Den vol. 1: Neverwhere

When Richard Corben passed away in December 2020, I was aware he was considered to be a legend in the comics industry.  That said, my appreciation of him came from his latter-day work with DC (“Hellblazer:  Hard Time”), Marvel (“Startling Stories:  Banner,” “Cage”), and, of course, Dark Horse (“Hellboy:  Makoma, The Crooked Man, and House of the Living Dead,” “Conan:  Cimmeria”).  It’s the last publisher which has made the effort to bring back the series that helped establish Corben’s legend:  “Den.”  While there are a lot of people who are familiar with the segment featuring the character from the “Heavy Metal” movie, it was the comics that served as the basis for it and they’re what blew everyone’s mind when they debuted back in the 70’s.

Which is why I’m a little sad to say that the comics, or at least the ones featured in this volume, were probably a lot more impressive to readers of the time.  Corben’s painted art is still impressive to behold, with its unrestrained weirdness and nonchalant eroticism providing the most interesting sights to behold here.  The stories themselves, which involve Den trying to secure a magical scepter to save his new girlfriend from her captors, are straightforward fantasy-adventure stuff which haven’t aged all that well.

Dark Horse did a good job with reprinting the comics as everything looks solid for material that is either over or closing in on fifty years old at this point.  Jose Villarubia and Patton Oswalt’s introductions are also greatly appreciated, with the former pointing out the unexpected connection between this series and “Little Anny Fanny,” and the latter giving us the fan’s perspective about what everyone was excited about back then.  While I can imagine that, I can’t quite feel it after reading this volume.  Still, I am kind of curious to see where things go from here and if the storytelling improves to match the art, or if the pictures themselves are what this title’s legacy will be after all this time.