Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Howard Chaykin

In the end, there's no replacement for an inspired artist. I also appreciated Mignola's range of expression and the pure personality of his characters, something all too rare in comics, where wooden faces scream with an unsettlingly even mixture of joy, hatred, pain, and sorrow. Mignola's Mouser is a little more beefy and heroic, with sharp, Eastern-European features, which I found an interesting vision, and fitting for the character. The Mouser, in particular, has always been a shifting, undefined figure in my mind, with the sort of average, forgettable face that lets a thief lose himself in any crowd. It's always interesting to see how artists characterize Fafhrd and the Mouser, since they are not as narrowly-defined as Conan or John Carter.

I love his draughtsmanship, particularly the buildings and statuary, which manage to be intricate and mysterious without relying on the obsessive miscellany of a Bachalo or Darrow. It's unfortunate that the series didn't catch on, it could have been a more humorous compliment to the many successful Conan comics.Īs usual, Mignola is a delight, though it's amusing to see him at a much earlier stage, where his lines are more sketchy and his angular shading has that definitively early nineties 'edgy' look so favored in comics and Vampire roleplaying books.

Though Chaykin's pacing is sometimes choppy, his use of the language is delightfully in-character. The Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Omnibus TPB will retail for $29.99.A lot of fun, much like the stories that inspired them. It is now available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at your local comic shop and bookstore. This new omnibus edition collects Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: the Cloud of Hate and Other Stories by comics legends Howard Chaykin, Mike Mignola, Dennis O’Neil, Walter Simonson, and Jim Starlin, and includes the Hugo and Nebula Award winning “Ill Met in Lankhmar” by Chaykin, Mignola, and Sherrilyn Van Valkenburgh. Join the hulking barbarian and the diminutive rogue as they battle swordsmen, necromancers, and flagons of strong drink!įafhrd and the Gray Mouser Omnibus TPB will be available in comic shops Jand will be in bookstores June 27, 2023. And his most renowned creations are the swashbuckling Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. The acclaimed comics adaptation of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouserreturns to print in an omnibus format from Dark Horse Books! Fritz Leiber ranks among the giants of fantasy and science fiction visionaries, capturing multiple Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards and influencing a generation of writers.

People’s History of the Marvel Universe.

Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Howard Chaykin