Den: Neverwhere

Den: Neverwhere
by Richard Corben
Catalan Communications 1984

'Den' started out as a short animated film Richard Corben made in 1968. In 1975 - 1976, a 12-part 'Den: Neverwhere' comic was printed in the French magazine Metal Hurlant. An English language translation was reprinted in the U. S. magazine Heavy Metal in 1977 - 1978.

This Catalan Communications trade paperback compiles all the 'Den: Neverwhere' episodes into a well-made book, with quality stock paper and reproductions. There is an Introduction by Philip Jose Farmer.

It goes without saying that the Den feature in Heavy Metal was a quintessential part of late 70s stoner culture, and a major factor in the magazine's initial popularity.

Looking at Den over 40 years later, with the 'Woke' mindset now permeating popular culture, it can be easy to regard it as a quaint example of a 70s 'underground' comic gone aboveground into some degree of respectability.......a comic designed to market T & A fantasies to young males. A comic that objectifies women and amplifies their subservience to the Male Gaze. 

It would, however, be unfair to dismiss Den in this manner.

Den is best regarded as a product of its times, when sf and fantasy comics with an 'adult' sensibility were commonplace in European pop culture, but considered an aberrant sideline for U.S. publishers. That is why Heavy Metal and Den had the impact they did, back in 1977.

It's true that Den's plot - essentially a recycling of the planetary romance stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard - was simple and unadorned, designed to appeal to its demographic of men under 30. But the fact that Den addressed the suppressed ids of that demographic shouldn't detract from the advances its artwork - and in particular, its color - brought to comics.

Corben's unique acetate-overlay technique for color printing gives his illustrations a visual impact that would not be duplicated until the comics industry began to adopt the use of computer-generated coloring techniques in the mid-80s. As Corben explains it: 

I invented a techinque - my system of color overlays - which apparently nobody can understand, but it's really very simple. The luminescent quality of my color overlays is derived from the way I combine the colors. I shoot the photomechanical separations myself, to a slightly higher contrast than a normal photo engraver would do. This makes the colors appear brighter. I'm excited when I do finally see the colors. I can see if my ideas work well or not so well.

Den: Neverwhere works in a lot of Corben's 'cinematic' visual style, by using different points of view and perspectives, along with a more imaginative approach to the use of his layouts and page designs. 

Unfortunately, 'Den: Neverwhere' has long been out of print, and copies have very steep asking prices. Assembling the relevant issues of Heavy Metal is impractical for much the same reason. Hopefully you can luck out like I did, and find a copy for an affordable price on the shelves of your local comics shop. 

UPDATE: April, 2023. Dark Horse Books plans to release a 128-page hardcover volume of 'Den' in August, 2023. The promotional blurb for this volume states it will contain 'bonus' material, as well as restored pages and new lettering. The projected retail price is $34.99.

Book Review: Assassin of Gor

Book Review: 'Assassin of Gor' by John Norman

2 / 5 Stars

‘Assassin of Gor’ is No. 5 in the series, and first was published in 1970. This Ballantine Books paperback version (409 pp) was published in September 1978, and features a quintessential ‘Gor’ cover illustration by Boris Vallejo.

[‘John Norman’ is of course the pen name of the philosophy professor John Eric Lange.]

I remember buying and reading this book 'way back in September of ’78, and thereafter stowing it away in my book collection….until I recently decided to take it from the shelf and re-read it.

So, how is ‘Assassin of Gor’ when read the second time, 36 years later ?

The answer is……….not all that great.

The novel opens with a ‘teaser’ chapter, in which our hero Tarl Cabot is murdered by a cowardly attack. It is not disclosing any spoiler to say that the victim was not, after all, Tarl Cabot, but someone who resembled him enough to be the target of an assassination.

In an effort to uncover the conspiracy that arranged for his murder, Tarl Cabot decides to go undercover, assuming the guise of one ‘Kuurus’, a member of the Assassin caste. This subterfuge will allow Cabot to infiltrate the household of Cernus of Ar, the wealthiest, most influential, most cunning, and most cruel slave tycoon on the planet of Gor.

Cernus, it seems, is covertly working for The Others (the alien race that is competing with the Priest-Kings to take over Gor). Kuurus’s mission: find out what Cernus is doing for The Others….and in the course of so doing, uncover whatever role Cernus had in plotting the murder of Tarl Cabot……..

Criticizing John Norman’s prose style has been done in such completeness by the sci-fi community in the years since the Gor books first were written that for me to add any of my own complaints is utterly superfluous. 

But what strikes me after reading ‘Assassin of Gor’ for the second time in 36 years is how slavishly Norman followed the narrative style of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the John Carter of Mars / Barsoom books. Like Burroughs, Norman regularly inserts into his narrative lengthy chunks of didactic exposition on any and all topics of Gorean culture.

For example, early on in ‘Assassins’, there is an exposition on the design, construction, use, and sociological importance of Gorean locks...... that takes up nearly two pages ….?!

Elsewhere in ‘Assassins’, the description of the logistics of the transportation of a slave girl from one locale to another takes up nearly two pages of exposition. A mini-dissertation on the organization and domestic arrangments of Cernus’s household takes up nearly four pages. A didactic passage on the design of a tarn-racing course takes up nearly three pages, and is one of the most confusingly worded segments of text I ever have encountered in a sci-fi novel.

And, of course, whenever Norman turns to his favorite fetish, the slave – girl culture that underpins the Gor novels, the exposition goes on for page after tedious page….

I can understand that some degree of exposition is necessary in a fantasy or science fiction novel, as it is part of the requisite world-building that defines these genera of literature. But that John Norman should find it vital to mimic the style of novels Edgar Rice Burroughs first began publishing in 1912 is a clear signal of unimaginative literary ‘recycling’.

To be fair, there are sections of ‘Assassins of Gor’ that offer the action and adventure that are part and parcel of the so-called ‘planetary romance’ novel. But at over 400 pages in length, the book suffers from an excess of verbiage.

Summing up ? ‘Assassin of Gor’ is one of those books that was aimed at an audience of male readers under the age of 25, a readership that wasn’t – and still isn’t – looking for timeless literary quality. As such, the Gor novels were extremely successful commercially. 

But with age comes wisdom, and it’s impossible to recapture the naivete that made ‘Assassins’ tolerable the first time around……….. 

'The Bus'

'The Bus' by Paul Kirchner

from the August 1985 issue of Heavy Metal

Demon in a Silvered Glass Part Three

Demon in a Silvered Glass
Part three of three
by John Bolton (art) and Doug Moench (story)
Bizarre Adventures (Marvel / Curtis) No. 26, May 1981

Demon in a Silvered Glass Part Two

Demon in a Silvered Glass
Part two of three
by John Bolton (art) and Doug Moench (story)
Bizarre Adventures (Marvel / Curtis) No. 26, May 1981