Richard Corben's Non-Comics Work

"Richard Corben is the best comic book artist ever."

That's not something you're bound to hear a whole lot of people say. Honestly, I'm not going to say that either. However I will say that Corben shares the title of "my favorite comic book artist" with Travis Charest, meaning that I like his artwork a whole lot to say the least.

If you know me personally, you've probably seen a lot of Rich's comic book covers and interiors as I am known to champion them to anyone within earshot (and eyeshot) whenever the chance presents itself. What most people (even those who call me their friend) are probably not familiar with, however, are Corben's works of art outside of the comic book industry.

If you plumb the depths of a stack of dusty old science fiction paperbacks in the corner of a mom and pop used book store you've got a pretty good chance of uncovering one or two titles with Rich's work adorning the cover. However, to hunt down and display those here would undoubtedly have an unpleasant effect on my sanity, so instead what I've got to share with you, my beloved readers, are some more mainstream works of art.

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE
First, we have the one you most likely have a pretty good chance of having seen before. This is one of two posters produced for the Heavy Metal movie from back in 1981. The other poster (which you can view here) is the one most people know because it has been used for all of the packaging and promotion of the movie on DVD and Home Video over the years. If you'd gone into a theater showing the film back in '81 though, you probably would have seen one of these bad boys, which prominently features Corben's own creation, Den:


After the Heavy Metal poster, the non-comic book Corben painting the average person is most likely to have seen (depending on your music taste) is the album cover for Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell. Apparently this artwork was a rush job (though I'd be hard pressed to prove it based on the quality of the art itself) which arrived at CBS records less than one week from the day they commissioned him to paint it. Amazing!


Now we get into the more obscure work. I'd never heard of Jim Steinman before, but according to Wikipedia he's a record producer, composer, and lyricist who has worked with Meatloaf on multiple occasions, which explains how he ended up with a Richard Corben painting on the cover of his album Bad For Good:


Now here's one that I found truly bizarre. Everyone's heard of Brian De Palma, director of such films as Carrie, The Untouchables, Scarface, Carlito's Way, and Mission Impossible. But did you know that in 1974 he wrote and directed a rock opera version of The Phantom Of The Opera called Phantom Of The Paradise? Well, if IMDb is to be believed, he did just that and Richard Corben painted one of the original posters for the movie. For those who have seen the Berserk anime or read the manga of the same name, is it just me or does that dude in the mask remind you of Griffith when he's got his helmet on?


Last, but not least, we have the movie poster for a no-name 80's horror movie called Spookies. Apparently it's one of those "a group of people spend the night in a haunted house" flicks. Having looked up the directors and "stars" of the film on IMDb, even though I've never actually watched it, I can pretty much surmise that this poster is the best thing about the movie:


In closing, I'd like to give props to the internet in general for helping me to discover, locate, and share these pieces of artwork with others. Of note is an absolutely invaluable resource for anyone wishing to learn more about Richard Corben, which goes by the name "The Most Complete Comicography Of Richard Corben", or Muuta.net for short. Then of course there's Richard Corben's personal site: CorbenStudios.com.

Now go spread the word: Richard Corben is (one of) the best comic book artist(s) ever.

My Eyeballs Just Exploded!

So there I was editing the new episode of The Sidetracked Side Project, which features my father and I predominantly discussing the X-Men movies. I wanted to use the theme song from the 90's X-Men cartoon as the intro music for the podcast, so I went to YouTube to find a clip of the show's opening which I could rip the music from. You all remember that intro, right? If not, or if you do and would simply like to relive your childhood, enjoy the clip below:


Anyway, while rummaging through the clips for one that didn't sound like the audio was recorded from across a busy city street during rush hour I came across the following video, which had me wide-eyed and mouth agape in disbelief:


Okay, first of all, how fucking awesome is that animation?! I think I may be in the process of shitting myself right this moment. Has everyone else seen this but me somehow, or is this seriously the discovery of a lifetime? When I saw that clip for the first time a little while ago my mind was racing a mile a minute with questions like, "There's an X-Men anime out there?!" and, "How have I not heard of this, much less never seen it before?!" Before I knew what hit me, I'd discovered this equally impressive and mind-blowing clip:


At this point I was wondering where the hell I could find full episodes of this show and debating whether or not I could sit through it without dubbing or sub-titles if it came down to it, because there was surely no way an X-Men show like this could have made it state-side without me knowing about it. As it were, this shouldn't have been able to pass below my radar regardless of where it was available.

As a quick aside, I found it funny that in this clip the sound effect used when Cyclops shoots his optic beams is the same sound you hear in Ghostbusters when they turn on their proton packs.

Alas, what I quickly discovered is that those last two videos are just the new intros that were added to the show when the American X-Men cartoon was aired in Japan. My question now, though I love the 90's X-Men cartoon, would have to be, "Who would sit through that show after it was preceded by one of those two amazing intro segments?" I would sure as hell feel cheated if I was flipping through the channels and came across one of those clips only to have it abruptly end and segue into the same show that I watched as a kid. Seriously. Why didn't that animation studio just make their own X-Men cartoon? I would kill my parents if it meant I could watch an X-Men cartoon with that animation!

Okay...maybe not my parents, but someone else's for sure.

Still awe-inspiring (especially the second one, with the close-up of Wolverine's claws), but much shorter are these following four videos which are quick bumpers that were made to bring the show back from commercial breaks when aired in Japan. To my knowledge, these, combined with the two longer clips I posted above, are all that exist of this anime-style X-Men animation. If anyone out there knows of any more footage like this, please, for the love of god, let me know about it.