It's
a fact long ago established, on blogs other than this one, that I will
read pretty much anything 'Eternal Champion' related that Michael
Moorcock has written. Which means pretty much everything he has written
doesn't it? I mean, from what I've seen it all ties together at one
level or another. I have a lot of reading to get through yet then…
In
the meantime though, it's the 'Eternal Champion' books 'proper' that
provide an element of the comfort read but with characterisation and an
'edge' that really forces me to engage with what is in front of me.
Elric may not be my favourite of the Champions (this changes between
Corum and Hawkmoon with a little Bastable thrown in for variety) but, of
all of them, he is the one with the tale that is really worth staying
the course for.
That's
the reason why then that you will see Elric pop up a little more in
other mediums than the likes of Erekose etc. Especially in comics which
offer the kind of 'wide screen' format that really suit Elric's
sprawling, multi-dimensional adventures. All of which leads us to the
latest comic book iteration of Elric's adventures…
The
story itself will be familiar to fans with Elric battling the human
side of his nature as well as his vicious cousin, Yyrkoon, who wishes to
rule Melnibone and restore it to its old cruel glories. What is
surprising though is the amount of backstory (and 'front story' too, if
'front story' is a term…) that has been taken out. This is a very much
stripped down version of the tale with only the key moments happening
and that's fair enough if you're a first time 'Elric reader' wanting to
get a feel for things. Longer term readers may feel like there's a
little too much missing for the read to be truly satisfying. That was
how I found it anyway. The important bits are all there and the story
itself doesn't feel disjointed in any way, just lacking the depth of the
novel.
The
artwork though… The artwork almost makes up for the skeletal plot with
Robin Recht and Didier Poli combining to give the reader some quite
frankly awesome depictions of Melnibone and its decadent inhabitants.
Recht and Poli don't pull any punches when showing the readers the cruel
and yet somehow strangely lazy excesses of Melnibone; this is not a
book for younger readers (just in case you were wondering) with explicit
scenes of torture that are exactly what Melnibone is all about. And
those last scenes where Arioch makes his first appearance… You can
almost hear his entrance, the artwork is that good.
I'm
not sure where 'The Ruby Throne' falls then as the plot is a little too
flimsy for the long term fan while the art might put off newcomers (it
worked for me but I can see it being a little too evocative for some…) I
enjoyed it for what it was though and am looking forward to reading
'Stormbringer' when it is published; just hoping there's a little more
meat on that one...
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