Corben’s Cage
by Frank Santoro
Thursday, October 8, 2009
I went over to Jim Rugg’s house today to hang out. He just finished his Afrodisiac collection for AdHouse Books and I wanted to take a look. I must say that this book blew me away. It’s going to KILL. Jimmy is a master stylist. He and his co-creator Brian Maruca have crafted something that’s, for me, beyond description right now. I’m in shock. Just wait. You’ll see.
Jim also dragged out his “Blaxploitation comics” collection. A longbox of gems from different eras. There was one that really fascinated me though and I can’t put it down. It’s Richard Corben’s take on Luke Cage from 2002. Great colors by Jose Villarrubia. Check out the easy “realism” above.
I really don’t have anything to say about it except: HOLY CRAP, is it beautiful. There’s something about the odd pairing of Corben and Cage that just works for me. I’m in shock. I’d never heard of it or seen it before. Has anyone out there read it? Or at least just gawked at the artwork?
Labels: Brian Maruca, Jim Rugg, Richard Corben
I've read it. It's pretty fun. The story's a pretty tired ripoff of the old Red Harvest/Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars plot, if I remember correctly, but the art, as you say, is great.
I remember liking that Corben and Azzarello comic quite a bit, and I just found it in my basement. For a while I sought out a lot of Luke Cage stories, mostly the old Power Man and Ironfist issues. I bought this MAX trade and enjoyed the different portrayal, but mostly the art (like graffiti styled sound effects).
I think this was a product of the Bob Harras Marvel era, where they were putting out a lot of new takes on their characters, usually devoid of continuity. I know the story had something to do with Tombstone, though I remember him mostly from watching the spider-man cartoon as a kid.
I agree with Tim. Azzarello just dialed in the story with a worn-out plot. But Corben's art is amazing. When I was reading it, I was constantly amazed that an old white dude out in Kansas City was drawing this gritty, urban, hip-hop superhero tale set in New York so incredibly. Awesome book. Corben again demonstrates he is a living legend.
Marra has it.
Other than that, the color on this one is interesting, isn't it? I'm not really knowledgeable on that subject, but is there anyone who can shed some light?
I remeber i was in the teenage years and this was a strange time to read Marvel comics,and so on.
Reminded me of Stuck Rubber Baby.
I like the writing in this! a really good mini series. I thought thr same thing as marra, how can this dude do this comic so well? unbelievable.
I am on a bit of a crazy Corben kick right now, and bought a stack of his 70's books at con last year from a transvestite comic dealer.
I guess I never thought much about the Yojimbo rip beyond thinking "oh hey, it's Yojimbo." I thought the purpose of the writing was mostly to refurbish Luke Cage and serve up a bunch of NSFW shit for Corben to draw. Well done!
Frank, this book was one of the cornerstones of the "Nu-Marvel" approach of the Jemas/Quesada era.
Check out the other Azzarello/Corben collabo of that era, the Hulk book "Banner."
Oh yeah, Andrew, you're thinking of Bill Jemas, not Bob Harras, who was Quesada & Jemas's predecessor.
Hey, to each their own.
RED HARVEST has probably been ripped off more often than any other story in the history of crime fiction, and as I remember, when I read CAGE, it was maybe the third or fourth paint-by-numbers version of it I'd encountered in a row. I remember wishing Azzarello could've just mixed up the plot even a tiny bit, so I wouldn't know exactly what was going to happen at every turn.
That being said, it's been a really long time since I read this, as someone borrowed my copy and never returned it years ago. And I can still vividly picture many of Corben's panels.
The coloring is quite impeccable. The splash in issue one with the mirror? Good grief. I'm only on issue two. I'm reading a page every like ten minutes.
This book was published when I was out of the loop. It's like brand new to me, haha.
As hackneyed as Azarello's writing is, his collabs with Corbern are all terrific. Corben's version of the Hulk is the best since the 60s imho. Cage, Banner and their Hellblazer would all directly translate beautifully into movie adaptations – the physicality of Corben's characters just bounces of the page (you can almost smell them!). Has Corben ever done Batman, Fury or Dr. Strange? Would love to see that!
And there's nothing wrong with rehashing Red Harvest (my favourite novel as a 12-ear old!) – Kurosawa and Leone did it so well that its pretty much a 'third way' genre template.
Oop, thanks, Sean. I guess I had Lost in Translation on my mind. If I'm not getting these mixed up too, I believe Jemas ushered in comics like the gay Rawhide Kid and a Little Mermaid-like Namor, though I never read either.
The Hellblazer: Hard Time story was pretty fun, but that Banner comic they did was pretty funny. Corben has some great panels in all of them–the hallucination torture scenes in Hard Time, the plane fight and Doc Samson scenes in Banner–those are all worthwhile.
I read Cage right after watching that Bruce Willis Last Man Standing, so I was about ripe for a non-shitty adaptation of Red Harvest.
Hard Time is from the period of time where all Hellblazer comics were colored in rust brown, rust orange, rust, and black. There's a decent period of time (30-odd issues?) where the only non-earth tones appear on the cover.
I just read the Hellblazer collection over at Copacetic Comics. Funny. Not as enjoyable as Cage. And the colors were pretty flat and wack. Villarrubia's colors on Cage had a modeling that rhymed really well with Corben's stippling.
Check out the Hulk comic ("Banner") they did together.
Oh, and W.W.- Corben did a Batman comic in the first Batman Black And White collection/issue 2 of miniseries.
Slightly dipped in, but when I was in a "don't read action comics" kind of mood.
Corben was the reason for the dipping. It was great news to me that someone I had seen in all the Horror titles and Heavy Metal things, going into working for Marvel at that time.
I enjoy his recent stays at Dark Horse, that man can creep out everything – and he don't need creepers for it.
Yah, I like his new Dark Horse stuff too.
I enjoyed the Corben one-shot with Garth Ennis "Punisher: The End." Worth checking out as well, Frank. Corben has been a bit of a Marvel darling for the past few years it seems. Also, reading the current "Starr the Slayer" series he's got going with Daniel Way. It's pretty awesome.
Cage, Hellblazer Hard Time and Banner in that order. Banner seemed pretty vacant as a story. Cage is great, didn't know it was a direct ripoff. Though he did add in that Bee Bim Bap meal which just happens to be one of my favorite dishes. That Corben Hellboy that recently came out was great too, the crooked man. Damn, Corben really stirs up the comment section.
Yeah his art in Cage is amazing. Colors too. The story is pretty fun. His art in Banner is great too.
-Blake Sims
Frank, have you seen this?
Oh yah. "The Block" by Steranko. Classic.
thanks.
I read this when it first came out. I remember really enjoying the Corben artwork but being left kind of cold by the story. I'll have to give it another look.
Cool, I just discovered it and was struck by the similarity in external premise — white dude cartoonists from the sticks tackle black inner-city milieus. Clichés ensue, but they draw the hell out of it. 🙂
Yeah, Corben's pretty amazing. He also did this Bigfoot miniseries written by Steve Niles and Rob Zombie that was pretty nice-looking. I don't remember the story being any great shakes, but that art! He does this thing I love, where he'll have a nice, normal panel arrangement, but when the violence and mayhem ensues, suddenly the panels get all jagged, like the action is shattering the panel borders. And the lettering on the sound effects is also incredible, so expressive.
Oh, and if you're looking for other stuff by him from the last decade or so, he had an issue of DC's Solo that was interesting, using some computer-generated art, I think.
There was one story in the issue of SOLO that was computer generated or however he does it. It's a solid read though, worth tracking down.
Same for Cooke, Allred, and Pope's issues.
-Blake Sims
I'm a little late on this post, but I was recently doing some reading about Corben and while I knew that he attended Kansas City Art Institute, I hadn't previously heard that he spent some time working at an industrial film company in Kansas City.
I immediately thought of Robert Altman learning the fundamentals of filmmaking in KC at the Calvin Company. Is it possible that there was more than one industrial film company in Kansas City?
Nothing I've found online has said the name of the company Corben worked at, but it seems likely to me that Corben and Altman worked at the same place (though I'm pretty sure Corben was only around 10 years old when Altman started working at Calvin).
Anyone got any definite info on this?
Yes, according to Fershid Bharucha in Richard Corben: Flights into Fantasy, Corben did indeed get his start in "the animation department of Calvin Communications Inc" (formerly the "Calvin Company," and then "Calvin Productions") in Kansas City. Apparently, Calvin Communications financed post-production of Corben's 15-minute animated film Neverwhere.