'Den'.
Richard Corben grew up in Kansas City, where he studied at the Kansas City Art Institute, graduating in 1965. Among his main graphic influences are Vaughn Bodé, Hal Foster, Frank Frazetta, Jesse Marsh, Maxfield Parrish, Alex Toth and Wallace Wood. Later in his career, he also expressed admiration for Spanish comic artists Alfonso Font, Fernando Fernandez, Victor De La Fuente, Carlos Giménez and Vicente Segrelles.
His first work was published in 1968 in the Fanzine Voice of Comicdom. Two years later, Corben published his own underground comic book entitled 'Fantagor', which consisted of four science fiction tales he had conceived and drawn himself. They contained elements of horror, violence and sexuality, and already embodied the main themes of his future work. Afterwards, he worked on the underground magazines Slow Death and Skull, sometimes using the pseudonym "Gore".
'Fantagor'.
In 1971, Corben left the underground comix scene. In this year Corben's first longer fantasy history 'Rowlf' came out, which still was printed in black-and-white. The story was about the loyalty of a dog to his mistress. Through a magic spell gone wrong, Rowlf becomes half dog, half man, and, as this hybrid creature, he must rescue his mistress from demons in a strange land.
'Fantagor' #1 (1970).
Since the beginning of the 1970s, Corben drew regularly for the magazines Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella. Until 1978, he drew altogether forty stories. In this time Corben found his actual means of expression: color. The big breakthrough took place in 1975 with the establishment of magazine Métal Hurlant in France. The first Métal Hurlant-years became Corbens most fruitful work phase: 'Bloodstar' (1976), 'Mutantworld' (1978/79), the first episode of 'Den' (1978).
Comic art by Richard Corben.
'Den' is the story of a man who is dragged into another dimension. The hero finds himself transformed into a muscular giant of a man in a prehistoric universe of dragons, animal-men and beautiful, savage women. Calling himself Den, he sets forth to explore this strange world. With 'Den', Corben had found his ideal fantasy world. Corben returned again and again to it, and an end of 'Den' is not to be foreseen. Corben draws for Marvel, DC and Dark Horse Comics. Most of them are cover work, but also interior art on series like 'Ghost Rider' (Marvel') and 'Hellboy' (with Mike Mignola, Dark Horse). In 2005, he worked with Rob Zombie and Steve Niles on the independent comic 'Bigfoot' for IDW Publishing.
'Den'.
Corben's art and visions are likely to turn up almost anywhere, from fanzines and convention programs to books and magazines, from animation and corporate comics to undergrounds and just about everything in between.
Richard Corben was an influence on many comic artists. In the United States, he inspired Gerald Brom, John Cebollero, Kevin Eastman, Mike Mignola and Frank Miller, while in Canada Bernie Mireault is a follower. Corben also found admirers in Argentina (Fernando Sosa), Belgium (Serge Buyse), Finland (Jouko Nuora), France (Algésiras), Italy (Tanino Liberatore), The Netherlands (Erik Kriek, Johan Neefjes, Hans Pieko, Eric Schreurs, Tais Teng, Hendrik J. Vos), South Korea (Kim Jung-Gi), Switzerland (H.R. Giger), Spain (Athos, Rafa Garres, Rafael Ruiz Gilet, Salvador Larroca, José Villarrubia, Xavi) and the United Kingdom (Simon Bisley, John Higgins, Liam Sharp, Mark Stafford, Bryan Talbot). He additionally received admiration from veteran artists Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, Willy Linthout and film director Guillermo Del Toro.
'Hellboy' - 'Makoma' (2007).