Category: Adaptations

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The Monsterjunkies Graphic Novel #1


By Eric Daniel Shein & Theresa A. Gates, illustrated by Jay Fotos Studios (ArkWatch)
ISBN: 978-0-9963872-0-0

It’s tough being an outsider and doubly so if you’re a teenager with weird interests and strange parents.

Just think how much worse it can be if you’re notionally foreign, have no friends and your family has a long tradition of keeping secrets…

Introduced in prose Young Adult novels The Monsterjunkies: An American Family Odyssey and its sequel Sanctuary, impressionable Cromwell and his far more sociably adaptable older sister Indigo negotiated the tricky path through high school, slowly finding friends and companionship, gradually sharing their clandestine clan’s big secret with the ordinary folk of Foggy Point, Maine.

Now that first gently inclusive tale of integration and assimilation has been adapted into a beguiling graphic novel by original authors Eric Daniel Shein & Theresa A. Gates and opens at the daunting gates of 1313 Road to Nowhere. Within the vast wilderness compound lurk an assortment of oddities who have found safety, anonymity and peace of mind under the custodianship of glamorous cryptozoologist Dr. Talon Monsterjunkie and his eldritch, ethereal wife Pandora.

The dedicated preservationists of everything outré have turned their secluded estate into a haven for the world’s rarest and most endangered lifeforms, and although young Cromwell (he prefers “Crow”) may lack for strictly human companionship he is beloved by the creatures resident on the expansive Eden-like grounds.

Amongst his closet confidantes are Chico the chupacabra, poetry-writing sasquatch Beauregard, pituitary giants Frances and Betty, Periwinkle Pterodactyl, Fan – who runs the family mailbox – and sea serpent Sybil joyously sporting in the waters off scenic Bizarre Beach.

A loner at school, Crow’s life is made even worse by spoiled rich kid and practised bully Rutherford Grimes, but things start to radically change for the better after local lads Larry, Todd and Edgar sneak beyond the forbidding walls on a dare.

Shocked and awed by what they find, the kids are “rescued” by the aloof Goth kid from a succession of terrifying but ultimately friendly beasts and monsters and are soon the best of buddies. They even form a gang of their own to stand up to the predatory “popular kids” at school…

Soon the centuries-long family policy is being gradually tweaked and before long select individuals are being invited to share the hidden treasures of the estate. Ruth Grimes, however, isn’t happy at all and after Crow creates a unique way for school kids to stand up to him the closet psychopath subsequently tricks his boorish, millionaire dad into instigating a malicious whispering campaign to drive the weird foreigners out…

Then comes the worst news of all: daredevil dad Talon has been lost on an expedition to Bolivia…

Comparisons to the filmic Addams Family are unavoidable, but there is a superficial similarity at best. The dark humour of unsettling fear and voluntary isolation which underpins the movies has been replaced here with a cast of warm, accommodating outriders heroically performing great works, eagerly accepting newcomers into their circle and prepared to change and enter the wider world that encroaches upon them…

Wild, imaginative, compassionate and packing a potent and welcome moral message, this is a wonderful interface between modern supernatural thrillers for teens and grand old-fashioned family romps like Willard Price’s “Adventures” series.

And there are more to come…
© 2015 Arkwatch Holdings LLC. All Rights Reserved.

For more information check out http://www.themonsterjunkieuniverse.com/ and www.redanvilcomics.com

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Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – the graphic novel


Adapted by Alan Grant & Cam Kennedy (Waverley Books)
ISBN: 978-1-902407-44-9

As part of the celebrations for Edinburgh’s selection in 2004 as the first UNESCO City of Literature, Scottish comics veterans Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy were invited to convert a brace of classic tales by Robert Louis Stevenson to publishing’s hottest medium…

The second appeared in 2008 with a bare minimum of abridgement or adulteration by Grant and galvanically brought to life through the stunning art of the inimitable Kennedy with colours and letters provided by Jamie Grant: all seamlessly collaborating to perfectly picture one of the most famous and groundbreaking tales of terror in the annals of storytelling.

The timeless tale opens as lawyer Mr. Utterson becomes intrigued by the ‘Story of the Door’ as related by walking companion Richard Enfield. That worthy describes how, after remonstrating with a bestial, shrivelled homunculus of a man who was thrashing a street child, he discovered a possible although unlikely and unwelcome connection to a mutual friend of superlative honour and worthiness.

However what connection a depraved creature such as Edward Hyde might have with the benevolent and brilliant Dr. Henry Jekyll was beyond either man’s conception. Blackmail perhaps…?

The multi-layered and convoluted chain of events unfolds at a beguiling pace as the pair begin a systematic ‘Search for Mr. Hyde’, even consulting the scientist’s great mentor Dr. Lanyon before unexpectedly encountering the despicable decadent himself, sneaking into Jekyll’s home through the means of his own key.

Eventually Utterson is compelled to ask the suspected extortion victim himself but ‘Dr. Jekyll was Quite at Ease’ and even extracted a promised that the lawyer would ensure that Hyde got his legal due should untoward circumstances warrant…

Events overtake everyone when details of ‘The Carew Murder Case’ become a public sensation and Hyde is hunted for killing a prominent politician in fit of unprovoked fury. Long-shrouded secrets begin to leak out after the ‘Incident of the Letter’ as Jekyll assures his distraught and apprehensive friends that Hyde will be seen no more, leaving Utterson to conclude that Henry is completely under the thumb of the desperate fugitive…

‘The Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon’ precipitates further speculation as the failing sage gives the inquisitors a letter to be opened upon his (imminent) demise, prompting Enfield and Utterson to reluctant action and intervention on ‘The Last Night’ which reveals the shocking truth of the affair…

With the tragedy complete all that remains is to discover the reasons and causes which are provided by the aforementioned letter containing ‘Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case’…

Chances are high that nobody reading this is unaware of the general events of this much retold tale but the moody, evocative, dynamic and suspenseful reiteration here is a sheer pictorial triumph which adds freshness to familiarity and emerges as not simply a distillation, adjunct or accommodation but actually works as well in comics terms as the original literary ones.
Adapted text © 2008 Alan Grant. Illustrations © 2008 Cam Kennedy. All rights reserved.

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The Evil of Oz


By Ryan Fuller & Sanjana Baijnath (CreateSpace)
ISBN: 978-1-49351-704-6

Depending on your outlook, you’re either going to adore or despise this one…

We all know the story of The Wizard of Oz – or at least the bare bones of it harvested to make the admittedly stunning 1939 film – but the truth is there’s a vast amount from that legendary 1900 novel by jobbing journalist and prolific author Lyman Frank Baum that remained unfilmed and unaddressed.

In recent years a number of books, comics, films and stage productions have taken another look – and many liberties – with the modern myth, but this is one of the most forthright, unrepentant and engaging – especially if you’re a lover of gory horror stories.

It begins at the scene of bloody multiple homicides in ‘Kansas’. A maniac has brutally ended the lives of an old farmer and his wife and their niece Dorothy Gale isn’t making a bit of sense over the crime.

Then again there’s not much sense to be had when the perp steals hearts after crudely removing them with an axe…

Once the cops have gone, however, the survivor undertakes a strange course of action. Activating her silver slippers, she summons a raging storm and, gripping the gory murder weapon, heads back to ‘Munchkinland’ in search of answers and justice…

Her return to the beautiful happy place she once liberated is a nightmare of shattered dreams. The wonderful kingdom is dark and blighted, reeking of decadence, decay and death. Dorothy isn’t surprised when she is mobbed by disgusting diminutive aberrations. She just wields the axe with terrifying dexterity in a deadly dance of destruction…

Grimly retracing her steps on a once-golden path she makes her way to ‘The Emerald Stockade’, encountering en route an old friend brought low and made example of.

He relates the reason for Oz’s decline but does not accompany her as she moves on to ‘The Stumps’ and a shocking confrontation with another beloved former comrade fallen on hard and mercilessly uncompromising times…

Having dealt justice to her guardians’ murderer means nothing after Dorothy learns who has overseen the tainting of the magical land and she struggles onward, enduring a similar heartrending reunion in ‘The Petrified Forest’ before reaching ‘The Bright City’ and a final battle with the avaricious traitor who instigated the corruption…

However, even after winning her last smidgen of scarlet retribution, Dorothy still has one last happy memory to ruin and betrayal to avenge when she meets ‘The Man Behind the Curtain’…

Bleak, nihilistic and superficially feeling like Titus Andronicus meets I Spit on Your Grave, Ryan Fuller’s sparse, spartan and extremely evocative violent chiller is realised with lush and lavish painted artwork by Sanjana Baijnath and carries a subtle but venerable message: be careful what you wish for…

The acquisition of all those so-long-desired and hard-won gifts did nothing but sour and poison the once-noble champions who strived so mightily to attain them and now the heroes are monsters who need to be put down…

Visceral, unflinching, possibly exploitative but with a moral subtext that cannot be denied, this is a terror tale to tantalise fans with adult tastes and post modern sensibilities.

No copyright notice that I could find so I’m assuming Text © 2015 Ryan Fuller and Illustrations © 2015 Sanjana Baijnath.
The Evil of Oz is also available as a Kindle edition.

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Prometheus: Fire & Stone


By Paul Tobin, Juan Ferreyra & various (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-650-1

Spinning out of the movie Prometheus and its comicbook iteration, Fire and Stone was a bold and ambitious publishing event begun in 2014 designed to link four separate franchises into a coherent – if rather time-distanced – universe.

A quartet of 4-part miniseries featuring core concepts from Prometheus, Alien, Predator and AVP: Aliens Vs Predator was conceived by scripters Paul Tobin and Kelly Sue DeConnick, with the calamitous clash of cultures and creatures culminating in one-shot Fire and Stone: Omega.

The first of those pocket series is now available as a sleek paperback collection scripted by Tobin and moodily designed and illustrated by Juan Ferreyra, opening the time and space shredding saga in 2219 AD above the third moon of the Calpamos planetoid in the Zeta 2 Reticuli system.

Four Earth craft have rendezvoused there, seeking answers to the question of what happened to a long-lost research ship.

Historian and filmmaker Clara Atkinson aboard command ship Helios ponders the ongoing mission as the crews of engine core vehicle Geryon, military patrol ship Perses and salvage vessel Kadmos slowly shake off the effects of deep space hibernation and get reacquainted.

Captain Angela Foster is cranky but seems exhilarated at the prospect of hugely valuable salvage and effusive medical officer James Weddel is his usual grabby self, but apparently affable astrobiologist Francis Lane is hiding something. He’s coincidentally in charge of maintaining and servicing the service humanoids such as meek-seeming synthetic assistant Elden – the only being aware of the secretive boffin’s failing health…

What nobody except Foster knows is the true purpose of the mission. She is hunting legendary exploratory ship Prometheus and chimeric, inspirational leader Sir Peter Weyland. Moreover, when Weyland was lost on LV-223 in 2090 he was seeking to prove a crazy theory that a race of giants he called “The Engineers” had seeded the universe with life. He wanted to find the creators of humanity, and now so does she…

Leaving Geryon in orbit, the smaller ships confidently head for solid ground. Foster takes the Helios down and soon discovers that the supposedly barren moon is rich with weird, superabundant, aggressive and extremely ugly lifeforms. Strangely, most of it seems to be concentrated in a single implausible and very forbidding micro-rainforest…

Discoveries come thick, fast and increasingly disquieting. A strange, viscous black goo which seems to be the very essence of raw life. Bizarre corpses and skeletons crushed, torn apart or burned by acid. An ecosystem of fauna filling every biological niche and all looking as if they were patterned on the same creature…

Lane is particularly taken with the omnipresent black ooze and he and Elden are missing when the main party discover a lost human-colony ship somehow shifted to the wrong planet and submerged by a wall of overgrown undergrowth.

They are utterly unprepared for the marauding xenomorphs hungrily waiting inside for fresh prey…

It all goes pretty much as you’d expect (and, I suspect, hope) after that, but whilst the Aliens begin their hideous and inexorable dance of death, other things that will impact the succeeding story-arcs come into play too.

Whilst Foster’s party is searching, a wave of the big-headed bugs swarm the Helios, leaving it locked down and besieged…

Lane begins experimenting with the black goo in a cave, seeking a cure for his cancer. When he injects poor, passive Elden with a sample, the astrobiologist is appalled to see rapid and terrifying forced evolution in action, transforming a harmless and completely docile programmed servant into a monster with a ruthless will and deadly agenda of its own…

Others explorers find a crashed craft of incontrovertibly alien origin and dependable, staunch and fun-loving ebullient military man Galgo grabs up extraterrestrial weaponry. Later, seeing the way the winds are blowing, he promptly abandons the science teams and the Helios to fate…

None of the wide-ranging humans are prepared for the consequences when a long-dormant Engineer begins checking his planetoid-sized laboratory again and, seeing assorted specimens and unidentified creatures running riot, starts dispassionately clearing up the mess and shutting down the chaos…

Soon only three humans are left cowering in the dark but refusing to give in…

To Be Continued…

Fast-paced, intensely gripping and closely following the tried-and-tested formula of the film franchises, this is a superb horror/sci fi romp to delight fans of the cinematic classics and breathtaking thrill rides in general, which also offers a cover gallery and chapter-break art by David Palumbo plus a potent and beguiling selection of designs and notes from illustrator’s Juan Ferreyra’s ‘Sketchbook’.

™ & © 2014, 2015 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

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Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped – the graphic novel


Adapted by Alan Grant & Cam Kennedy (Waverley Books)
ISBN: 978-1-902407-38-8

Practically as soon as comicbooks were invented, high-minded enterprising souls were using the new medium to get readers interested in great literature: paring down deathless prose whilst adding the sheer power of pictures in narrative sequence.

In most cases over the intervening decades these adaptations have been less than stellar, but every so often a piece of work emerges that is not just a mere distillation, adjunct or accommodation but actually works as well in comics terms as the original literary ones.

One sterling example of such graphic magic came out of the 2004 selection of Edinburgh as the first UNESCO City of Literature, when Scottish funnybook veterans Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy were invited to convert a brace of classic tales by Robert Louis Stevenson to publishing’s hottest medium…

With a bare minimum of abridgement or adulteration and astonishingly augmented by the stunning art and colours of the inimitable Kennedy, the timelessly classic tale unfolds beginning with seventeen year old David Balfour who in June 1751 strides away from rural Essendean and the only home he has even known into peril, terror and astounding adventure…

Upon his father’s death Davie receives a letter which reveals the existence of a relative he never knew he possessed, so he promptly walks all the way to Edinburgh and sees for the first time the dilapidated, broken-down but still imposing House of Shaws.

At a time when the oppressive English conquerors are still openly revelling in crushing the Jacobite Rebellion, his progress is slow and cautious. One day David reaches the manor but is not comforted nor relieved, having heard no good word from any he passed about Ebenezer Balfour and his “house built on blood”…

The Laird is an elderly, scared-seeming, guilt-wracked scoundrel who grudgingly takes David in after declaring himself his uncle. Soon, however, David comes to realise that not only has Ebenezer long ago swindled his deceased brother out of his inheritance but is prepared to kill his only kin to keep it…

Forewarned, outraged and wary, Davie nonetheless falls into a trap when he accompanies his uncle to the family lawyer Rankeillor – purportedly to make amends and square accounts – at Queen’s Ferry. The lad is tricked aboard the brig Covenant where he learns Ebenezer has paid villainous Captain Hoseason to transport him to the New World to be sold as a slave…

Clubbed unconscious and inescapably trapped, David plunges into despair and illness. His unwanted journey is marked with brutality and horror, but marginally improves after he witnesses the murder of the cabin boy Ransome and is compelled to become that poor soul’s replacement.

A week later everything changes after the Covenant collides with a smaller vessel in the fog and a survivor is hauled aboard. The small, ferocious and exceedingly dangerous-looking straggler is Alan Breck Stewart: an earnest Jacobite who spends his days collecting debts for the defeated Highland chiefs-in-exile and smuggling the money to them in France.

More avaricious than political, the captain agrees to ferry Breck to a friendly destination for sixty golden guineas but when David overhears Hoseasons and First Mate Mr. Shuan planning to murder the Highlander, he makes a fateful life-changing decision…

Allying himself with Breck, young Balfour gets his first taste of battle and bloodletting when the pair heroically confront the crew from a readymade fortress in the main cabin. With nine men dead or maimed, Hoseasons has no choice but to negotiate and sullenly agrees to put them both ashore at Linnhe Loch, but even before the Covenant can reach that outpost of relative safety, the ship founders on a reef with David and Breck lost over the side…

Cast away and lost he is eventually reunited with Breck, only to endure hardship, horror, pursuit and personal degradation as he and his contentious, complicated comrade are hunted by Royalist forces for the murder of Colin Roy Campbell, known and dreaded as King George’s agent “the Red Fox” who punishes and persecutes Highlanders and honest men, even selling them into slavery…

Their trials and tribulations as outlaws of the heather, their meetings with kindred spirits, strains on their newfound friendship and eventual bringing to justice of the conniving Ebenezer Balfour are all deliciously revealed in gripping form and glorious imagery (although purists might miss much of Breck’s more esoteric phraseology) as the novel comes to rousing life in an iteration certain to please both devotees and first time readers.

Moody, evocative, fast-paced and gripping, this graphic goldmine was also released in two local languages: translated and dialogued in Lowland Scots as Kidnappit by Matthew Fitt & James Robertson and as Fo Bhruid – a Gaelic iteration translated by Iain MacDhòmhnaill.
Adapted text © 2006 Alan Grant. Illustrations © 2006 Cam Kennedy. All rights reserved.

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Michael Moorcock’s Elric volume 2: Stormbringer


By Julien Blondel, Jean-Luc Cano, Julien Telo, Robin Recht & Didier Poli, translated by Edward Gauvin (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978 -1-78276-125-9

Michael Moorcock began his career as a comics creator aged 15; writing and editing classic strips like Dogfight Dixon, Jet Ace Logan, Captain Condor, Olac the Gladiator, Tarzan and many, many other British favourites. As the swinging Sixties began he made the leap to prose fiction where he single-handedly revitalised a genre in 1961 with the creation of Elric and the high-concept notion of the Eternal Champion.

Elric is a landmark of the Sword and Sorcery genre: fore-doomed last ruler of the pre-human civilisation of Melniboné, a race of cruel, nigh-demonic sorcerers. These arrogant, dissolute creatures are in a slow, decadent decline after millennia of dominance over the Earth.

An albino, Elric is physically weak, buoyed up by drugs, blood and dark magic, and of a brooding, philosophical temperament. He cares for little save his beautiful cousin Cymoril, who will die one day whilst he battles her loathsome usurping brother Prince Yyrkoon in service to a manipulative god of Chaos.

The White Wolf doesn’t even really want to rule, but it is his duty, and he is the only one of his debased race to see the (comparatively) freshly evolved race of Man as a threat to the Empire.

As this volume opens he is yet to be owned by the terrible black sword: one of a matched pair of sorcerous weapons which steal the souls of their victims and feed that stolen life and vitality to the wielder…

Elric is a tragic incarnation of the restless Eternal Champion, reincarnated in every time, place and alternate dimension. His life is violence, blood and unending tragedy, exacerbated by dependence on that soul-drinking ebony blade and his sworn – if somewhat compelled and thus reluctant – allegiance to the chimerical Lords of Chaos.

Everybody knows all that, right?

In 2013, however, the creator of the iconic wanderer – and arguably a whole sub-genre of fantasy fiction – has allowed his premiere paladin to undergo a visceral, spectacular and enchanting make-over under the auspices of a team of premiere French graphic arts prodigies.

Tasking themselves to re-adapt, augment and expand Moorcock’s tales and novels (with his willing and eager permission and supervision), writers Julien Blondel and Jean-Luc Cano, illustrators Julien Telo, Robin Recht & Didier Poli, with colour-artists Recht, Jean Bastide & Scarlett Smulkowski, resume the reinvigoration in Stormbringer.

This second chapter in the doom-drenched saga is preceded by a powerful introduction and affirmation of Elric’s impact in Alan Moore’s ‘Reflections in a Pink Eye’ and this sumptuous oversized (284x212mm) colour hardback album also includes – at the back – another look at the creative process in ‘Genesis’; via pages of design sketches (Elric and Stormbringer and the Dragon Caves) and a exploration of the working process of the ‘New Talents’ who recently joined the large storytelling team…

What Has Gone Before: usurper Yyrkoon has escaped his punishment through sorcery and taken Cymoril with him. Despite pledging himself to Arioch, Duke of Swords, weeks pass and all Elric’s arcane might is unable to glean where the fugitive has taken her.

The pallid, impotent Emperor has become a raging fury of frustration…

The dark, brooding epic continues as the albino brutally chastises Melnibonéan subjects and elemental agents tasked with finding Yyrkoon and Cymoril. The streets of Imrryr run red with sacrificial blood and the gory scraps of ghastly auguries, but no answer can be found.

At last the dejected sovereign calls again upon Arioch and this time the puissant hell-lord offers a shred of useful information…

Impatient and incandescent with rage Elric then exploits his ancestral relationship with majestic sea god Straasha, who once more honours his ancient pact with the rulers of Melniboné but again indicates times are changing and such services are soon to end…

In the Dragon Caves below the city, faithful Tyvim Tvar inducts his sons into the arts of commanding The Great Winged Ones, fearing that his latest endeavour with Elric will end badly…

On a quiet morning Staasha’s proffered aid hoves into magnificent view: an astounding vessel unlike any other. The Ship Which Sails over Land and Sea was built in eons past to seal a truce between Straasha and his brother Grome, Lord of the Earth Elementals who had warred for half the age of the world. Soon the incredible thought-guided vessel is soon hurtling towards the Young Kingdoms.

Elric anticipates satisfaction but enjoys no peace. His dreams are plagued with scenes of his consort-cousin Cymoril expiring in blood and fire…

Nearing their hidden quarry a grievous setback halts the chameleonic craft in its tumultuous course as mountainous Grome manifests, demanding the return of his ship. Nothing will sway him and, with his soldiers valiantly perishing, their enraged commander capitulates…

Undaunted, Elric leads his surviving warriors on foot across the foreboding terrain, infested with the upstart monkey people who would challenge their betters. He accepts terrified hospitality from peasants and rewards the humans in ways that delight his rattled and despondent, casually sadistic Melnibonéan warriors…

Eventually the weary task force arrives at the antediluvian and horrific city of Dhoz-Kam – site of a terrible battle between the Lords of Law and Chaos – and immediately readies himself for battle with Yyrkoon. His vile cousin is a great magical adept and is certain to have taken precautions.

The Emperor couldn’t be more right and an indescribably protean thing decimates his troops. Elric does not care and pushes on, finding Yyrkoon just as the madman butchers Cymoril…

Screaming out to Arioch, Elric pleads for her life and the whimsical god answers… after a fashion. Having made similar deals with both cousins, he suggests they fight using the demonic weapons he has been safeguarding: huge, deadly sisters of shining black metal, calling eagerly for someone to hold them…

With Elric wielding Stormbringer and Yyrkoon its demonic twin Mournblade, all the hate and fury the cousins bear each other comes out in mind-bending combat. However as the duel escalates the albino realises his sword is communicating with him, urging him on to ever-greater excess and demanding a price paid in blood and souls…

Much as he wants Yyrkoon dead he won’t be any being’s puppet and refuses to administer a killing blow. Still furious however he realises Arioch has his own agenda and needs him. Defiantly arrogant, the Emperor dictates new terms for their relationship…

None the less, Stormbringer must be fed and, after ministering to the resurrected Cymoril and setting course for the Dreaming City, Elric finds a way to give the blade its appalling reward…

Back in Imrryr at last, the emperor begins his service to Arioch with an astounding announcement. He is abdicating and names the traitor Yyrkoon as his successor…

To Be Continued…

Elric is a primal character whose sheer imaginative force has inspired a host of superb graphic interpretations – and probably daunted many eager movie producers – with the astonishing complexity and emotional power of his dying, dawning world. This latest tremendously dark and deeply engaging graphic extravaganza again raises the creative bar and proves why he is the leading light of fantasy fiction.

Elric: Stormbringer and all contents are © 2014 Éditions Glénat. This Translated Edition © 2014 Titan Comics. Adapted from the works of Michael Moorcock related to the character of Elric of Melniboné © 2013, Michael & Linda Moorcock. Introduction © 2015, Alan Moore.
Michael Moorcock’s Elric volume 2: Stormbringer will be released on March 31st 2015 and is available for pre-order now.

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The James Bond Omnibus 006


By Jim Lawrence, John McLusky, Yaroslav Horak & Harry North (Titan Books)
ISBN: 987-0-85768-591-9

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Most Traditional Licence to Thrill… 9/10

It’s annoying to admit but there are very few British newspaper strips to challenge the influence and impact of classic daily and Sunday “funnies” from America, especially in the field of adventure fiction.

The 1930’s and 1940’s were particularly rich in popular, not to say iconic, creations. You would be hard-pressed to come up with home-grown household names to rival Popeye, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon, let alone Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon, or the likes of Little Lulu, Blondie, Li’l Abner, Little Orphan Annie or Popeye and yes, I know I said him twice, but Elzie Segars’s Thimble Theatre was funny as well as thrilling, constantly innovative, and really, really good.

What strips can you recall to equal simple popularity let alone longevity or quality in Britain? Rupert Bear? Absolutely. Giles? Technically, yes. Nipper? Jane? The Perishers? Garth? Judge Dredd?

I’d like to hope so, but I doubt it.

The Empire didn’t quite get it until it wasn’t an empire any more. There were certainly very many wonderful strips being produced: well-written and beautifully drawn, but that stubborn British reserve plus a completely different editorial view of the marketplace (which just didn’t consider strips an infallible, readership-attracting magnet, as our American cousins did) never seemed to be in the business of creating household names… until the 1950’s.

Something happened in ‘fifties Britain – but I’m not going to waste any space here discussing it. It just did.

In a new spirit that seemed to crave excitement and accept the previously disregarded, comics (as well as all “mere” entertainment media from radio serials to paperback novels) got carried along on the wave. Just like television, periodicals such as Eagle, the regenerated Dandy and Beano and girls’ comics in general all shifted into creative high gear …and so at last did newspapers.

And that means that I can happily extol the virtues of a graphic collection with proven crossover appeal for a change.

The first 007 novel Casino Royale was published in 1953 and was subsequently serialised – after much dithering and nervousness on behalf of author Fleming – as a strip in the Daily Express from 1958. It was the start of a beguiling run of paperback book adaptations scripted by Anthony Hern, Henry Gammidge, Peter O’Donnell and Kingsley Amis before Jim Lawrence, a jobbing writer for American features (who had previously scripted the aforementioned Buck Rogers) came aboard on The Man With the Golden Gun to complete the transfer of the Fleming canon to strip format. Thereafter he was invited to create new adventures, which he did until the strip’s demise in 1983.

The art on the feature was always of the highest standard.

Initially John McLusky handled the illustration until 1966’s conclusion of You Only Live Twice and, although perhaps lacking in verve, the workmanlike clarity of his drawing easily coped with the astonishing variety of locales, technical set-ups and sheer immensity of cast members, whilst accomplishing the then-novel conceit of advancing a plot and ending each episode on a cliff-hanging “hook” every day.

He was succeeded by Yaroslav Horak, who debuted on Man With the Golden Gun offering a looser, edgier style, at once more cinematic and with a closer attention to camera angle and frenzied action that seemed to typify the high-octane 1960’s.

Horak illustrated 26 complete adventures until in 1977 The Daily Express ceased running the Bond feature (with the then-running adventure suddenly switching to The Sunday Express (from January 30th until conclusion on May 22nd).

Later adventures had no UK presence at all, only appearing in syndication in European papers. This state of affairs continued until 1981 when British paper The Daily Star revived the feature with ‘Doomcrack’.

Titan books have re-assembled those scarce-seen tales – a heady brew of adventure, sex, intrigue and death – into the last of their addictively accessible monochrome Omnibus Editions, wherein a dedicated band of creators on top form prove how the world’s greatest agent never rests in his mission to keep us all free, safe, shaken, stirred and thoroughly entertained…

The frantic derring-do and dark, deadly diplomacy commences with Lawrence & Horak’s final (UK-embargoed) exploit ‘Shark Bait’ – originally running abroad from 1978 to 1979 – finding Bond up to his neck in hot water after boldly abducting Soviet scuba diver Katya Orlova from the Coral Sea.

That high-bodycount encounter is, however, only the starting point in 007’s mission and, after brutally deprogramming her in the searing Australian Outback, they become moving targets for KGB hit-teams as he builds trust before completing his overall game plan: tracking down a colossal shark which has swallowed a stolen computer carrying NATO nuclear secrets.

With the Russians inexorably closing in on the prize, the infallible agent is prepared to do whatever it takes to stop them…

When The Daily Star began their Bond serial with ‘Doomcrack’ (February 2nd to August 19th 1981) Lawrence was still in command of concocting stories but the illustrator was a rather controversial one.

Harry North was a regular and prolific contributor to both the US and UK iterations of Mad Magazine and, whilst his renditions of the regular cast caught the likenesses of the filmic Bond, M, Moneypenny and others, his action and suspense scenes couldn’t escape his comedic preferences and often hinder or even destroy all dramatic effect.

If you can get past that though, the tale of KGB killers, East German intrigue and defector Dr. Vlad Sinescu is a gripping if convoluted one. The avaricious genius wants to sell to Britain his new super weapon – capable of exploding brains at a distance, bringing down aircraft and shaking down cities – but his communist former masters are prepared to do anything to stop the sale.

…And then, amidst all the carnage and chaos, insidious criminal cabal S.P.E.C.T.R.E. steps in, grabbing the boffin and his weapon before extorting the world by destroying national monuments. With the situation hopeless it’s no wonder 007 quits and joins the opposition…

Veteran artist McLusky returned to steady the ship for the next explosive epic wherein devious cult leader Father Star uses psycho-chemicals, brain surgery, artificial angels and ghostly special effects to control the actions of bereaved billionaires, generals and politicians. The hunt for the brilliant mastermind with plans of ruling this world, if not the next, takes James around the planet and into many a salacious dive before he can finally crush ‘The Paradise Plot’ (August 20th 1981 to June 4th 1982)…

An insidious millionaire murder-maestro with a revolting terror-weapon turns up in ‘Deathmask’ (June 7th 1982 – February 2nd 1983), leaving a trail of hideously deformed corpses in his wake. It takes the combined efforts of Bond and fellow agent Suzie Kew to defeat deranged Ivor Nyborg‘s legion of mechanical monsters, broach the fiend’s astounding undersea lair and prevent a genetically engineered plague devastating humanity…

A policy switch to shorter, less complex stories was instigated with ‘Flittermouse’ (February 9th – May 20th 1983) as vengeful maniac Dr. Cat returned with another diabolically ingenious method of murder before the indomitable super-agent sent him to his final reward, after which ‘Polestar’ (May 23rd – July 15th 1983) saw the end of Britain’s connection to the espionage ace.

The James Bond strip had been a problem for the Star since its resurrection and was abruptly dropped midway through this adventure. The story concluded only in the ever-reliable European syndication market, and thankfully it’s here in its entirety for us all to enjoy.

The short, sharp saga finds 007 in the subzero wilds of Artic Canada discovering a woman frozen to death and exhibited as a macabre scarecrow.

He’s in territory owned by Polestar Petroleum to locate the origin point of rogue missiles which have been launched against Russia and America, but before he can investigate further he is attacked a rabid wolf…

Rescued by native woman Red Doe, James learns the sordid history of Polestar’s megalomaniacal owner Robert Ayr: ruthless tycoon, potential global dictator, serial abuser and killer of Red Doe’s mother.

Soon Bond has infiltrated the company as a fugitive rocket engineer to scupper plans to subject the world to nuclear blackmail whilst the vengeful Cree woman enjoys a long-anticipated meeting with Ayr…

Again working solely for continental readers, Lawrence & McLusky’s final comics collaboration was ‘The Scent of Danger’ (1983), with Bond lured to a yacht off the Italian Riviera and a near-fatal rendezvous with a ravenous shark. The perpetrator is old enemy Madame Spectra who wants the agent out of the way before she uses a (narcotically addictive) high-end fashion perfume to enslave firstly wives and lovers but eventually every politician in Britain. Happily the unkillable hero and ferociously determined journalist Liz Villiers have a plan to stop her…

Despite every effort the strip was clearly nearing its end when Yaroslav Horak returned for the last two adventures beginning with ‘Snake Goddess’ (1983-1984). At the peak of his flamboyant form the illustrator added a superb frisson of tension to the tale of a mystery killer who used serpents to assassinate military men and operatives involved in the deployment of atomic weapons in Europe.

After the snake killer turned his attention to Moneypenny, Bond’s involvement was assured and his subtle investigations led him to Swedish cult rock star Freya. However, the sultry serpentine peace campaigner was only another target for the true culprit: fanatical fan Mr. Vidyala, a billionaire with money to burn and the brilliance to build a huge nuclear sea-serpent submarine.

He planned to provoke World War III and rule the ruins with his unwilling Snake Queen Freya but utterly underestimated the ruthless ingenuity of the British agent he so easily captured…

This astounding dossier of espionage exploits ends in ‘Double Eagle’ (1984): a baroque plot by German agents on both sides of the Berlin Wall planning a spectacular stunt to promote reunification of their sundered country.

Unfortunately the notionally worthy scheme precluded a number of necessary deaths – by robot giant eagles and merciless KGB and Stasi agents – and risked turning the simmering Cold War red hot…

Following a trail of bodies and dodging numerous assassination attempts Bond eventually finds himself in the invidious position of wanting – just this once – to fail…

Fast, furious action, masses of moody menace, sharply clever dialogue and an abundance of exotic locales and ladies make this an invaluable adjunct to the Bond mythos and a collection no fan can do without. After all, nobody has ever done it better…
All strips are © Ian Fleming Publications Ltd/Express Newspapers Ltd 1987. James Bond and 007 are ™Danjaq LLC used under license from Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. All rights reserved.

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George R.R. Martin’s Skin Trade


Adapted by Daniel Abraham & Mike Wolfer (Avatar Press)
ISBN: 978-1-59291-233-9

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Dark Delight for a Winter’s Night… 9/10

George Raymond Richard Martin has been selling stories since 1970 and winning major awards for them since 1975. As well as his stunning output of dark, emotive, melancholic multilayered novels and short stories in a variety of genres, he has also successfully pursued a parallel career in television (and movies) and even finds time to teach.

His series A Song of Ice and Fire became the TV sensation A Game of Thrones.

Born in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1948, Martin was active in early comics fandom and studied journalism at Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois). He remains close to the funnybook and sci fi fan scenes to this day.

At the top of his form he is one of the most potent fantasy voices in the business, with short stories and novels that are witty, compulsive, imaginatively dark, tinged with wry black humour and always uniquely nuanced and atmospheric.

In 1988 his captivating yarn Skin Trade appeared in the fantasy anthology Night Visions 5 (a series he was editing which numbered Steven King, Clive Barker and Ramsey Campbell amongst the contributors) offering a decidedly fresh and different interpretation of one of the most hoary (not a misprint) bête noires in fiction…

Now that tale (which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 1989) has been adapted as a miniseries by scripter Daniel Abraham and illustrator Mike Wolfer and subsequently collected into a slim and sinister trade paperback to delight another generation of fear freaks who loving feeling their own skins crawl…

Randi Wade is a private detective with a lot of baggage. Not surprising when you think of how her cop dad died years ago. In circumstances still not fully explained, Frank Wade was torn to pieces by some kind of animal at the local meat-packing plant…

Still not over it, she divides her time between bread-and-butter cases whilst investigating the historic killing off the books. Her best friend is effete ineffectual asthmatic Willie Flambeaux – as a repo man, he’s even in the same sort of business – and one night he offers insights regarding a particularly brutal contemporary murder which change Randi’s life forever…

Willie knew the deceased and, assuming Joan Sorenson‘s horrific demise will be covered up by the investigating officers, asks Randi to get involved. He was supposed to meet the victim on the night she died and might be suspect but the real problem is what his own snooping has uncovered.

Joan was found mutilated and might even have been partially consumed by her attacker… just like Randi’s dad…

Willie has not told his friend everything however and later starts calling a few old acquaintances: men like financier Jonathan Harmon, the dark, wealthy untouchable powerbroker whose clan has been secretly running the city forever…

Randi taps her other sources, questioning Barry Shumacher, Editor of The Courier and one of her father’s oldest friends. He tells her there’s no connection to the new killing but she knows he’s lying…

Convinced she’s on to something Randi then storms into police HQ for a conversation with her dad’s old partner and discovers Chief Joe Urquart reviewing files from the missing persons case Frank Wade was working at the time of his death.

It seems the suspect put away for the crimes is out again, but Frank always felt they had the wrong guy anyway. Rather than big, simple-minded poor kid Roy Helander, he favoured the frighteningly strange son of Jonathan Harmon as the perp behind a spate of child disappearances…

Willie meanwhile has been summoned to the Harmon home for an audience with the patriarch and his just-not-right heir Steven…

The case takes a disturbing turn after Randi and Willie compare notes. Joan’s death is apparently unconnected to the cold case as she was chained in silver and flayed before the killer made off with her skin. What Randi doesn’t, disclose is the fact that in Frank’s old files she found a note from prime suspect Roy which simply said “It was a werewolf”…

And then a friend on the force informs her that there’s been a second killing. Someone else close to good old Willie has been skinned alive, and Randi arrives at a terrifying, inescapable conclusion…

All of that is mere scene-setting for the shocks, twists and surprises still in store for Randi as two 20-year mysteries are finally resolved, appalling ambitions and dark desires uncovered and apex predators become cowering victims for something which preys on monsters…

Accompanied by a fifteen-page gallery of covers-&-variants, this splendidly effective blend of crime caper and supernatural thriller is a pure visceral delight no lover of spooky chills can dare to miss.

© 2014 Avatar Press. Skin Trade and all related properties ™ and © 2014 George R. R. Martin.

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Storm


By Tim Minchin, DC Turner, Tracy King & various (Orion)
ISBN: 978-1-4091-5625-3 (tpb): 978-1-4091-5209-5 (HB): 978-1-4091-5210-1(eBk)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: a cartoon bible of common sense… 10/10

The world is a magical, wondrous place stuffed with miracles and mysteries.

However there’s not one single atom of it that depends on the eldritch, mystic or supernatural and none of it – or the greater universe around it – is wrought from the efforts of supreme beings or operated on principles of forgotten lore denied us common folk.

It’s all explainable, utterly rational and absolutely subject to revision by us every time we find out or disprove something that previously has been a puzzle. To do otherwise is nothing less than a crime against humanity.

No Gods, no ghosts, no witchcraft, no magic crystals. Got it?

It’s amazing how many people haven’t and how the latest anti-science fad or fashion can cause genuine harm to the world, deprive generally sensible folk of their money and too often make dinner parties a theatre of war…

Tim Minchin is a creative whirlwind and multi-media entertainment polymath originally from Australia who performs musical stand-up comedy, composes award-winning stage musicals like Matilda and acts in hit shows like Jesus Christ, Superstar.

He’s very smart, very funny and doesn’t believe in goblins or faith-healing.

In 2006 his 90-second diatribe ‘If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out (Take My Wife)’ – a “refutation of the plausibility of astrology, psychics, homeopathy and an interventionist God” impressed and delighted fans. In 2008, after a close encounter with a pontificating new-agey nitwit at a party where the reasonable, rationalist Mr. Minchin politely opted not to contest a stream of bubble-headed nonsense, he took his ire and indignation and turned it into a piece of true inspiration: a beat poem, Socratic dialogue and “anthem for critical thinkers”…

It’s a very funny, edgy slice of entertaining refutation and I-wish-I’d-said-that-ism which was used as the closer for the Ready For This? Tour for more than two years.

In Britain animators/illustrators/producers Dan “DC” Turner and Tracy King saw the show and determined that at all costs they must turn that paean to logic and sense into an animation and, as described in the Introduction by Tim Minchin and the Afterword by Turner and King, after some wheeler-dealing, they did just that.

Storm became an internet sensation with three million hits on YouTube after its launch in 2011, and now the artists and Tim have completely reworked that cartoon sensation into an astoundingly compulsive and scathingly funny graphic novel which opens at an intimate soiree in North London where the narrator and his wife sit down to sup with friends and are force-fed a stream of nonsensical blather by a beautiful girl with a tattoo of a fairy.

Her name is Storm and this time the quiet man she inanely and arrogantly lectures is not going to hold his tongue…

By turns tense, barbed, hilariously evocative and furiously cathartic, this stunning visual feast delivers the barrage of scathing sense we’ve always wanted (but been too polite) to unleash on evolution-deniers, pseudo-scientists, astrological aroma-therapy advocates, vaccination-withholders, ghost-chasers and every other stripe of pontificating irrationalist in a graphic tumult of colour, line and typography that will simultaneously stun and galvanise.

This magnificent reinterpretation also includes a Foreword by Neil Gaiman, Biography pages for Minchin, Turner & King and – because it’s all about the fun – a selection of variant covers by Ricky Earl, Freya Harrison, Andy Herd, Dave “Swatpaz” Ferguson and Stuart Mason & Rachael King which might have graced the issues had this yarn been serialised as comicbooks rather than released as a complete book…

There has been and always will be a valuable and cherished place for fantasy, imagination and all the wild and woolly boggles and phantasms of a rich realm of tradition and ignorance. Indeed I believe it’s absolutely necessary for every child to be fully acquainted with all aspects of fairies and spectres and wish-fulfilling rings and lamps, but there comes a time when they must retire to a place of nostalgia and fun, regularly revisited for amusement but never, never, never used to dictate the content of school curricula, divert funds from genuine medical research or be employed as justification to persecute whole sectors of society or even one single “different” individual…

Storm is an edgy pictorial tour de force that will delight and enchant readers who love the funny and fantastic but never forget where the horizons of fantasy end and the borders of imagination begin…

Text © Tim Minchin 2014. Illustrations © Tracy King and Daniel Charles Turner 2014. All rights reserved.
Storm will be published on October 16, 2014 and available in trade paperback and eBook formats as well as in a 1000 copy Limited Edition Deluxe Hardback with extra content.

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Michael Moorcock’s Elric volume 1: The Ruby Throne


By Julien Blondel, Didier Poli, Robin Recht & Jean Bastide, translated by Nora Goldberg (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978 -1-78276-124-2

Michael Moorcock began his career as a comics creator aged 15; writing and editing such classic strips as Tarzan, Dogfight Dixon, Jet Ace Logan, Captain Condor, Olac the Gladiator and many, many other British stalwarts before making the jump to prose fiction, where he single-handedly revitalised a genre in 1961 with the creation of Elric and the high-concept notion of the Eternal Champion.

Elric is a landmark of the Sword and Sorcery genre: fore-doomed last ruler of the pre-human civilisation of Melniboné, a race of cruel, nigh-demonic sorcerers.

These arrogant, dissolute creatures are in a slow, decadent decline after millennia of dominance over the Earth.

An albino, Elric is physically weak and of a brooding, philosophical temperament, caring for nothing save his beautiful cousin Cymoril, who will die one day soon whilst he battles her loathsome usurping brother Prince Yyrkoon.

The White Wolf doesn’t even really want to rule, but it is his duty, and he is the only one of his debased race to see the (comparatively) freshly evolved race of Man as a threat to the Empire.

He owns or is possessed by a black sword called Stormbringer: a magical blade that steals the souls of its victims and feeds their life and vitality to the pale and pallid physical weakling.

Moreover, Elric is a tragic incarnation of the restless Eternal Champion, reincarnated in every time, place and alternate dimension. His life is blood and tragedy, exacerbated by his dependence on that soul-drinking black sword and his sworn allegiance to the chimerical Lords of Chaos.

Everybody knows all that, right?

Now, however, the creator of the iconic wanderer – and arguably a whole sub-genre of fantasy fiction – has allowed his premiere paladin to undergo a moody, spectacular and enchanting make-over under the auspices of a team of premiere French graphic masters. Tasking themselves to re-adapt, augment and expand Moorcock’s tales and novels (with his willing and eager permission and supervision), writer Julien Blondel, penciller Didier Poli, inker Robin Recht and colour-artist Jean Bastide – with some preliminary design input from Jean-Baptiste Hostache – in 2013 released Elric: Le Trône De Rubis…

As Moorcock avers in his Author’s Introduction and recapitulation of previous adaptations by the truly stellar artists who have worked on his bony warrior since he and the wonderful James Cawthorn first imagined him, the result is magnificent. Following that hearty endorsement the chance to see how far modern latitude and Continental sensibilities have taken the appalling empire of decadence begins…

Deep in the unholy exquisite fastnesses of the Dreaming City Imrryr, the recent history of the casually sadistic Melnibonéans plays out. The birth of flawed albino prince Elric cost the life of his mother and broke his once relentless, remorseless father Sadric, but now that young Emperor sits on the Ruby Throne of office; buoyed up by drugs, blood and dark magic administered by his consort-cousin Cymoril.

Across the vast court chamber her brother Yyrkoon gazes with undisguised hate. He longs for the throne and a return to the days when Melnibonéans scourged the other races of the world for profit and pleasure. Knowing it will mentally vex and physically tax his hated overlord, the dissident goads Elric into performing a summoning: a call to the patron gods of Chaos whose power first made the city great.

However, before the covert challenge can amount to anything, military commander Dyvim Tvar breaks in with urgent news. The supposedly impenetrable Sea Maze which protects the island city has been breached by ships of the upstart humans. Captives interrogated by macabre Doctor Jest speak of mercenaries, invasion and possibly a traitor…

The timing could not be worse: the deadly dragons employed as skyborne defenders by Melniboné for millennia are all in their crucial sleep cycle and so Elric has no choice but to call on the golden battle barges of his navy. First though he must replenish his energies through Cymoril’s eldritch ministrations and physical charms…

Even though she is his true love and closest ally, he refuses to listen to her entreaties that her vile brother Yyrkoon be permanently dealt with…

When the navy intercepts the human invaders the carnage is incredible and Elric, powered by sacrificial magic, fights like a true emperor of devils, invoking an army of dead warriors to rise from the sea and destroy the upstart monkey people who would challenge their betters.

However, at the moment of victory, a vengeful straggler tips the fully armoured Elric into the bloody waters and Yyrkoon, the only witness, turns away…

With the Emperor drowned Yyrkoon wastes no time in declaring himself the successor to the Ruby Throne and exultantly plans a bloodbath against the lower kingdoms, but Elric is not dead. Deep beneath the sea he has been snatched up by ferocious sea god Straasha, who honours an ancient contract with the rulers of Melniboné and hints of imminent dooms and endings to come…

Yyrkoon’s debauched celebrations are interrupted by Elric’s appalling surprise entrance and cool reclaiming of his exalted position, but the albino again scorns Cymoril’s advice to kill her incorrigible brother quickly and painfully. It is a mistake that will cost Elric dear as later, pent in a dank cell, the usurper summons demonic Aaven’Kar, Devourer of the Depths.

The hungry hellbeast rampages through the palace and by the time the Emperor confronts his challenger, Yyrkoon has fed the thing Cymoril…

As the gloating villain flees, enraged and helpless Elric breaks, calling out to prime Chaos Lord Arioch in his pain and fury.

…And after a chilling, anticipatory moment, the callous, calculating, so very patient dark deity replies…

To Be Continued…

This sumptuous oversized (284x212mm), painted colour hardback album also includes a stunning behind-the-scenes look at the unique (for France) creative process from origination in ‘Genesis’, through pages of design sketches (Elric, Stormbringer, Cymoril, Yyrkoon, Dyvim Tvar, The Melnibonéans, Arioch and Doctor Jest), and a glimpse at preliminary artwork by Hostache in ‘Lavishness and Excess’.

Topping things off are intriguing first imaginings of ‘Dragon Isle’ and ‘Palace of Imrryr’, a feature on ‘Collaborative Development’; creator biographies and a tantalising peek at the next volume…

Elric is a primal character whose sheer imaginative force has inspired a host of superb graphic interpretations – and probably daunted many eager movie producers – with the astonishing complexity and emotional power of his dying, dawning world. This latest tremendously dark and deeply engaging graphic extravaganza again raises the creative bar and proves why he is the leading star of fantasy fiction.

Elric: Le Trône De Rubis and all contents are © 2013 Éditions Glénat. This Translated Edition © 2014 Titan Comics. Adapted from the works of Michael Moorcock related to the character of Elric of Melniboné © 2013, Michael & Linda Moorcock. Introduction © 2014, Michael Moorcock. All characters, the distinctive likenesses thereof and all related indicia are ™ and © Michael Moorcock and Multiverse Inc.