Russell had previously coloured his own work, producing a brightness distinguishing his pages from all others, but by 1997 he’d begun his almost symbiotic relationship with Lovern Kindzierski, and the bold and vivid colours are visionary. Stormbringer is episodic, a series of missions collecting artifacts, in which many people Elric had earlier met return for a valedictory salute. Moorcock’s story is packed with verve and imagination, and he successfully introduces an atmosphere of doom and finality, well exploited by Russell. The capricious god Arioch seems disinclined to come to Elric’s aid when petitioned, and he learns of even older gods with destructive purpose. Elric soon figures out where Zarozinia has been taken, but not why, and becomes irritated that friends and foes are aware of prophesies about him that he’s discounted. Despite vowing never to use his soul-sucking sword Stormbringer again, circumstances dictate. These panels also incorporate amounts of text that cross the line beyond being faithful to Moorcock’s original text to become excessive, and the drawing often matches the text as if an illustrated story rather than a comic.Įarly in Stormbringer Elric’s partner Zarozinia is abducted. Each individual drawing is excellent, but they don’t convey Elric’s power and the expanse of his world. His style and approach had been considerably refined over fifteen years, and Russell now broke down his pages into multiple small illustrations, rarely opening up into anything occupying half a page, never mind larger. It’s not the only difference between this and Russell’s earlier work.
In this incarnation he resembles nothing so much as 1990s WWE wrestler.
To differentiate him from the Elric of that earlier life, Russell now draws him as a more commonplace fantasy hero, no longer gaunt and frail, but of normal physique and with his hair flowing rather than tied back or hanging. Chronologically, the story is Michael Moorcock drawing Elric to his final destiny over four novellas, yet completed in 1964, it predates most exploration of Elric’s earlier life. He subsequently contributed pages to works primarily drawn by others, but Stormbringer in 1997 was his first full Elric in fifteen years.
Craig Russell has drawn the definitive Elric, The Dreaming City in 1982 setting the standard.
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