Richard Corben R.I.P.

Richard Corben R.I.P.

October 1, 1940 – December 2, 2020

Richard Corben passed away on December 2 at age 80 following heart surgery. 

I've been fortunate enough over the years to acquire compilations and graphic novels of his underground and aboveground works (pictured below). Sadly, many of these volumes now are long out of print and existing copies have exorbitant asking prices. But it's nice to have them to complement my copies of Fantagor, Heavy Metal, and Creepy Presents: Richard Corben.

If you are a Baby Boomer, then Corben's work was part of the sci-fi pop culture that came to define that era. For me, Corben's artistic talent came into focus with the advent of Heavy Metal magazine and his 'New Tales of the Arabian Nights' comic serialized in the magazine during 1978 - 1979. 

Thereafter, I followed his works all the way through his more recent comics for Dark Horse such as Aliens: Alchemy, Ragemoor, Rat God, and Shadows on the Grave. 

His work always was distinctive and memorable, particularly his coloring schemes, which were achieved with painstaking care and prefigured the effects that would become commonplace with the arrival of Photoshop and digital art composition.

Hopefully, within the next year or so we will see his non-Warren comics and graphic art reissued in trade paperbacks and hardcover volumes designed to be read by a new generation of sci-fi fans.