https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/corben.htm
Corben’s work is singular in its humanity. He works with towering technical skill… the wondrous thing of it all is that underneath all that technical tour-de-force is the sound of a beating heart. --Will Eisner
Richard Corben stands among us like an extraterrestrial peak. He has sat in his throne for a long time, above the moving and multi-coloured field of world comics, like an effigy of the leader, a strange monolith, a sublime visitor, a solitary enigma. --Jean Giraud
Corben’s Den saga and other stories were published in Giraud’s (i.e. Moebius’) “Métal Hurlant” magazine, so have been well-known to Euro audiences for half a century or more. As for the piece above, actually I believe it’s called “Cosmic Monster,” but I’m not 100%. It was used for various covers and posters, such as this Creepy horror / sci-fi collection. Corben used to do stories for that American anthology magazine, so it was a perfect choice, there.
There are four previous postings about Corben, here:
https://piefed.social/search?q=corben&community=1313
Corben is certainly in the top league with the other grandmasters, like Moebius, Otomo, Miyazaki, Segrelles and Bilal. They are the “creme de la creme” of comic art and only very few get even close to their aesthetic niveau and strength of expression. Corbens characters are pretty flat personalities but his masterful play with forms and textures more than makes up for that.
Corbens characters are pretty flat personalities…
Interesting point, and it rings true to me. My sense is that he liked the “pulp” genre, and was perfectly happy sticking with it for the most part.
Judging by his Bedetheque résumé, it doesnt look like he illustrated for other people much, if at all. That could have been interesting, though…
My sense is that he liked the “pulp” genre
I think so too, considering that right after sci-fantasy, cheap horror story/movie style scenarios are what he always went back to.
Love this!
