Adapted by Roy Thomas, Michael T. Gilbert, George Freeman, with Tom Orzechowski, L. Lois Buhalis & P. Craig Russell (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78276-289-8 (HB/Digital edition)
Michael Moorcock’s irresistible blend of brooding Faustian tragedy and all-out action is best seen in his stories of Elric, last Emperor of the pre-human civilisation of Melniboné, with the adaptations scripted by Roy Thomas (Avengers, X-Men, Conan, All Star Squadron, Arak) during the 1980s being a high watermark in the annals of illustrated fantasy.
Elric is a primal icon of the Sword & Sorcery genre: ruling a race of arrogant, congenitally sadistic sorcerers: dissolute creatures in a slow, decadent decline after eons of dominance. Born an albino, he is physically weak and afflicted with a brooding, philosophical temperament. His energies perpetually bolstered by sorcery or the souls his sword steals, the Emperor cares for nothing save his beautiful cousin Cymoril, even though her brother Prince Yyrkoon openly lusts for his throne – and his own sister…
Thomas & P. Craig Russell had previously adapted debut tale The Dreaming City (based on the first novella from 1961), as a pioneering Marvel Graphic Novel in 1982, supplemented by 1984’s ‘While the Gods Laugh’ in Marvel’s fantasy magazine Epic Illustrated.
Those stories were refurbished during the first blossoming of the American Direct Sales Market as the soaring saga transferred to Pacific Comics – before their early demise – and thereafter alighting at First Comics in 1985. Given an archival polish and push, the franchise expanded into a graphic novel line and numerous limited series starring not just Elric but also other revered Moorcock properties such as Dorian Hawkmoon/The Runestaff and The Chronicles of Corum.
Ultimately, the epic adaptations alighted in these carefully curated chronicles courtesy of Titan Comics, in both physical and digital formats. The first volume of the Michael Moorcock Library of comics featured – according to internal narrative chronology – the first tale of the doomed king, despite it being one of the last adventures penned by Moorcock in the initial cycle of stories. He returned to the character years later, as all great authors do…
With Michael T. Gilbert (Mr. Monster, American Splendor, Mann & Superman, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bart Simpson) & George Freeman (Captain Canuck, X-Files, Jack of Hearts, Aquaman, Batman, Wasteland) illustrating Thomas’s script, this second volume features a 7-part miniseries from First Comics (1985-1986), adapting the novel which so impressively captured the otherworldly nature of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion concept.
Following a warmly informative Introduction by “Tanelorn Archivist” Guy Lawley, the saga resumes with ‘The Chronicle of the Black Sword’ (lettered by Tom Orzechowski & L. Lois Buhalis) as the doom-laden albino flees captivity and murderous humans of the “Young Kingdoms” who were everywhere usurping control from the world’s ancient former rulers.
The emperor had abandoned beloved Cymoril and the Dreaming City of Imrryr to seek an unattainable peace of mind, but fallen to treachery and torture in the city of Ryfel in the new land called Pikarayd. Having escaped carrying malevolent, wilful Rune-sword Stormbringer, he pauses his headlong flight, inexplicably waiting on a windswept beach for fate’s next twist.
It comes as a fantastic vessel arrives, ready to add him to its incredible crew…
The ship is a trans-dimensional galleon assembling heroes for an impossible mission. Aboard the eerie vessel he meets a motley crew of warriors from alternate Earths gathered in hopes of saving the multiverse. Risking the very nature of reality, Elric has taken ship with three other aspects of the Eternal Champion; Corum, Erekosé and Dorian Hawkmoon. Together they must voyage to a wild place and defeat Agak and Gagak, sorcerous siblings from beyond the multiverse intend on consuming creation.
Finding a grim kind of companionship amidst a company of similarly foredoomed warriors, Elric proceeds in the quest, but only succeeds after surrendering his individuality to the obscene horror and sheer indignity of becoming “The Four Who Are One”. That climactic clash comes after an interminable voyage across diverse dire realms, made ever harder as Elric’s cosmic patron refuses to aid him…
The pale Emperor had previously pledged allegiance to Arioch, a Lord of Chaos in eternal opposition to supernal Lords of Order. He had – on occasion – been granted power and aid in times of crisis. The eternal see-saw war of these puissant conceptual forces was the fundamental principle governing the Multiverse. However, for providing the etiolated Elric with the means to find and defeat his cousin, Arioch demanded his devil’s due, binding him to the Stealer of Souls: a vampiric black blade that frequently killed anyone he cared for…
Their mission ultimately completed at tremendous cost, Elric remains aboard ship for return to his proper place, but instead debarks in another desolate land and moment of crisis, uniting with wandering warrior Count Smiorgan Baldhead: former seagoing merchant prince and fellow dispatcher of marauding bandits and similar riff-raff…
Together they seek the fabled Crimson Gate, a dimensional portal that can transport them to their long-lost homes…
Before they find it, however, the questers face an ethereal horse, aid its spectral rider Prince Carolak and confront Elric’s legendary deviant ancestor Saxif D’aan to save human woman Vassliss from the revenant’s attentions: sparking an eldritch duel with an awful outcome…
The long trip to Melniboné moves to its final phase as Elric and Smiorgan take ship with another sea rover: charismatic Duke Avan Astran of Old Hrolmar. They join the enterprising trader in a voyage to discovery – for which read “plunder” – to the lost city R’lin K’ren A’a. The mystical metropolis is well known to Elric: it is presumed to be the direct precursor to his own Empire…
The arcane argosy again tests Elric’s every resource, ending in a torrid trek through foetid swamps infested with primordial progenitors of the Melnibonéan species. In this time and place, Arioch’s aid is an even more double-edged affair, initially refused but then granted only to precipitate a larger threat to all creation…
Triumphing thanks to the accursed assistance of J’osui C’reln Reyr – the Creature Doomed to Live! – Elric and Smiorgan only survive because Stormbringer indiscriminately slaughters all their foes and allies, ruthlessly paving the way for the voyagers return to Imrryr …
To Be Continued…
Deemed the second novel of the Elric cycle (Moorcock actually wrote most of the tales devoid of chronological order – but only purists need concern themselves with that) this is an unparalleled phantasmagoria of carnage and unshackled cosmic creativity, spectacularly brought to life by esteemed arch-stylists Gilbert and Freeman, who construct a decadently baroque, sinisterly effete yarn supplemented by a full cover gallery, additional art by P. Craig Russell and full creator biographies.
Another groundbreaking landmark of fantasy fiction and must-read-item, this resplendently flamboyant tale is a deliciously elegant, sinisterly beautiful masterpiece of the genre, blending blistering action and breathtaking adventure with the deep, darkly melancholic tone of a cynical, nihilistic, Cold-War mentality and era that spawned the original stories.
Adapted from the works of Michael Moorcock related to the character of Elric of Melniboné © 2015, Michael & Linda Moorcock. All characters, the distinctive likenesses thereof, and all related indicia are TM & © Michael Moorcock and Multiverse Inc. The Sailor on the Seas of Fate is © 1985 Roy Thomas, Michael T. Gilbert & George Freeman. All rights reserved.