Superman Through the Ages! Forum

The much anticipated collection of Alan Moore stories from DC (DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore), including Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, has been predictably butchered by DC/Warner.

News here:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2366

and here (with pictures):
http://progressiveruin.com/archives/2006_01_08_archive.html#113709535487647445

and here:
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/missed_it_dc_snips_alan_moore/

The single most interesting piece in that newswire was about how Alan Moore and Michael Moorcock went to a signing together. It would have skyrocketed to awesomeness if the both of these great fantasy writers had themselves a "beard-off."



No words can express how unjust this is. Michael Moorcock is arguably the greatest fantasy writer that ever lived, and he has received nearly zero respect in recent times. When was the last time the ELRIC books were reprinted? 1996? Even Robert Howard's CONAN series has been reprinted in their complete forms recently, something that as recent as 2001 was a pipe dream for all WEIRD TALES fans until L. Sprague de Camp croaked.

(In a humiliating detail, I was able to get my paperback of THE WEIRD OF THE WHITE WOLF at a dollar store, hidden among the romance novels and NANCY DREW mysteries - though I love my girl Nancy Drew, this was the best buck I ever spent.)

Thanks goes to the White Wolf company for new editions of THE ETERNAL CHAMPION (with the original dedication to Douglas Fairbanks intact) and VON BECK.

Granted, Moorcock was a founding member of Hawkwind, arguably the biggest bunch of tone-deaf wusses at least until the coming of Wean decades later, but judging Moorcock by this is like denying Michael Jordan's place at greatness because of his lackluster career as a professional golfer.

One could have knocked me over with a feather at the sight of Moorcock writing, of all the things in the world, comics: with all due respect to the incredible Busiek run on CONAN, the most exciting Image Sword & Sorcery comic of this decade was Moorcock's ELRIC, and in a more just world, would have met CONAN in popularity.

I used to think nobody could take over for Alan Moore when he left TOM STRONG; thankfully, Moorcock's incredible, swashbuckling story involving pirates, lost cities, talking gorillas, and what is obviously Stormbringer in a cameo, put that fear to rest forever. Moore had a big beard to fill; thankfully Moorcock has a big beard too.

When Tolkien was declared "writer of the century" by a reader poll in a recent magazine, one could forgive the always blogging Moorcock for going bananas. Tolkien was a brilliant researcher, but the Professor was not the equal of Moorcock, nor was his pastoral style a match for Moorcock's muscular style, his incredible gift for arousing interest, brevity, imagination, or characterization (not even, really, for the equally brilliant Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson and Bobby Howard).

As always, Moorcock had more to say on the matter: "I have nothing but contempt for the regressive, retarded adults that made this poll possible,"

...and he went on like that for a whole blog entry.

I think you give Moorcock a bit too much credit.

True, his eldric books were okay....but that is about as far as it went, IMO. The Corum books were so so....and the rest failed to rouse enough interest to complete.  After reading just a few, it was like the stories were smiply copies of each other.

On the other hand, Tolkien demonstrated his fantastic ability quite admirably with the Lord of the Rings.  The rest, most of which was edited and finished by his son, admittedly failed to live up to the same standards.

I would have been among those that voted for Tolkien.  (For the greatest SF author I would hands down have had to vote for Heinlein...No one has come near his ability yet!!!)

Dylan

PS: it is entirely possible that Moorcock came out with his Eternal Champion stories way too early.  When those came out (I was still a teen when I came across Stormbringer and I am in my mid 40's now) there was still a tendency to like Heroic stories of good vs evil...much like the comics used to be. (sigh).  Eldirc and most of the other characters were NOT heroes...but rather anti-heroes.

It is possible that, in THIS day and age his work would have gotten more attention because it appears that many modern readers are not interested in the classic good vs evil stories (which is basically what LoTR was).  Instead, like the comics, they want dark and gritty shades of gray.   Moorcock was good at that, I have to admit.

But still....Tolkien is still the standard by which fantasy is judged.....hmmmm.

From the looks of things, Moore would win these days.

The last thing I read by Moorcock was a short historical adventure thing for the McSweeney's adventure story collection (the first one) --one of the more enjoyable pieces in that book.  That as, like, 5 years ago. What has he done lately?

I've always loved the Elric books, particularly the earlier volumes, but I freely admit that they're not for everyone. Too morose and doom-fraught. Corum is even worse, especially in the second trilogy. Still, I hope the occasionally-rumored Elric movie gets made someday.

His most recent book is THE SKRAELING TREE and the second ELRIC trilogy, with THE DREAMTHIEF'S DAUGHTER and THE WHITE WOLF'S SON: THE ALBINO UNDERGROUND. He's also done some adventure non-fantasy stuff, like KING OF THE CITY.

P. Craig Russell did a comics adaptation of STORMBRINGER in recent times; as soon as I can find it, it's as good as sold.  :D Moorcock is one of those writers whose work is very, very visual.

In comics, Moorcock has done an ELRIC comic in 2004 for Image and he did a story arc for TOM STRONG. Here's hoping that the Master of the Multiverse can keep on churning great stuff!

In the words of the Black Knight, "hey, guys, I'm not dead YET!"



If LORD OF THE RINGS is Led Zeppelin, than ELRIC is Black Sabbath. The spooky darkness, occultism, and horror elements of Elric make him a big, big favorite of heavy metal bands that write songs about setting people on fire.



Here's hoping!

But they missed the boat about casting David Bowie, one of the few men that could have pulled Elric off. Usually I'm good at the "Casting Call" game but I can't think of a single actor that would be remotely appropriate for playing the White Wolf. Maybe Ray Fiennes? Nah.

It's been reported that Moorcock favors Jude Law in the role of Elric, at least from among the more well-known contenders. Stuart Townsend and Guy Pierce have also been mentioned.

Sweet sassy molassy, what a great choice! He's a skilled actor, and has just the right "look" for the part: handsome in a weird sort of way, without the casual whimsy that defines a hunky outsider like Johnny Depp.

Hopefully, Arioch willing, we will make sure Jude the Dude can play the part - the clock's ticking on his Male Pattern Baldness.

I dunno, I just don't see Jude "Alfie" Law in a long white wig.  Although he is good as a balding villain, a la Road to Perdition.

While the Tolkien books seem meatier in some ways in terms of world-building and literariness (and certainly paved the way, along with RE Howard,  for Moorcock and most "heroic fantasy"), Moorcock's Elric was very much of its time.  Moorcock's cynical, decadent style was perfectly in keeping with contemporary attitudes and part and parcel of the post-World War II turn towards the anti-hero --although it could be argued this is a trait of modernism per se, if not the entire history of the novel.

The only place that Moorcock's point of view seems out-of-place is in the puritanical world of science fiction, fantasy, and comic book fandom, especially as it existed before, say, 1970, with few exceptions (the undergrounds, EC fans, the British New Wave).