Some Raven fun

Richard Corben is quite a special comic artist, he's one of very few, who moved the medium into a transcendent form, a form that wouldn't be out of place dangling on the walls of Mayfair. As far as I know that actually hasn't happened, the people running those establishments being the possessors of rather numbed aesthetic sensibilities. Corben is able to achieve this elevated state of accomplishment through a rare collection of wide ranging skills. He's an artist who can convincingly model rounded figures, with a vivid colour range and convey drama in scenes through lighting, without obscuring detail. Let me tell you, that's a neat trick, no matter what insight into his techniques you may have accrued.

For me, his best work was accomplished while he was being published in the Warren, magazine format, horror genre comics. He's still worth a gander at as a contributor to Heavy Metal magazine but that publication was a bit esoteric for me and it's self consciously arty purpose eroded some of the sharpness of it's contributors. Anyway that's enough waffle, lets have a look at another one of those excellent Youtube meldings of art and music, as we appreciate the man's talent set to the warblings of the Alan Parsons Project, through a tune inspired by Poe's, The Raven.

Stan Lee reads, The Raven

Now this is interesting, even if the post production visuals are a little distracting. There's another version of this flick where Mr. Lee explains he'd learnt the poem in his younger days, which explains why he starts off so well. Later on he resorts to his print out but it's interesting to note how quickly he scans it, even if he does stray from the text on a few occasions. OK he's not a polished orator but there's a certain inflection that evokes some emotional colour that often lacking by more professional renditions.