continue to be as good as they have been so far.

As for the AVENGERS books, I was really starting to get tired of what Brian Bendis has been doing, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. SECRET AVENGERS (written by Remender after Brubaker left) has impressed me as the current best AVENGERS comic. However, it took Marvel’s latest “big crossover” event to make me realize why even they are losing me when it comes to comics.

WE’VE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE.

I’m just tired of seeing the same old plot rehashes over and over and over again. AVENGERS vs. X-MEN. Ugh. I tried the first couple of issues and they just confirmed what I was dreading. The oldest cliche in comics is the heroes meeting, fighting, then realizing they’re actually on the same side, and teaming up to fight a common threat. How many more times will the Phoenix return to threaten reality? How many more times will the same villains keep coming back to face the same heroes with the same results?

So it took AvX to bring me the epiphany: After 42 years of reading them, I’m tired of superhero comics.

It’s all just a big recycling of old plots, old characters, and nothing ever really changes. There is nothing left but looking at pretty artwork. Even the really good writing these days is simply a clever way to REPEAT WHAT HAS COME BEFORE in a slightly new way. So maybe it’s not comics that are losing me…maybe it’s SUPERHERO comics.

Can you blame me for wanting to read something NEW? Something fresh? Something that doesn’t rely on years and decades of previous continuity, something that is based on NEW AND ORIGINAL IDEAS instead of simply being a clever VARIATION ON A THEME??? Because that’s all superhero comics are, for the most part: Variations on a theme. An old, tired theme. I love great art as much as the next guy, but dammit I want a great STORY too.

But hold on! Let me give some examples of comics that have struck me as incredibly original and surprisingly fresh takes on ideas that have themselves been around for awhile: Boom! Studios PLANET OF THE APES comic (written by Daryl Gregory and drawn fantastically by Carlos Magno) has done something new and fresh with the APES mythos. And Magno is doing the very best work of his career.

Likewise, Boom’s ELRIC: THE BALANCE LOST has taken Michael Moorcock’s best-known Eternal Champion characters (Elric, Corum, and Hawkmoon) and done something extraordinary with them. Writer Chris Roberson and artist Francesco Biagini have woven a cosmic tale that blends fantasy, horror, and sci-fi in a phantasmagorical tour de force that has to be seen to be believed.

James Stokoe’s ORC STAIN comic from Image is a madcap comic that is as much black comedy as it is sword-and-sorcery. James writes, draws, and colors the comic. It is refreshingly original and blazingly unconventional. I never expected such a unique book with the word “orc” in the title.

Mike Mignola’s HELLBOY is still as entertaining, vital, and gorgeous as it ever has been. Of course, Hellboy isn’t a monthly comic, and it’s plagued by long periods of hiatus where readers have to settle for B.P.R.D. and other spin-offs. HELLBOY IN HELL is about to begin–and it could be the ultimate arc of the longstanding series. Is Hellboy a superhero? Not really. Yeah, he fights monsters, but he’s more of a horror character than a costumed crimefighter.

Richard Corben’s RAGEMOOR is an amazing horror book. Corben is a living legend, and here he taps his Lovecraft influence to create a gothic tale of monsters and madness that is unlike anything else out there today. Too bad it’s only a miniseries.

So it looks like Boom! and Dark Horse are really where my head’s at these days. I still love Marvel–and I still follow my favorite creators from project to project–but it feels like I’m done with superhero comics. They seem to be spinning their wheels, stuck in the mud, repeating themselves endlessly. Variations on a theme.

In today’s world money is tight. When I pay 3 or 4 dollars for a comic I want something NEW. Something I haven’t seen before. Something that is more than pretty pictures providing variation on the same old themes that have been recycled for 60 or 70 years.

I will still be reading innovative new takes on my favorite Marvel characters–I’ll even check out some DC books if they catch my interest–I’m not starting any kind of silly “boycott” or telling people not to read the “Big Two.” I’m just saying one thing:

Comics are starting to lose me. Especially superhero comics.

Maybe that’s because the vast majority of comics ARE superhero comics. Variations on a theme. (Tired of reading that phrase yet? I thought so.)

When it comes to spending my limited comic budget, I’m going to stick with books that offer something new, fresh, and original.

But I’ll still buy pretty much anything Alan Davis draws.

Cosmic Thoughts: VII

“Your inner potential and cosmic potential are the same field.

The field is you and the universe, just as the waves and ocean are one.”

–Chopra

SEVEN PRINCES: Review Round-Up

   SEVEN PRINCES has been out now for almost six months. Here’s what some of my favorite critics had to say about the book, all combined into a single post:

——————————————————————-

“Fultz’s debut novel is flawless …

SEVEN PRINCES is as good as it gets.” 

–Paul Goat Allen

——————————————————————-

“An unabashed, over-the-top fantasy epic…There’s a determined rejection of the epic fantasy ethos of deferred gratification. The whole book contains about 10 books’ worth of story ideas and plot twists, in under 500 pages…You sort of wish Frazetta was still alive, just so he could illustrate

some scenes from this book.”

–Charlie Jane Anders, io9

——————————————————————-

 ”A richly detailed background history filled with the legends of many cultures lends depth to a stand-out fantasy series from an author with an exceptional talent for characterization and world building.”

–The Library Journal 

——————————————————————-

“When I was a kid, I read fantasy novels because the men were heroes, the villains were the most vile, despicable creatures possible, and the battles were epic. The stories were magical to my young mind, and I couldn’t wait to immerse myself in the realms of dragons and wizards each day after school. Thanks to John R. Fultz’s debut novel, SEVEN PRINCES, that magic is back in a big way.”

–James W. Powell

The Debut Review

——————————————————————-

     ‎”Here is a fantasy novel that manages to be as dark and gritty as an Abercrombie or Martin creation yet also sits comfortably within the realm of fairy tale, folklore, and myth, with its emotional verisimilitude never threatening to rob the series of magic or heroism, and its classic fantasy tropes never undermining its

emotional complexity and heft.”  

–Robert William Berg

——————————————————————-

    “This is fantasy of the Dunsany, Smith and Vance school, where breathless wonders spill off the page in spendthrift profusion. I can imagine a reader familiar only with the more prosaic, predictable and ‘realistic’ approaches to fantasy finding this novel to be the equivalent of a powerful dose of Black Lotus—dizzying, spellbinding,

maybe even hallucinatory.”

–John Hocking 

——————————————————————-

“Here magic is the force than binds every single element and every single character. Without magic this book cannot exist. This is what draws you in, for in this world there are no limits, and, honestly, Fultz just runs with this amazing display of imagination in every single page.”

–Cristian Caroli 

——————————————————————-

“SEVEN PRINCES  is bold, brash, and big. This is a novel written with bright strokes of character and setting, bursting with world-shaking adventure, intrigue, and conflict.

It reads big, and feels big, and it’s unrepentantly so.”

– Brian Murphy,

www.blackgate.com 

——————————————————————-

“John goes beyond the tropes and conventions of big fantasy; he makes them his own with original twists, and he always, always tells a human tale, the story of characters that engage us.”

– Frederic S. Durbin

Author of DRAGONFLY and THE STAR SHARD 

——————————————————————-

“… exciting and delightful … thoroughly entertaining …

characters you want to read more about…”

– MyShelf.com

——————————————————————-

Ernie Chan (1940-2012): A Legend Passes

Earlier this evening I heard the sad news that one of comics’ great legends, Ernie Chan, has passed away.

Ernie was set to appear at the BigWow Comicfest in San Jose this weekend, so his death comes as a real surprise to those of us who expected to see him there.

I’ll say a few words, but I wanted to post a tribute in the form of my favorite Chan images. Some of these he painted, some he penciled and inked, and some he only inked—but Ernie’s inks were some of the most powerful in the world of comics.

When I was a kid I couldn’t get enough of CONAN THE BARBARIAN and its black-and-white companion magazine THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN. But I was incredibly picky about the art in my comics—if the art didn’t blow me away, I wouldn’t buy the comic. Plus, I had the seriously limited budget of a child, so I had to be impressed by the art or I left the book sitting on the rack.

Whenever I found a CONAN book that was drawn (or inked) by Ernie Chan, my money hit the counter immediately.

The great John Buscema was my favorite CONAN artist, but it was the Buscema/Chan team-ups (Ernie inking John’s pencils) that were my all-time favorites. Ernie also teamed with the great Gil Kane to ink an adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s “Valley of the Worm” in SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS #3. This is my favorite Howard story, and one of my favorite single-issue comics EVER. Chan’s inks melded with the pencils of Buscema and Kane in a way that no other artist could even approach.

Below, you’ll see the cover CONAN THE BARBARIAN #71, just one example of the amazing Kane/Chan chemistry. Most of the others are Buscema/Chan collaborations, including the immortal CONAN THE BARBARIAN #100, featuring the Death of Belit. I believe the CLAW cover was all Ernie, as are the painted pieces.

Thanks to Dark Horse Comics almost all of Ernie’s CONAN work has been collected in their CHRONICLES OF CONAN color editions and SAVAGE SWORD black-and-white collections. Ernie’s stories still stand out as the work of a true original. The images you see here are simply a few of my favorites. There are many, many more…

Rest in Peace, Ernie. You will be missed.

WHATEVER KNOWS FEAR: The Man-Thing Returns

The Man-Thing is back…and so is his most famous scribe.

One of my all-time favorite Marvel Comics characters is the shambling, muck-encrusted mockery of a man known as the Man-Thing. The 1970s and 80s runs of this character were collected not long ago in two black-and-white Essentials volumes. My favorite are the terrific 70s comics featuring the stellar talents of Steve Gerber, Mike Ploog, and many others. I can’t recommend them highly enough. When it comes to horror comics, Marvel’s 70s books are some of the best ever done.

Now Marvel has announced the impending release of THE INFERNAL MAN-THING, a 3-issue “lost” tale of the Man-Thing written by the late, great Gerber himself. Even better, it’s to be illustrated by the super-talented Kevin Nowlan.

The Man-Thing has languished in the shadows of the Marvel Universe for too long now—despite a great late-90s revival with art by Liam Sharp, and a recent stint in the THUNDERBOLTS book. There was also a good DEAD OF NIGHT arc featuring the muck-monster not too awful long ago. Before that, Kyle Hotz’s terrific 2004 MAN-THING miniseries was overshadowed by the absolutely horrible  movie that was unfortunately associated with it. (This could be THE worst Marvel movie of the modern age–even ELEKTRA wasn’t this bad.) The Guardian of the Nexus of All Realities deserves better.

I’ve always thought Man-Thing is a far more creepy character than DC’s Swamp Thing–largely because he’s a truly mindless being whereas “Swampy” is still pretty much a human being emotionally and intellectually. The Man-Thing is a true monster. It takes a really clever writer to create stories about a main character who has no conscious thoughts whatsoever. The Man-Thing responds only to raw emotions—he’s an empath—and of course “whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing’s touch.”

I’ll be the first in line to pick up a copy of THE INFERNAL MAN-THING. Few writers in comics have left a legacy as rich and innovative as Steve Gerber. And few characters are as fascinating—visually and thematically—as the tormented Ted Sallis, i.e. the Man-Thing.

This is going to be good.

SEVEN KINGS: 8 Months

Only 8 months until SEVEN KINGS arrives in bookstores across the globe.

During that time, how many babies will be born?

How many will be born on the same day the book comes out?

January 2013 isn’t really that far away…

Return to Middle-Earth

The movie poster that set my young soul aflame...

Ralph Bakshi’s animated version of

THE LORD OF THE RINGS, released in 1978, was one of my biggest formative influences as a child. Ye Gods, was this movie gorgeous! I had never seen anything like it. However, as a third-grader I remember reading THE HOBBIT and loving it.

It took Bakshi’s film opening at the local State Theatre to open my eyes to the  existence of the LOTR trilogy. Plus, the fact that Bakshi’s movie stopped halfway through the trilogy made me eager to get these books and read the whole story for myself.

These books must have been considered “too mature” for my elementary school library; but I was determined to get my hands on them. Thanks to my mother’s position at a local high school, she was able to check out all three books in glorious hardcover versions, with the HUGE fold-out maps designed by Tolkien himself.

It was about this time that Warren Publishing released a LORD OF THE RINGS magazine, composed of 120 stills from the Bakshi production and summaries of its major plot points. I used to stare at the images in this magazine for hours….nothing outside of my Frank Frazetta art books captured my imagination so powerfully. And when I read the LOTR trilogy, this was how I saw the characters in my mind—as Bakshi designed them.

Thanks to a recent post on io9, I’ve discovered that the ENTIRE MOVIE is available for viewing on YouTube. I highly recommend it, both to those who have never seen it, and those who enjoy an eye-popping blast from the past:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hJZPJrbGgEc#!

Of course, for the highest quality picture, it’s also available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

LORE Returns from the Grave

My latest post at Black Gate is an interview with Rod Heather, who has revived his

classic horror-fantasy magazine LORE. 

http://www.blackgate.com/2012/04/25/lore-returns-from-the-grave/