Elric of Melniboné, one of the original grey characters in fantasy, is all set for an epic new comic adaptation. The hugely popular novels, written by legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock, begin with a weak albino character that has pumped himself full of drugs in order to keep himself alive and maintain his seat on the Ruby Throne. Being as weak as he is, those beneath him are sickened that they must serve him and see his strange morality and willingness to forgive as a sign of weakness and unacceptable for a leader.
It seems that this latest comic adaption will be based on that very first Elric novel that was released all the way back in 1961. Called The Ruby Throne the synopsis states that it shall tell the tale of Elric’s battle to keep the throne as his envious cousin Yyrkoon, Prince of Melniboné, plots to overthrow him and claim the Ruby Throne for himself.
If a number of you fans are hesitant about Elric being adapted into a comic book, you’ve every right to be. Over the years that have been a vast number of adaptions that have ranged from decent to terrible to unrecognisable from the source. However, Michael Moorcock, always one to speak his mind has said that: “The best graphic adaptation of the story has to be the current one by Julien Blondel and his team,” says Moorcock, who has written an exclusive introduction for this edition. “This is perhaps the first graphic version of Elric fully to capture the sense of utter decadence I tried to convey in the books.”
The graphic novel series will be four parts with the first part being released on September 16th. Fantasy-Faction will have a full review up for the first volume shortly.
Jennie Ivins
Richard Marpole
Looks great! Recently noticed that there’s a graphic novel adaption of Brent Weeks WAY OF SHADOWS also on the horizon.
I just got done reading this and it was absolutely fantastic. Highly recommend it.