Elements

Den #5

by Richard Corben, Simon Revelstroke

The fifth volume in Corben's groundbreaking adult fantasy series [the series 1. Neverwhere (1978, 1985, 1991); 2. Muvovum (1984, 1991); 3. Children of Fire (1992); 4. Dreams (1992); 5. Elements (1992)].

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in Heavy Metal magazine. He won the 2009 Spectrum Grand Master Award. In 2012 he was elected to the The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[Drew Canole]

Cool artwork. The first splash page looks like the coolest 90s video game never made. Lots of strange pixelation throughout but only on certain pages that use a computer style. Corben can't really pick a lane here, each page looks like a completely different project. Some are classic Corben.

Combined with the nudity and grotesque imagery, this is definitely not for the faint of heart.

The story at this point is so bizarre and I just can't make heads or tails out of it. It started to get weird since volume 2. I swear I just read 3 and 4 a few weeks ago, but I'm not trying to get my PhD in Den comics. Unfortunately this is the last volume Corben completed, so we never get a conclusion to the story - although I'm not sure any conclusion would be satisfying.

Vol 1+2 are great. 3 starts the confusion with a prequel that creates more narrative issues and questions and solves none. 4 was fine, I think the PG art and a co-writer helped although I was still confused. I'll probably go back and enjoy the first few volumes again then try this one out. I read it for the first time over 10 years ago and had a similar experience.

[Luke]

The series ended strong. This last storyline gets back to what made the original so great, with violence, nudity, and giant lizards. Richard Corben’s art is so bizarre and fascinating. It’s so hyper-detailed and fleshy.

[Rick Ray]

The fifth and final collection of Richard Corben's absurd, surrealistic fantasy adventure comics series, Den, "The Price of Memories" collects the stories from DenSaga, previously uncollected in English. Collectively, the stories follow an amnesiac Den on a journey to the Island of Heaven, where he works with old friends and flames to uncover the darker nature behind the idyllic setting. The vignettes loosely thread together, but it doesn't feel cohesive (not that much of this series ever has). Corben's artistry is still top notch here, and as garishly unique as ever, but very little feels resolved by this final volume.

[Mark]

This wasn't the ending that I expected. I love how Richard Corben subverted my expectations at every turn over the course of this series.

[Reyel2107]

the serie of books is dying ......

[Al Capwned]

And of course volume 5 was even worse than volume 6. I really don't understand the hype around Den.

[Luke John]

Corben's last foray into the world of Den is something of a return to form, after a couple of volumes that felt 'not quite right' due to some moderation of content. The art is back to pure Corben gold, and the story is perhaps the best structured of the whole series. Sad that we will never see anymore, it would only have taken a couple more volumes (perhaps even one) to round everything out, but let's just be grateful for what we have.

[Craig]

More a collection of short vignettes than a coherent story. And it just kind of tails off without a conclusion. Still, the real draw here is, as usual, the artwork and it just might be worth it for that alone.

[Christopher]

As the story went on it became less and less coherent, but Im happy to see the schlong return.

[Keith Kavanagh]

potentially the weakest volume, really didn't dig corben's venture into the digital world