Comics Pays Tribute To The Passing Of Richard Corben

Remembering A True Artistic Original

Richard Corben died earlier this month but the very sad news only came out yesterday and here’s a few tributes from fellow professionals in the comics industry and a few from outside of it…

MIKE MIGNOLA: “His work was larger than life (in every way) and totally unique. I never in a million years could have guessed that one day we would work together but we did. I wrote THE CROOKED MAN specifically for him and to this day it remains my favorite Hellboy story.”

DAVE GIBBONS: “His vivid, thrilling work opened the junction between underground and mainstream comics.”

ERIC POWELL: “Richard Corben was a giant in the world of indie comics. Influential to so many artists. And an innovator. From ink to oil to airbrush to being one of the first digital painters in comics. He worked in every medium. His work was always weird, always interesting.”

ROB ZOMBIE: “Sad to hear of the passing of a comic legend Richard Corben. Can’t even picture the 1970s without his art front and center. From his icon Bat Out Of Hell album cover to his insane work in Heavy Metal Magazine no one came close to matching the power he put on the page. Needless to say it was an honor to have him illustrate my Bigfoot comic in 2005. Another master gone.”

STEPHAN FRANCK: Richard Corben’s art was dangerous, visceral, insanely sophisticated to the point of superhuman, yet boldly naive when it wanted to be. The humor, the horror, the sex obviously. It took the reader to incredible places, and to the rawest, deepest inner depth of the human experience. And let’s not forget the insane clarity of Corben’s storytelling which is not talked about often enough, because it is transparent—as the best storytelling is. Few artists are able to truly make the reader EXPERIENCE the moments in such a real way.”

NEIL GAIMAN: “I never got to work with or meet Richard Corben. His ‘Unprovoked Attack on a Hilton Hotel’ remains one of my all time favourite comics stories. I was 14, staying in Paris on a French Exchange, and I used some of my precious francs to buy Metal Hurlant #6. I encountered Moebius, Bilal, Tardi and Corben in the same hour.”

KLAUS JANSON: “A brilliant artist who never compromised his unique vision. … He leaves a world of art from which to learn and enjoy. Sometimes I wish heroes would live forever.”

KEVIN NOWLAN: “We’ve lost a giant. Richard Corben was an original. He redefined comic art over and over, creating new coloring/ color separating techniques, drawing expressions and movements that most of can’t begin to equal and producing a body of work that is still grossly under appreciated.”

FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA: “Saddened to hear of the passing of Maestro RICHARD CORBEN. He was an art visionary and I became instantly a fan of his work very early on, marveling at his comic pages in magazines like Heavy Metal, 1984, & Creepy. His inks had a tridimensionality I haven’t seen anywhere else.”