In Memoriam: Richard Corben (door Marcel Ruijters)

Op woensdag 2 december overleed na een hartoperatie de Amerikaanse striptekenaar Richard Corben. Hij werd 80 jaar. Collega striptekenaar en bewonderaar Marcel Ruijters plaatste op 11 december een In Memoriam voor Corben in de Facebookgroep Underground and Alternative Comix. Deze Engelstalige tekst mag nu ik ook op de Incognito blog plaatsen. Dank hiervoor, Marcel!

I had a few words to say about the recent passing of Richard Corben. Overall, I am not too sentimental about nature taking its course, but this is a bummer. Not just because Corben was a personal favorite and a certified genius - he could make anything thing look good, no matter how trivial the assignment, Turtles, Hulks or Aliens- but also the fact he was creating new work as always at the age of 80, and still developing! Just check out the recent model studies on his personal website. He died in the saddle, so to speak.

Richard Corben and one of those clay model heads he used

Also, like other geniuses, he was insanely productive. Muuta.net is the most complete overview of his work I know of, but has anyone had the courage to count all the pages and illustrations he has done? I envision a warehouse filled with mountains of paper.

Unlike most other geniuses, Corben proved to be an astonishingly shy and modest person in the rare interviews he has given. A diligent worker, genuinely surprised with the praise he got. Rarely went to festivals. Receiving the Grand Prix of Angoulême in 2018 must have been a shock! But that is another thing: that prize reflects the appreciation of collegues. He was quite the artists' artist. Many would secretly want to copy him... But no-one could, that is how unique his style was. The comics world is rife with epigonism - only one Richard Corben. Untouchable.

Corben working on the cover for Jeremy Brood #1: Relativity (1982)

There is also something I would like to say about Corben as a storyteller. It's often overlooked. In this aspect, his modest attitude may have led him to sell himself short and even work with writers who were less talented than him. (Bills having to be paid aside) I think he is quite good. For those who read closely, and beyond his super-voluptuous women (nothing wrong there, btw) you will see that claims of his work being sexist are nonsense and that the evident self-irony that is one of the hallmarks of Corben's work. 

DEN is not a macho man by any means. He is a innocent nerd in the body of a half-god, who is manipulated and betrayed by various characters: Zeg, the Red Queen, Kang, Ard and so on. There are several women in his life in Neverwhere, but with none he finds happiness. Or take the early short story Horrible Harvey's House which is in fact a quite modern tale of a woman who leaves her gaslighting asshole boyfriend for someone who is much sweeter to her: Harvey. He may be horribly deformed, but that does not matter! True love, that's what it is!

Horrible Harveys House, page 3 (Skull Comics #3, Nov. 1971)

And sure, there is plenty of sex in Corben's work. After all, he started out as an underground artist when that needed to be introduced in comics. But in the present-day ocean of hentai and porn comics, he definitely does not belong there, because porn has only one objective: arousal of the reader. An author like Corben actually cares about what the sex means to his characters. (MR)