When Joseph Campbell talked about the Hero With a Thousand Faces, he was discussing the commonality in the adventures that all heroes undertake. Moorcock, in a brilliant step, took that phrase literally. All of his heroes were the same person, the Eternal Champion, who would arise in one reality after another at the converging of the multiverses. He was the champion of the balance, manipulated by beings of both order and chaos. He stood to prevent the stagnation that occurs when either order or chaos gains ascendency for too long.
The circumstances of his life and identity changed with every universe. The most distinct and famous of the eternal champions was Elric of Melniboné. Moorcock when on to create many other characters all of them aspects of this same being: Jerry Cornelius, Duke Dorian Hawkmoon, Graf Ulrich von Bek and many more. FInally we come to Corum Jhaelen Irsei, the Prince in the Scarlet Robe.
Corum is a prince of an ancient race call the Vadhagh. They are a long lived race with advanced understanding of both the sciences and sorcery. Theirs is a very stagnant society which lives in small isolated groups. Until the race of man arrives in this universe.
Men overrun the Vadhagh citadels and slaughter the older race, until only Corum is left. He attacks a band of men and is captured. During his captivity, he loses an eye and a hand before he can escape with the help of a mysterious creature. Eventually he is found by a group of civilized men and nursed back to health. He falls in love with the widowed princess who rules this castle but must find a way to stop the savage men from overrunning and destroying the last vestige of civilization. Along his journey, he is given the eye of one demon and the hand of its twin.
Mike Baron (Nexus, Punisher, Daredevil) does a good job of adapting the story. However, Corum is one of Moorcock“s less successful iteration of the Eternal Champion and is fairly passive throughout the entire story. He waits for his people to be conquered. He passively accepts the magical gifts. He depends on others telling him what to do in almost every situation.
The highlight of the book is the chance to see Mike Mignola“s early art. This is Mignola working to define his style that would become so distinctive in his books like Hellboy and Baltimore. It isn“t quite there, but you can see the where he would go from here.
He is really beginning to express his ability to find and hone the horror elements in what is essentially a sword and sorcery tale. If I do have an issue with his art in this book, is it that Corum is frequently colored as an albino. In the books he was described as blonde with fair hair, but here we are given pretty much an Elric clone. This is really more an issue with Ripley Thornhill“s color work than Mignola.
This book is designed for the fans of Moorcock and Mignola. There are many Moorcock readers who like Corum more than I do and this is a great collection for them. It is also a fantastic resource for the Mignola fans who want to see his early developing style. Otherwise it is kind of a steep get for the more casual fans of either. It does make you wish that Titan would consider putting these out in trade paperbacks as well.
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Writer: Mike Baron
Pencils: Mike Mignola
Inks: Rick Burchett
Colors: Ripley Thornhill
Publisher: Titan Comics
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- Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!
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