"This day's experience, set in order, none of it left ragged or lying about, all of it gathered in like treasure and finished with, set aside." –Alice Munro, "What is Remembered"
From Creepy Magazine #125 (Feb 1981), here’s “Knight Errant” by author Roy Kinnard and illustrator Mike Saenz.
The story here is pretty clearly a riff on Richard Corben’s underground classic, “How Howie Made It in the Real World.” IMHO, of course.
In 1972, Kitchen Sink Enterprises published and distributed Fever Dreams, an underground, fantasy comic that included two stories written by Jan Strnad: “The Unicorn Quest,” with art by John Adkins Richardson and “To Meet the Faces You Meet,” with art by the now-legendary Richard Corben. Flash forward forty-eight years — years that delivered to comics fans numerous first-rate Strnad/Corben comics collaborations — and we are now on the cusp of having a high-quality, feature-length, hybrid live-action/animated movie adaptation of “To Meet the Faces You Meet” to enjoy. But this isn’t just any adaptation, it’s an adaption with a script by J. Allen Williams of Parallax Studio, and the man himself, Jan Strnad, that is actually inspired by and respectful of Corben’s conceptual designs, and what’s more, Williams, who is the director and producer of the movie as well as a co-writer, has welcomed the input of Strnad and Corben at every stage of the production.
As his fans are undoubtedly aware, Corben has, from the beginning of his career as an artist, had an abiding interest in animation, and has himself produced a variety of short films over the years, the most ambitious of which were the animated short film, Neverwhere (1968), which included the earliest appearance of Den and won several awards, and The Dark Planet (1989), an anthology that included “The Tower of Blood” and “Relief Station.” In addition, in 1981, Corben’s Neverwhere graphic novel was adapted to the big screen as a sequence in the film “Heavy Metal,” and in 2012, his story, “King’s Crown,” was adapted for the TV series, Metal Hurlant Chronicles. And now Corben has given his blessing to the forthcoming movie adaptation of “To Meet the Faces You Meet.”
Why am I telling you this? Because, although the animation for the film is complete, and the lead character, MEAD, voiced by Patton Oswalt, has been recorded, Parallax still has work to do. Actors need to be hired for the lead human parts and their performances, filmed and combined with the animation. Now, I have no doubt that the film will, no matter what, eventually be completed, but the fact is, the more money Parallax has, the more leeway they will have to hire experienced actors who best embody the characters. And that is why, on 09 May 2020, the studio created a Kickstarter campaign for their movie.
To learn about the campaign, which includes a variety of levels and rewards, you should visit Parallax’s official “To Meet the Faces You Meet” Kickstarter page. Corben fans, however, should know that, while everyone who contributes to the campaign will get their name in the credits of the movie and in a special-edition comic, other reward possibilities include 1) a Blu-Ray of the completed film, 2) a special, oversized, Kickstarter-exclusive edition of “To Meet the Faces You Meet” with the original Fever Dreams cover art and masthead, 3) a 12.5 x 18 inch print of the original Fever Dreams cover art and masthead, and more!
As a Corben fan myself, I selfishly hope that you, dear reader, will seriously consider supporting this project, because the fact is, I want the film, I want the oversized, remastered reprint of “To Meet the Faces You Meet,” and I want the poster of that cover.
And last but not least, I want comics fans to support the “fever dreams” of two legendary creators: Jan Strnad and Richard Corben!
For if they feel the love, who can say what dreams may come?!
I’m a bit late with this, but here goes…
On Saturday 19 November 2016 at 12:00 noon CST — tomorrow! — eleven pages of original comic art by Richard Corben will go on sale via the “Sales” page on the artist’s official website.
Six of the pages in the November sale are from Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil (Dark Horse, 2010), while the other five pages are from Margopoulos and Corben’s ten-page comics adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Sleeper,” first published in Haunt of Horror #1 (Marvel, July 2006).
The small scans that are on the Corben website right now are intended for “viewing only.” Prices will be posted when the sale goes live on Saturday 19 November 2016 at 12:00 noon CST, at which point the first person to complete the PayPal shopping cart for each page will receive that page.
On Saturday 20 August 2016 at 12:00 noon CST, ten pages of original comic art by Richard Corben will go on sale via the “Sales” page on the artist’s official website.
All seven of the interior comics pages in the August sale are from Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil (Dark Horse, 2010). The sale also includes Corben’s cover for Hellboy: Being Human (Dark Horse, 2011) and two unused promotional covers, one each for the abandoned projects Eram (2007) and Horror in the Pit, a.k.a., From the Pit #3 (2005).
The small scans that are on the Corben website right now are intended for “viewing only.” Prices will be posted when the sale goes live on Saturday 20 August 2016 at 12:00 noon CST, at which point the first person to complete the PayPal shopping cart for each page will receive that page.
On Saturday 18 July 2015 at 12:00 noon CST, ten pages of original comic art by Richard Corben will go on sale via the “Sales” page on the artist’s official website.
All ten of the pages in the July sale are from the graphic novel, The House on the Borderland (2000), adapted by Simon Revelstroke and Richard Corben from the novel by William Hope Hodgson.
And according to the Corben website, all of the pages are drawn with Sharpie and Pigma pens on 11 x 17 inch Strathmore paper.
The small scans that are on the Corben website right now are intended for “viewing only.” Prices will be posted when the sale goes live on Saturday 18 July 2015 at noon CST, at which point the first person to complete the PayPal shopping cart for each page will receive that page.
On Saturday 16 May 2015 at 12:00 noon CST, thirty-one pages of original comic art by Richard Corben will go on sale via the “Sales” page on the artist’s official website.
The sale will include ten pages from Hellboy: The Bride of Hell (2009), ten pages from The House on the Borderland (2000), and ten pages plus the cover art from Starr the Slayer #2 (2009).
According to the Corben website, all of the pages are drawn with Sharpie and Pigma pens on 11 x 17 inch Strathmore paper.
The small scans that are on the Corben website right now are intended for “viewing only.” Prices will be posted when the sale goes live on Saturday 16 May 2015 at noon CST, at which point the first person to complete the PayPal shopping cart for each page will receive that page.
On Saturday 13 December 2014 at 12:00 noon CST, thirty pieces of original comic/illustration art by Richard Corben will go on sale via the “Sales” page on the artist’s official website.
The sale will include seven standard comic pages, a double-page spread, and two versions of the cover, the published art in ink along with an unused painted version, from Starr the Slayer #1 (2009), the first nine pages and two promotional images from The House on the Borderland (2000), all seven pages of “The Woodlik Inheritance” from Vampirella #31 (1974), and two pages from a three-page Corben cameo that appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 10, #8 (2014).
All artwork is drawn in Sharpie and Pigma pens on 11 x 17 inch Strathmore paper, with the exception of the double-page spread, pages 8 and 9, from House on the Borderland, which is drawn on 22 x 17 inch paper, and “The Woodlik Inheritance,” which is drawn and painted on 13 x 17 inch Bainbridge illustration board using various media including pen and ink, grey and colour pencils, colour markers, colour film, and oil paint.
The small scans that are on the Corben website right now are intended for “viewing only.” Prices will be posted when the sale goes live on Saturday 13 December 2014 at noon CST, at which point the first person to complete the PayPal shopping cart for each page will receive that page.
Just thought long-time friends of RCN might like to know that Richard Corben and his wife, Dona, have tweaked the design of Corben’s website, have added some new content, and have purchased a new domain: CorbenComicArt.com. I’ve already updated all of the links in my previous posts here at RCN to reflect the change, and I encourage others with blogs and websites to do the same.
Have a happy!
RC
On Saturday 23 August 2014 at 12:00 noon CST, thirty-six pages of original black-and-white comic art by Richard Corben will go on sale via the “Sales” page on the artist’s official website.
The sale will include all seven pages of “Dagon” from Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft #1 (2008), all eight pages of “The Music of Eric Zann” from Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft #2 (2008), all ten pages of “The Sleeper” from Haunt of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe #1 (2006), and ten interior pages and Corben’s cover art for the Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil one-shot (2010).
All artwork is drawn in Sharpie and Pigma pens on 11 x 17 inch Strathmore paper, with the exception of “Dagon,” which is drawn in Sharpie and Pigma pens, and Prismacolor pencils.
The small scans that are on the Corben website right now are intended for “viewing only.” Prices will be posted when the sale goes live on Saturday 23 August 2014 at noon CST, at which point the first person to complete the PayPal shopping cart for each page will receive that page.
On Saturday 28 June 2014 at 12:00 noon CST, thirty-one pages of original black-and-white comic art by Richard Corben will go on sale via the “Sales” page on the artist’s official website.
The sale will include all five pages of “The Canal” from Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft #2 (2008), all four pages of “The Window” from Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft #3 (2008), the cover art for Jonah Hex #32 (2008), all three covers for the Living with the Dead mini-series (2007), the cover art for the Living with the Dead trade-paperback collection (2008), all eight pages of “Roda and the Wolf” from Heavy Metal #83 (1984), and all nine pages of an unpublished story called “Bloodsport.”
All artwork is drawn in Sharpie and Pigma pens on 11 x 17 inch Strathmore paper, with the exception of “Roda and the Wolf,” which is drawn in markers, Sharpie and Pigma pens, and Prismacolor pencils on 12 x 15 inch Bainbridge paper.
The small scans that are on the Corben website right now are intended for “viewing only.” Prices will be posted when the sale goes live on Saturday 28 June 2014 at noon CST, at which point the first person to complete the PayPal shopping cart for each page will receive that page.
Ragged Claws Network 