By Roy Thomas, P. Craig Russell & Michael T. Gilbert
ISBN: 0-915419-05-X (First Comics) ISBN: 0-936211-01-6 (Graphitti Designs)
Although chronologically the first tale of the doomed king, this adventure was one of the last written by Moorcock (in the initial cycle of stories at least – he returned to the character years later). Adaptors Roy Thomas and P. Craig Russell had also worked on other tales of the last Emperor of Melniboné, specifically The Dreaming City as a Marvel Graphic Novel in 1982 and ‘While the Gods Laugh’ which featured in the fantasy anthology magazine Epic Illustrated #14 (1984).
Elric is an absolute classic of the Sword and Sorcery genre: Ruler of the pre-human civilisation of the Melnibonéans, a race of cruel, arrogant Sorcerers: Dissolute creatures in a slow, decadent decline after millennia of dominance over the Earth. An albino, he is physically weak and of a brooding philosophical temperament, caring for nothing save his beautiful cousin Cymoril, even though her brother Prince Yrrkoon openly lusts for his throne. He doesn’t even really want to rule, but it is his duty, and he is the only one of his race to see the newly evolved race of Man as a threat to the Empire.
When these Young Kingdoms attack the Dreaming City of Imrryr, capital of Empire for ten thousand years, the Fleet, bolstered by dragons and magic easily dispatches them, but wily Yrrkoon seizes his chance and throws the enfeebled Emperor overboard to drown. The deeply conflicted hero believes himself happy to die but some part of his mind calls to the sea-elementals who are bound allies of the Empire to save him. When he returns to confront the usurper, Yrrkoon unleashes a demonic doomsday weapon and flees with Cymoril as his hostage.
All Elric’s magic cannot find them, and in obsessive desperation he pledges allegiance to Arioch, a Lord of Chaos in opposition to the Lords of Order. The eternal see-saw war of these supernal forces is the fundamental principle of the universe or “Multiverseâ€. For providing the etiolated Elric with the means to find and defeat his cousin, Arioch will demand his devils due, but the Albino does not care… yet in his dark and foredoomed future lurks the black blade ‘Stormbringer’, the Rune-sword, the malevolent Stealer of Souls, and so very soon, he will…
The novel is an iconic and groundbreaking landmark of fantasy fiction and a must-read-item for any fan. This spectacular, baroque adaptation is an elegant and savagely beautiful masterpiece (collected from comics originally published by Pacific and First Comics) of the genre and effortlessly blends blistering action and gleaming adventure with the deep, darkly melancholic tone of the cynical, nihilistic, Cold-War mentality and era that spawned the original stories. You must read the book and you should own this graphic novel.
© 1983-1984, Roy Thomas, P. Craig Russell & Michael T. Gilbert. Adapted from the original short story by Michael Moorcock, © 1972. All Rights Reserved.