By d. emerson eddy — We lost another comics legend this past week with the passing of Richard Corben. Corben was probably most known for his work on Heavy Metal, and, like many kids of the '80s, I was first introduced to his work through the adaptation of his Den serials in the Heavy Metal animated movie. There is an incredible weight and exaggeration to his artwork that's really unlike any other artist out there. His shading techniques, utilizing a mix of hatching, stippling, and solid blacks, and rounded, in some cases almost engorged, characters are unmistakable. He's one of the masters of horror, science fiction, and fantasy art with a career spanning decades. His work on Hellblazer in Brian Azzarello's opening arc “Hard Time” put a new spin on the John Constantine character, he wonderfully adapted horror classics to comics in The House on the Borderland and HP Lovecraft's Haunt of Horror, he continued the chronicles of A Boy and His Dog with Harlan Ellison in Vic & Blood, and he was the visual face of many historical Hellboy tales with Mike Mignola that rank among some of my favourite comics ever (seriously, go buy Hellboy in Mexico, The Crooked Man, House of the Living Dead, and BPRD: Being Human just for a sampling of his exquisite work).

I could easily fawn over Richard Corben's work with Garth Ennis in Punisher: The End, or his relatively recent horror work at Dark Horse with both Rat God and Shadows on the Grave, but I wanted to spotlight something that he created along with one of his frequent, longtime collaborators, Jan Strnad, and the versatility of Batman. Back in 1996, the very first Batman: Black & White mini-series debuted (there's a new volume that had its first issue this week as well). In the second issue, alongside stories by fellow legends, Walter Simonson, Kent Williams, Jorge Zaffino, Neil Gaiman, and Simon Bisley, there was the story, “Monster Maker”, by Jan Strnad, Richard Corben, and Phil Felix.

Batman Black and White Monster Maker.jpg

Given the creators involved and the title, you might expect that the story is going to be straight-up horror, but it's not. This is a crime tale, delving into how to make a monster by giving a kid a gun, turning them into loyal gang members. It's dark, focusing on how children can fall into the traps of adult gang members groom them, rather than the more fanciful comic book ideas of making a monster in a lab. Batman spending his time lamenting that the latter isn't more familiar to these kids, mourning that innocence.

There's a running, almost conversational tone to Batman's narration here from Strnad, which adds an interesting element that this kind of crime has become almost too commonplace. The narration is an interesting juxtaposition against the stark and dark black and white artwork from Corben. This is a harsh, possibly even more grounded, Gotham City in this short story, very evocative of real life crime. To fit with that, Corben's Batman too is rather restrained, more humanized. I think it makes the story more effective, making it feel like just a few steps away from something that is very well happening on our own city streets. There are some very nice hand drawn sound effects through the story, that I kind of feel might be Corben's own, but overall Phil Felix's letters fit the stark nature of the story.

I think that presenting “Monster Maker” more as a standard crime story is an interesting way to kind of play against type for Strnad and Corben, with people expecting horror, sci-fi, or fantasy. It gives it a different flavor that's well explored. I recommend checking out their other collaborations to see their longstanding careers together, and to explore the wider body of work that Corben has left us. He was an understated giant in the industry and he'll be missed.

Batman Black and White, Vol. 1 #2 - Monster Maker

Batman: Black & White vol. 1 #2 - “Monster Maker”
Writer: Jan Strnad
Artist: Richard Corben
Letterer: Phil Felix
Publisher: DC Comics
Presented in stark black-and-white tones that all too easily represent Batman's worldview comes this collection of the Darknight Detective's hardboiled adventures. With stories and art by a stellar line-up of comic industry creators, including Neil Gaiman (THE SANDMAN), Joe Kubert (TOR), Frank Miller (THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, RONIN), Jim Lee (WILDCATS, BATMAN) and others, it's not surprising that this collection was awarded the comic industry's prestigious Eisner Award for excellence.
Release Date: May 1, 1996
Price: Available collected in Batman: Black & White – Volume 1 ($9.99)

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.