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! 

Rip Off

Heavy Metal - A Step Beyond Science Fiction!

Heavy Metal is absolutely a movie of its time. The attitudes about sex and drugs are right out of the 70's. The use of rock and roll songs in the soundtrack is fundamental, but I was struck on this viewing how little those songs really contributed for the most par to the storytelling. The soundtrack was very quiet, and often disappeared as I focused on the stories. Heavy Metal of course purported to offer more "adult" themes and images to a comic audience looking for some fresh material. How "adult" the magazine was, is an open question, but it sure wasn't for kids. The artwork was lush and published on bright paper really which sizzled off the stands. I won't even pretend I grokked it all at the time. The drug references often were lost on me, and much of the material hailing from Europe just sailed right over my benighted parochial noggin.

But it was different, and it was compelling. The movie gives us material derived from the works of Rich Corben, Berni Wrightson, Angus McKie, and the late Dan O'Bannon. The Loc-Nar, a green globe/gem is pure evil, and its incarnate voice tells of times and places when man fell victim to its evil. Those times included the "Neverwhere" of Rich Corben's ultra-muscular and over-sexed Den, and the outer space of Bernie Wrightson's morally bankrupt Captain Stern. The voices are to a great degree supplied by Second City comedy actors like the late John Candy who plays Den, and Eugene Levy. John Vernon's voice shows up. 

The behind-scenes commentary which is actually keyed to a preliminary print of the movie is made up of early animation attempts, storyboards, and whatnot gives a lot of great info about the movie and its development. For instance, the contributions of Mike Ploog, Howie Chaykin and Neal Adams are identified. I didn't know Adams had anything to do with this movie.

There's also some stuff that got cut out of the original, and it's pretty interesting in its own right. The movie is probably most famous today for the parade of voluptuous women who take off their clothes but there's more complexity to this show than that. The EC story about a WWII bomber that is overcome by zombies is a great little tale, as is the adventure of Tarna, a silent woman evocative of Clint Eastwood's Man-With-No-Name who seeks revenge and justice for a fallen society.

The old-style animation is fun, and in our modern world of computers it's always refreshing to hear how they solved these problems in more hands-on ways. Rotoscoping is used quite a bit in the movie, and to mostly good effect. Also, on the disk is a gallery of Heavy Metal covers and lots of production art as well as a behind-the-scenes documentary. All in all, a good movie, and a very excellent DVD, especially for less than the price of a modern movie ticket.

To get a glimpse of the Den section of the movie check out this link.

More on Rich Corben's Den tomorrow. 

Rip Off

The Illustrated Alien!

I appreciated the team of Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson from the very beginning when they first gave us Manhunter in the back pages of Detective Comics. And I picked up and read their adaptation of Alien for Heavy Metal when it hit the shelves, and liked it. But after just reading it again in a newer edition from Titan Books, I have to say my admiration waxes more and more. This is a darn good adaptation of a darn good movie. Nothing about it feels stock or obligatory, rather it's a story crafted in both script and art to this one story the best it can be told.

Some things are less well done than the movie (to be expected) but some other things top the film. The sudden demise of Captain Dallas in the ducts is much better in the movie where it makes me jump still. But the reveal of the enormous space craft on the stormy planet is way better. The best use of a two-page spread other than those used by Kirby and Steranko. And the little Alien bursting through the chest of the tragic Kane is much much better, and doesn't put me in mind of a Muppet as it usually does in the movie. The navigator Lambert is a stronger character in the comic, less of a victim. Harry Dean Stanton always steals the movie for me when I watch it, but here the character of Brett is less dominant.

This is a delightful comic. But sadly there is only so much a comic can do in the end. The movie Alien usually unnerves me, and at the time I first saw it theaters scared me spitless. But while Alien - The Illustrated Story is fascinating and compelling, but never scary. Very few comics can do that.

Rip Off

Lord Of Light!

One of the most spectacular projects in the long history of Jack "King" Kirby was a little thing called Lord of Light. I read somewhere online that Heavy Metal had dedicated an issue to featuring the project, much of which I'd only ever seen online. I missed this one when it came out and really despaired finding a copy, but fortune smiled and one of my local stores indeed had one. It's a fascinating glimpse of a wild project.

As much as I can make it out, it started as an attempt to mine the concepts of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light novel and convert those concepts to film and even stranger into a park full of rides and entertainments. Strange is not a sufficient word for it.

This weirdo concept gets even more so when you take into account that these conceptual drawings by Kirby were later used by CIA spies to help organize a secret operation to rescue stranded diplomats from Iran after the infamous rise to power of the Ayatollah Khomeni and the fall of the Shah.

The events of the United States hostages held the nation in captivity for over a year and to no small account decided a Presidential election, but at the same time a covert project was unfolding to save a few folks from the madness.

This was dramatized in the movie Argo, the bogus name given to the doctored Kirby artwork to make the powers in Iran think it was just another science fiction movie being made at the time when such things were all the rage in a post-Star Wars environment.

But for fans of Jack Kirby, this is a grand opportunity to see some truly bizarre and lush artwork by the King, tapping into that cosmic awesomeness which was his personal pasture at the time. He was still producing exciting work and his skills were still operating at top level. The artwork is just plain pretty to look at and compelling to boot.

If you are lucky as I was and can dig up a copy of this issue of Heavy Metal, I highly recommend it for your viewing pleasure.

Rip Off

A Movie Of Awesome Good!

Yesterday I watched the dvd of the vintage movie Heavy Metal. I've been on an animation tear of late, and when I found this classic at my local Wal-Mart for a mere $7, I jumped on it. I have the VHS that came out a decade ago as well as the lame sequel. But to get a dvd with commentary and the extras on this disk is well worth it.

The movie is of its time for sure. The attitudes about sex and drugs are right out of the 70's. The use of rock & roll songs in the soundtrack is fundamental, but I was struck on this viewing how little those songs really contributed for the most part. The soundtrack was very quiet, and often disappeared as I focused on the stories.

Heavy Metal of course purported to offer more "adult" themes and images to a comic audience looking for some fresh material. How "adult" the book was is an open question, but the artwork was lush and published on bright paper really sizzled off the stands. I won't even pretend I got it all. The drug references often were lost on me, and much of the material hailing from Europe just sailed right over my benighted noggin.


But it was different and compelling. The movie gives us work derived from Rich Corben, Berni Wrightson, Angus McKie, and the late Dan O'Bannon. The Loc-Nar, a green globe/gem is pure evil and its incarnate voice tells of times and places when man fell victim to its evil. Those times include the Neverwhere of the ultra-muscular Den and the outer space of the morally bankrupt Captain Stern.


The behind-scenes commentary which is actually keyed to a preliminary print of the movie which is made up of early animation attempts, storyboards, and whatnot gives a lot of great info about the movie and its development. For instance the contributions of Mike Ploog, Howie Chaykin and Neal Adams are identified. I didn't know Adams had anything to do with this movie.


There's also some stuff that got cut out of the original, and its pretty interesting in its own right. The movie is probably most famous today for the parade of voluputous women who take off their clothes but there's more complexity to this show than that. The EC story about about a WWII bomber that is overcome by zombies is a great little tale, as is the adventure of Tarna, a silent woman evocative of Clint Eastwood's Man-With-No-Name who seeks revenge and justice for a fallen society.

The old-style animation is fun, and in our modern world of computers it's always refreshing to hear how they solved these problems. Rotoscoping is used quite a bit in the movie, and to mostly good effect.

Also on the dvd is a gallery of Heavy Metal covers and lots of production art as well as a behind-the-scenes documentary.

All in all a good movie, and a very excellent dvd, especially for less than the price of a modern movie ticket.

Rip Off