Den Vol. 5 – The price of memories
cartoonist: Richard Corben
letter: Nate Piekos
Artistic Director of Art Restoration and Projects: Jose Villarubia
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Publication date: February 2025
There is a case Richard Corben One of the greatest comic artists of all time. Corben died in 2020 at the age of 80 and won the most prestigious honors in the media, including the 2009 Spectrum Master Award, inducted into the 2012 Will Eisner Hall of Fame, and Angoulême’s 2018 Grand Prix. . His works spanned from underground comics, the 2-digit animation and mainstream album art, especially for meat bread Defeat Hell LP. In the process, he won admiration for creative heavyweight sports Guillermo del Torro arrive Mike Mignola.
The definition of the subject can be said to be itThe character first appeared in an animated short film produced by the 1968 animated short film Coben, and then continued to be the subject of hundreds of pages of Corben’s story from 1973 to the mid-90s. Nude is a near field (men and women, frontal lobes, sometimes monsters, and sometimes monsters). it The comic is first an underground publication, and then continues to be published Heavy Metals Later through Corben’s own phantom brand. However, over time, Corben’s full scope it The story becomes scattered and difficult to track. It has now changed.
This month marks Volume 5Volume 5 it Dark Horse launches a recovery project led by comic colorist Jose Villarubia Who works with Letterer Nate Piekos In this new hardcover book series it Probably the highest quality printing format ever. The first book was published in 2023, and now here are five books, we are coming to the end of the journey, which includes a series of behind-the-scenes look and intros/unros, including a list of creators Villarrubia, Patton Oswald, Matt Kindt, Cullen Bunn, and Del Torro.
I’ve spent the last few weeks reading each page of these new books in preparation for a review of the final volume. There are some major challenges in writing such articles. First of all it It is a masterpiece of towering and exotic comic talent. As David Lynch Speaking of his own work, This movie is talkingso it feels the same it. The work is so visionary and unique in style that it feels a little unfavorable to describe it as a portal fantasy (when it starts). Likewise, it exaggerates the human body ideal to attract the eyes and convey the basic nature of our following fictional characters (though I think both can do that).
I think what I want to write is it Now, it has been restored and easily accessible, it has gained a place not only in the great works of American novels, but also in the best comics of all time. Storytelling is so important and immersive that it is the backbone of the medium and should be considered such. It wasn’t something I gave me gently, but I did find these comics worth it. Of course, their edges are rough, which is a little disconnected from the first volume due to its publishing history, and the final volume is expected to have more stories, but the experience and the high quality of storytelling make these issues increasingly important.
Ultimately, it is a visionary work that seems to be performed by a master who spent some time diving into it and telling a story from his creative subconscious. If you are familiar with Corben’s work, you know nothing is more like Corben Art. Well, all the works I’ve read so far (admittedly, mainly since 1995) it.
The second reason why it’s hard to write this post is that all five new books are covered and provide incredible insights from comics by some of the most thoughtful creators. I find myself musing part of the reading it Work is a relationship with dreams. Have a dreamy feeling it From beginning to end. While more explored in the animated films before the comics, the protagonist uses a strange technique to be transformed into a nude muscle character in the world. He woke up, unsure of what was going on, but was in an ideal state. In all his adventures, he meets his fantasy woman, which is not a big idea, and of course makes love to her.
Here are all the parts for sale here, but Christos gage These comics are also like you’ve introduced in the introduction to the book…but they feel like windows into part of the world, always there. Of course I feel this way. All of these volumes have a kind of continuity, but it is selective, mainly to enhance the dreamy, fluid state of the narrative. What we assume is revoked and replaced by more psychedelic or dreamy ideas. The little villain returns and is shot down, the deputy character gets a physically terrifying ending, while some of Dan’s close friends and enemies begin to become blurred.
There may be some counterintuitive choices in storytelling itit feels like they should Sowing is a little confused – but they never really do it. The quality of these comics is also unsolvable. All of this illustrates in some way Coben’s vision and world organic, as if he was just a channel to the story and had to tell this way.
Yes, as I mentioned earlier, the promise of the last volume is that there are more stories to come, but for whatever reason, Corben never returns it. I believe he mentioned some of the ideas he had come up with, never attracting them in any open way. However, these comics are so consistent in narratively that perhaps the least frustrating work I have encountered is the least frustrating one. For me, this only illustrates the immersive and satisfying reading the last page it.
Den Vol. 5: The price of memories is now available
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