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**Sir John Barbican Begg** · 09-16-2014, 03:35 PM

Inside The Art Process On Michael Moorcock’s Elric: The Ruby Throne | Bleeding Cool

From Bleeding Cool:

Originally posted by Hannah Means Shannon

Today, the graphic novel adaptation of Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné titled Elric: The Ruby Throne hits bookstores today, and tomorrow on the 17th of September, arrives in comic shops.

It’s adapted by writer Julien Blondel with Moorcock’s endorsement, featuring art by Robin Recht and Didier Poli, colors by Jean Bastide, and lettering by Gabriela Houston. In the process pages below, we can see what Recht, Poli, and Bastide bring to their craft as the layers come together to form what is quite a striking impression of a fantasy world from wide vistas of imaginative architecture to detailed characterization.

Read The Full Article At Bleeding Cool…

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**Sir John Barbican Begg** · 09-17-2014, 04:19 PM

Moorcock Discusses "Elric: The Ruby Throne" Graphic Novel | Comic Book Resources

From Comic Book Resources:

This week, Titan Comics unveiled "Elric: The Ruby Throne Vol. 1," the first installment in a four-volume series of comic adaptations of Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné novels. The 64-page hardcover story -- brought to comics by writer Julien Blondel and the art team of Didier Poli, Jean Bastide and Robin Recht -- comes with the full endorsement and cooperation of Moorcock, evidenced by the passionate introduction he wrote to open the narrative.

When "The Ruby Throne" opens, Elric, the albino emperor, has been ruling the island of Melniboné for thousands of years, extending his life and gathering strength through a mixture of magic and herbs. But Elric feels the command of his increasingly more decadent people slipping. Seeing the opportunity to overthrow the emporer, his cousin Yyrkoon, Prince of Melniboné, aims to take the Ruby Throne for himself.

Moorcock's enthusiasm for this take on his stories was readily apparent during our discussion of the project, with the legendary novelist conveying a great deal of admiration and confidence for the creative team involved in the adaptation.

CBR News: In the Acknowledgements, Julien thanks you for "allowing us to torture his universe." How stressful is it to see your work adapted for comics and your universe in the hands of some other writer other than yourself?

Michael Moorcock: Actually, not at all. If those doing the adapting are good -- and I've been very lucky in that respect -- they actually add to the pleasure and reduce any potential stress. Julien, Robin, Didier and the others gave me a great deal back, including some fresh ideas about plotting. I came up through popular fiction, including comics, so I'm used to holding a series in common.

**Sir John Barbican Begg** · 09-23-2014, 10:51 PM

Michael Moorcock's Elric Vol. 1 [ Ruby Throne] | The 9th Blog

Right off the bat I have to admit that I have never read either Moorcock's original novels about the albino emperor and his decaying island of Melniboné nor any of the graphic novel versions that have been around since the 1970s, so don't expect me to tell you how faithful this French BD version is to Moorcock's vision or how it compares to those older Elric comics.

What I can tell you, however, is that Moorcock himself admits in his introduction that this is the closest anyone has ever come to what he had originally intended with the character and his world (no small feat, considering the talent that has laid their hands on the character in graphic novel form before: Philippe Druillet, Michael Kaluta, P. Craig Russell, Frank Miller and Mike Mignola, amongst others).

But more importantly, I can tell you that this is an incredible fantasy graphic novel to behold - from start to finish.

**Sir John Barbican Begg** · 09-24-2014, 04:06 PM

Elric: The Ruby Throne review - Surpassing Moorcock's fantasy classic | Digital Spy

Review By Hugh Armitage

Michael Moorcock has always seemed to us to be an unsung hero of the science fiction and fantasy world, as well as British literature in general. His books seem to grace the shelves of every charity shop, but his name is not a household one like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke or JRR Tolkien.

Moorcock's books have run the range between inspired and decidedly pulpy, but they have always demonstrated a fantastic imagination and memorable characters. His best known creation - and subject of a variety of comics over the years - is Elric, the albino sorcerer-king of a corrupt and crumbling empire, an adventurer whose physical weakness can only be overcome by feeding lives to the original soul-devouring rune sword, Stormbringer. Elric was conceived as an anti-hero antidote to the 'merry old England' fantasy of Tolkien.

Now Elric is back in comics form, with Titan Comics' translation of the first volume in this new series from French creators Julien Blondel, Didier Poli, Robin Recht and Jean Bastide. The Ruby Throne introduces us to Elric and the kingdom of Melniboné, along with his cousin/lover Cymoril and her scheming brother Yrkoon.

**Sir John Barbican Begg** · 09-25-2014, 03:00 PM

Michael Moorcock Reveals Why This Elric Comic Is Superior To The Books | io9

Julien Blondel and Robin Recht's first sumptuous comic adaptation of legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock's Elric saga is in comic stores now, and no one's a bigger fan than Moorcock himself. In fact, the author told io9 that he thinks it's superior to his original stories!

We spoke to Moorcock about what makes Elric: The Ruby Throne Vol. 1 (published by Titan) such an improvement, as well as what the past and future holds for the sickly albino lord of Melniboné and his cursed sword Stormbringer.

io9: What makes this your favorite comic adaptation of Elric?

Michael Moorcock: It has all the romance and decadence of the old Gothics brought into modern times just as I brought the angst and self-questioning of the revolutionary 1960s to the character, without losing what I hope is a sense of myth. I have loved a lot of Elrics and particularly enjoyed working with Walter Simonson on two successful Elric projects (as well as Hawkmoon). But this takes Elric in many ways back to his roots in European folklore and fiction.

**Conrad** · 09-25-2014, 03:18 PM

Ruby Throne on i09.com

Here is an interview with Mr. Moorcock on i09.com discussing the Ruby Throne.

http://io9.com/michael-moorcock-reve...eri-1639201318

**Tenebrous Pirate** · 09-26-2014, 06:55 AM

I've been seeing links to the reviews popping up on my facebook news feed lately. So many of my friends are excitedly chattering about the new releases.

**Sir John Barbican Begg** · 09-29-2014, 11:33 PM

Review: Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Ruby Throne | popculturenetwork

Jacob Bouvet writes:

I’ve never read anything by Michael Moorcock, but was drawn to this book by the premise, and the grand scale of the art seen in various previews. Elric is the much maligned albino emperor of the conquering kingdom of Melniboné. He is coming under fire from his cousin, prince Yyrkoon, for what the prince perceives as making the kingdom lazy, and susceptible to invasion due to inaction. Yyrkoon has devised a plot to take the throne for himself, and bring Melniboné back to its former glory making all other kingdoms once again fear their might. Their kingdom soon comes under attack from marauding Vikings, and Elric decides that there is no better way to show his kingdom that he is still worthy of his seat than on the front lines as his army confronts this new enemy.

The plot moves at a brisk pace, and covers a good amount of ground for the 64 page book. It gives you a short background on its tortured antagonist while also introducing the reader to the might, decadence, and hedonism of the Melnibonian people. The content is definitely meant for a mature audience but is all done in good taste. The story doesn’t yet venture much outside of Elric’s dark, and twisted kingdom of Melniboné, but it is made clear that there is a large sword, sorcery, dragons and other mythical creature filled worlds awaiting readers in subsequent volumes. Blondel does an impeccable job of submerging the reader into Moorcock’s world without drowning them in character back stories and histories.

**Sir John Barbican Begg** · 10-03-2014, 08:50 AM

Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion returns triumphantly | PopMythology

Review by The Pop Mythologist:

Of all the popular fantasy book series, the one hero (or anti-hero, rather) that I identified with most in certain ways was Elric of Melniboné from Michael Moorcock’s Elric Saga. Not because he was royalty—that aspect I don’t identify with—but because unlike most fantasy heroes and warriors he was not physically robust. He was of ill constitution, weak and frail, and needed a multitude of medicines and sorcery to maintain enough strength to rule and fight. And his sword, Stormbringer, is one of the most compelling weapons in fantasy lore—long, big and black (wait, that came out wrong) it was an enchanted, vampiric weapon that drained the soul energy of its victims and sustained Elric’s life with it.

As a closet goth, I equally appreciated Elric’s appearance which was impeccably gothic. He was often depicted in illustrations as wearing full black armor contrasted with his sickly albino skin and tortured, crimson eyes, his black sword never far from his side.

Though there has never been a movie, the Elric series have been adapted in graphic form numerous times, somewhat recently by BOOM! Studios and even by Marvel. I have not read any of these works so I can’t comment on them, but I can say that a new adaptation from Titan Comics by writer Julien Blondel and artists Didier Poli, Robin Recht, and Jean Bastide is an absolutely sumptuous treat for anyone who has read any of the books and loved them.

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