Elric of Melniboné (by Michael Moorcock)

[Gorn Captain]

Any fans of this series of books here?

I grew up with this "thinking man's" Conan. It's a sword and sorcery story, about an albino prince who gets his power from a soul-eating black sword called Stormbringer. They have a sort of symbiotic relationship. He needs the power of the sword to survive, but there's always a catch. The sword just loves to kill, no matter who.

I've always loved this series, it's a great anti-hero, and you know it won't end well (it starts with Elric accidentally killing the love of his life with the sword that sometimes obeys its master, but more often than that kills by its own evil will).
Elric is an interesting character, because in his world, they worship the Evil Gods of Chaos. You tend to root for him, but he belongs to a vicious race of killers.

I don't think they've ever made a film of this, which is a pity. I kind of see Adrian Brody as Elric.

I read these books ever decade (!), so I'm just starting round four now....
If you like stories such as Conan, you'll probably dig this....

[LonnieFisher]

They were supposed to make a movie...
They also had some comics a while back.
Check out the Blue Oyster Cult song Black Blade. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7krC6SY5b1A

[cjefferys]

I devoured the R.E. Howard Conan books when I was in school, but I never got around to reading Elric. I'm mostly familiar with him from his appearance in Conan comics and his own comic stories. Oh, and Dave Sim's parody of him, "Elrod" in Cerebus. Seems like Elric would be good material for a cool movie though.

[StrangeVisitor]

I read the DAW paperbacks (the Corum books too) way back in my D&D days. Always dug the series.

I think I have Hawkwind's Chronicle of the Black Sword on CD somewhere.

Years later I found out that Wendy Pini (Elfquest) had worked on an animated Elric project which eventually petered out.



If an Elric film couldn't get greenlit after the Lord of the Rings films, I don't think it'll ever happen alas.

[Nostalgiabuff]

loved these books in High School. the follow up books Moorcock write in the nineties were not all that good. there was a cool anhology that came out nthough where differnet writers took their turn writing Elric adventures, one had the Gypsy price or whatever he was called and he was Jimmy Hendrix reincarnated. pretty cool character

[Figuremod73]

They also had some comics a while back.

Walter Simonson did some fantastic work on one Elric series.

If an Elric film couldn't get greenlit after the Lord of the Rings films, I don't think it'll ever happen alas.

I dont understand why more quality fantasy films arent being made. I wouldnt mind seeing some of the D and D related properties to. War of the Twins (I think) would be cool. I guess making these type of films take to much of a commitment.

[Bruce Banner]

I've read all the Elric books, and they're okay. Some cool ideas in there.
But I've never been a big fan of Moorcock's writing style.

I much prefer the dynamic prose style of REH.

Marvel did a Conan/Elric crossover in an issue of CTB once, illustrated by Barry Windsor Smith, which was cool.

[Boris71]

While I enjoyed the elric and Corum Series I was always a bigger fan of jerry cornelius, They did a film in the seventies based on him called the final count down

[torgospizza]

I like the character quite a bit, but I'm lazy and read the comic adaptions with P. Craig Russell's art.

[Random Axe]

I'm with Bruce above, I couldn't really get into a flow with his writing style. Howard's Conan books were always being read in middle and high school. I couldn't even finish one Elric book, though the visuals of the character were nice. I couldn't stand Tolkein's writing either, so I may just not be very smart.

[johnmiic]

I have the old Pacific Comics series in a box somewheres. I haven't looked at them in a long time. I thought the art was also by Michael T. Gilbert?

[Gorn Captain]

I love the first six books. The newer ones (some of which are situated on present day Earth) are not my cup of tea. I tried The Dreamthief's Daughter, but just couldn't get into it.

[Nostalgiabuff]

yeah, i stopped bying after the 2nd or 3rd modern book. they were all rather wierd and boring. the original six books were actually taken frmo the magazine enries or something but at least there was an over arching storyline there

[samurainoir]

I devoured the R.E. Howard Conan books when I was in school, but I never got around to reading Elric. I'm mostly familiar with him from his appearance in Conan comics and his own comic stories. Oh, and Dave Sim's parody of him, "Elrod" in Cerebus. Seems like Elric would be good material for a cool movie though.

Coincidentally, I needed to research Elrod from Cerebus this week, and went back to Elric and Moorcock's Eternal Champion as well.

According to what Cerebus creator Dave Sim told Elfquest creator Wendy Pini, despite Elrod being a very sharp parody of Elric, Sim had never read any Elric novels outside of his appearance in the Conan the Barbarian Marvel Comic.

I had something to show you guys this weekend related to this, but totally forgot (MonsterMatt got a glimpse in my studio-mate's portfolio).

[Earth 2 Chris]

"Face to Waist"...now that is clever!

Chris