Den, appearing as it did in Heavy Metal Magazine in 1977 and 1978, was an important influence on my early Dungeons and Dragons sensibilities. One of my middle-school friends had parents who allowed him to collect Heavy Metal. It seemed odd at the time, and still seems odd to me now, but I and the rest of his adolescent friends benefited from his rather permissive parents. D&D and Traveller sessions at his house would be regularly interspersed with surreptitious gawking at the images in Heavy Metal. Even then, Den was our favorite, along with Barbarella. This is the cover art from the second printing of Den. It added to our D&D sensibilities, as it was a fantasy tale from which to draw adventure inspiration, in addition to feeding our teenaged appetites for images of nekkid women. The cover has a very Barsoomian, Burroughs-esque vibe to it. That's probably because of the green monster and damsel.
I just learned this year that "Neverwhere" started out as an animated short.
ReplyDeleteI was introduced to Neverwhere via the Heavy Metal movie, but Den quickly became a favourite amongst my friends and me. I wasn't able to collect Heavy Metal during the Den years - local stores wouldn't even sell it to anyone under 18, so I had to make do with Epic Illustrated until I came of age.
ReplyDeleteI've had no less than two people play characters named Den in my games, the most recent being only two years ago - a testament to the staying power of Corben's creation. I recently managed to obtain a pdf of the entire Neverwhere saga, but I'd really like to get my hands on a hard copy. Sadly they are prohibitively expensive.
Scallop Skulled Skald said...
ReplyDeleteI just learned this year that "Neverwhere" started out as an animated short.
Neverwhere was copyrighted started in 1973, but did not appear in Heavy Metal 'til 1977, looks like Corben had been working on this for some time.
Sean Robson said...
ReplyDeleteI was introduced to Neverwhere via the Heavy Metal movie, but Den quickly became a favourite amongst my friends and me. I wasn't able to collect Heavy Metal during the Den years - local stores wouldn't even sell it to anyone under 18, so I had to make do with Epic Illustrated until I came of age.
I've had no less than two people play characters named Den in my games, the most recent being only two years ago - a testament to the staying power of Corben's creation. I recently managed to obtain a pdf of the entire Neverwhere saga, but I'd really like to get my hands on a hard copy. Sadly they are prohibitively expensive.
There was no way my parents were letting me see Heavy Metal: The Movie. I didn't see it until much later, I think around 1985. Yes, getting a paper copy is tough, and expensive.
I have paper copies of Neverwhere and Muvovum (and Bloodstar and the Bodyssy), but the rest I've had to settle for digital copies. If it's any consolation to those of you without, the bindings on the physical copies are cheap glue, which is decaying at a rather fantastic rate. I saw them as a kid under circumstances to everyone else. I still read them all a couple time a year. As the name implies, I doubt any single source has influenced my own Metal Earth campaign setting more.
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