I've always enjoyed Kull stories, and when I saw this beautiful cover by John Bolton I snapped this issue up. To my pleasant surprise, Bolton illustrates the entire issue!
The story is called "Demon in a Silvered Glass", written by the ever-reliable Doug Moench with all the art by Bolton:
...instead of getting into the details of the story--which is very, very good, I don't mean to slight it--the main selling point here is Bolton's exquisite work, so here are some pages from the book, they don't need my random comments:
...the story concerns Kull falling under the spell of a sorcerer and his sultry daughter, who seduce the barbarian into turning on his friends and his kingdom. He ends up fighting an evil reflection of himself, as well as more traditional Robert E. Howard-esque creatures:
Bolton was so proud of this splash--as well he should be--that he signed on the bottom right corner. Click the image to see a bigger version.
Moench turns in a really great story, full of great twists and turns and sharp characterizations. Its a neat twist to see our main character become the villain, sort of, as he loses his way and spends all his time indulging himself (like that middle panel on page 31--Girls Gone Wild: Hyborian Edition!), and yet there's still room for big fights and creepy monsters.
And of course Bolton's work is top-notch; its too bad he doesn't seem to do much (if any) comics work anymore. This issue in particular deserves to reprinted on some better paper with some sharper printing, its a total winner.
Moench turns in a really great story, full of great twists and turns and sharp characterizations. Its a neat twist to see our main character become the villain, sort of, as he loses his way and spends all his time indulging himself (like that middle panel on page 31--Girls Gone Wild: Hyborian Edition!), and yet there's still room for big fights and creepy monsters.
And of course Bolton's work is top-notch; its too bad he doesn't seem to do much (if any) comics work anymore. This issue in particular deserves to reprinted on some better paper with some sharper printing, its a total winner.
6 comments:
Great stuff... great memories!
I was not aware that Bolton had ever done ANY interior artwork. I myself was only familiar with his book and comic covers. Those interior pages are incredible!
One of the best B&W books Marvel ever put out! I had originally painted the cover for this, but when John justifiable wanted to paint it himself, my cover was altered a bit and later used on SSOC #65.
A wonderful comic. one of my favorites.
I agree with everyone else, that this is an excellent comic. Both John Bolton's artwork and Doug Moench's writing are outstanding. This was also Bolton's first work done in the US and it's mentioned inside that he got the job from an article on his UK comics work in The Comics Journal.
Bolton's work on this book is simply stunning. What a classic!
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