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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2014 15:33:53 GMT -5
Cool stuff! I love this genre but have read little of it outside Conan at Marvel, and more recently, Conan at Dark Horse. I am seeing a lot of titles I've never heard of before.
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Post by foxley on May 8, 2014 16:52:59 GMT -5
Welcome back. I was hoping this thread would return. I have now started buying Arak and have about half the run, but not necessarily consecutive issues. So hopefully I'll be able to make comments more frequently.
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Post by paulie on May 14, 2014 10:02:24 GMT -5
Welcome back. I was hoping this thread would return. I have now started buying Arak and have about half the run, but not necessarily consecutive issues. So hopefully I'll be able to make comments more frequently. It's well worth getting. You should be paying no more than a dollar each so it is a inexpensive run to complete. |
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Post by foxley on May 15, 2014 2:07:44 GMT -5
Welcome back. I was hoping this thread would return. I have now started buying Arak and have about half the run, but not necessarily consecutive issues. So hopefully I'll be able to make comments more frequently. It's well worth getting. You should be paying no more than a dollar each so it is a inexpensive run to complete. It's been about $1.50 Australian per issue so far. It'll probably go up if I start having to hit ebay to fill gaps (what with postage and all). |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 15, 2014 10:34:49 GMT -5
Happy birthday to Jeff Dee, one of my favorite early D&D artists, who also co-created one fo the first super-hero role playing games Villains and Vigilantes. Some of my favorite pieces by Dee... ahh the memories, where's my 20-sider dammit! -M Jeff Dee was the rock-star of those early AD&D books and modules. That brought back a lot of memories. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 15, 2014 11:25:50 GMT -5
Arak's kinda scarce on E-bay, unless you want to pay more like $2 - $3 an issue
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2014 19:45:51 GMT -5
Very nice reviews M . I might have to complete my Arak set . I got all of the dc stuff you reviewed and the Atlas to . Did you ever read Death Dealer by Verotik . Man that took me for ever to complete the 4 part series . But enjoyed it .
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 12, 2014 21:16:17 GMT -5
Thanks for the kind words. I hope to pick up the reviews here again at some point, but my plate is a little too full at the moment, so when things get a little calmer, I will start it up again. -M This was always one of my favorite review threads to follow, particularly in its unique scope of following a genre as opposed to a title or character. This thread exposed me to A LOT of stuff I never would have otherwise sought out on my own. Looking forward to its eventual (and intermittent) return  |
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Post by shaxper on Sept 25, 2014 3:47:16 GMT -5
We interrupt the interregnum of the Arak reviews to bring you a special review here in From the Sorcerer's Scroll.... Review #58Title: Elric Vol. 1: The Ruby Throne Written by: Julien Blondel, adapted from the story by Michael Moorcock; translated from the French by Nora Goldberg Cover and art by: Didier Poli & Robin Recht Colors by: Jean Bastide Edited and Lettered: by Gabriela Houston Publication Date: English Edition September 2014; French Edition 2013 Publisher: Titan Books
The Ruby Throne (46 pages; color)
Story: 9/10 Art: 10/10 Overall Impression: 10/10
Synopsis: Elric must stave off a threat to his throne from a popular rival claimant and turns to the Lords of Chaos for aid... Commentary: Morcock's introduction to this is an interesting read. Blondel had carte blanche to make changes and alteration to the book to fit the medium, and Moorcock's reaction is that with one exception it's the way he would have done it had he thought of it, as it improves the story not diminishes it, as many changes in adaptations do. He also said this was a blueprint as to how he would approach Ruby Throne if it were ever adapted to film. The art in this just blows you away form the opening page onwards-hard to describe it, just look at the splash page one and see for yourself...(this is from the French edition-the Titan edition has the same at just the text in English, but the lettering placement is the same)  for only $12.99 this is a gorgeous hardcover volume worth the admission price just on the visuals alone. But be aware, it is a European graphic album and this is the first adaptation Moorcock says actually captured the decadence of Melnibone, so some of the imagery is NSFW....
The artistic process the creators describe is interesting. Poli does full pencils, but this is considered a first draft of the work, and then Recht comes in and redraws it all in ink making the changes he sees fit, followed by Bastide who does the colors and also revises and edits the art retouching and redrawing what he feels needs changed before he does the coloring, essentially redoing it as a painting of sorts, though digital in its medium. And it all meshes beautifully.
A few minor criticisms-never have your editor be the letterer, mistakes in lettering are easily missed, as one caption on page six reads..."The glory of Melnibone has not be forgeded in the hush of libraries..." and a second set of eyes can help find that, but the hardest thing to do is edit/proofread your own test.
At times some of the events felt cramped or rushed in the 46 pages, and I felt it could have used a few more pages to give it room to breathe, but that's more a minor quibble, this is a great adaptation of Moorcock. The creators are forging their own vision of the mythos, with Moorcock's blessing, and channeling their own influences into it (they all cite Clive Barker as an influence, and some of the visual design of the Melniobonians reflect that, and they all also cite the Phillip Druillet work on Elric as the only previous adaptation that influenced them (why didn't I know Druillet had done Moorcock adaptations and where can I find it?). And the results are not only spectacular, they are true to the spirit of Moorcock's vision without being derivative or bland as some adaptations can be. The list of comic talent working on Moorcock adaptations over the years is a virutal who's who list of hall of fame caliber creators, and this book is a worthy addition to the ranks of those adaptations.
-M Wow. 1. I am SO glad to see you picking up this thread again, mrp! 2. You know how in love I am with the Thomas and Russell Elric adaptations, so you had me at "Hello" on this one. 3. I knew Moorcock was always super supportive of the comic adaptations, but I'm kind of amazed to hear an author of his stature concede that he prefers the changes someone else made to his work. 4. Yeah. That art looks positively stunning. Thanks for this! |
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Post by shaxper on Sept 25, 2014 4:07:44 GMT -5
But I read the Elric volume and wanted to get some notice of it out there... -M Mission accomplished there, brother! |
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Post by fanboystranger on Sept 25, 2014 8:44:40 GMT -5
Have to agree with mrp: The Ruby Throne is excellent. It is absolutely gorgeous and brutal.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 30, 2014 5:06:04 GMT -5
Woohoo! It's back!!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 30, 2014 7:06:38 GMT -5
That was really the heyday of the Arak series. This story arc fused the excitement of the Charlemagne romance with the exoticism of Prester John's letter, as well as Roy's own excellent handling of sword and sorcery. Compared to the bland Conan stories published at the same time, this was the title to go to for a good S&S epic!
Years later, when I read Umberto Eco's Baudolino, I was more than a little disappointed that the author (a brilliant writer whose Name of the rose and Foucault's pendulum I absolutely adored) did not manage to top Roy's epic about White Cathay. However, I think it says more about the latter's skill that about any fault on Eco's part!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 31, 2014 9:13:18 GMT -5
Glad to see this thread back! I got up to #23 for Arak, and I agree there was definitely some padding, seemingly to get the big arc to end at #25... to be honest, I was ready for it to end around issue 19 or 20... I definitely felt it petered out.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 11, 2014 6:47:34 GMT -5
I was of two minds about Arak and Valda getting it on, especially as they immediately went their separate ways. On the one hand, fanboy me was happy to see the two of them together, however briefly, since it was clear that sexual tension had been building for a long while. But on the other hand, that tension had been a large part of what made their relation interesting. Honestly, from that point on, whenever Valda was not in a solo adventure, she was pretty boring. (I did enjoy her alcoholism problems, but those were solved even faster than Tony Stark's in demon in a bottle).
After the White Cathay story arc, The Arak series was, to me, a bit like the Micronauts after issue #12. Some books or mini-arcs would be cool, but the best they could do was reach the level of fun of the first two years. Some decisions soon to be made would also prove detrimental to the run, in my humble opinion: a large part of the interest in Arak was that he was a stranger in strange land, a regular guy exploring a strange and often puzzling world. The hints of his being something more should have stayed just that until the eventual conclusion if the series; however, that's not the way things would turn out.
Still a great series of reviews, mrp!
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