Den - Neverwhere!

Rich Corben's Den was an amazing bit of comic strip storytelling. Corben created a hero who exuded masculinity, even down to walking around with his impressive dong swinging from side to side for all to see. In an era before shaved heads were a commonplace, Den was indeed a hairless wonder. 

It began with Edgar Rice Burrough's A Princess of Mars which if we remember is all about a rough and tough hero mysteriously being transported to Mars where he saves a naked damsel who just happens to become the love of his life. Den is almost quite literally John Carter on steroids. 

And Den's first life was not as a comic, but as an animation. Rich Corben and others created the "cartoon" Neverwhere in 1969. Corben himself appears in the live-action frame which takes us into the cartoon adventure and back out. These story details are incorporated into the lush Den comic story. To see the cartoon Neverwhere, check out this Youtube link. 

The Den we know first shows up in the second issue of Grimwit in 1973. Eventually the story was expanded and appeared as a serial in the first dozen issues of Heavy Metal in the late 70's. That's where most of us discovered the potent Corben art for the first time. It was like seeing the world anew. 

Back then most comic book readers were young men or boys. So, a hero who parades naked, swinging his dick with aplomb might be a wish fulfillment, especially when that full-blown masculinity results in the tender attentions of not one buxom babe, but two. To be whisked away from a pubescent life into one filled with danger, sex, and violence is pretty damn attractive to a naive mind. It was to mine. 

There is a plot of sorts in Den as the hero is forced into one alliance after another in search of a magical totem which will allow an ancient demon to rise from the bowels of the planet, most probably from another dimension. Now Lovecraft join Burroughs as an influence on this yarn which fights like mad to tell its story with as few words as possible. Though there are plenty of words as well. 

The success of Den and the story Neverwhere prompted sequels by Corben over many years in many places in many formats. Now Dark Horse is wrangling it all together in a series of hardbacks which according some, is the best it's ever looked. It's been re-lettered to give it a cohesion it lacked. Also produced in this first volume is an introduction by Fantasy Grandmaster Fritz Leiber. He will be showing up again in this blog as soon as tomorrow. 

More Den next week. Same Den-Channel, Same Den-Time! 

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