Ever since Fredric Wertham’s infamous witch-hunt and the formation of the Comics Code Authority, the superhero genre has dominated the comics medium. Other once-popular genres, like romance, true crime, fantasy, mystery and science fiction, were decimated by his self-righteous crusade but have made modest comebacks in recent decades. The horror genre was arguably affected the worst by the Comics Code Authority, but the genre has perhaps made the strongest comeback of them all, championed by Vertigo and Dark Horse, especially. Horror comics had already seen a solid resurgence in the late sixties and early seventies, only to die out again soon after. In the eighties, spearheaded by the runaway success of Alan Moore’s run on “Swamp Thing,” they became once again a force to be reckoned with. “Swamp Thing” was soon joined by such greats as “Hellblazer,” “Hellboy,” “B.P.R.D.,” “The Walking Dead,” “Marvel Zombies,” “30 Days of Night” and many others. While the success of “Sandman” and “Fables” has skewed Vertigo’s efforts more toward the fantasy genre, Dark Horse continues to champion the horror genre. The aforementioned Mignolaverse titles, revivals of Warren Publishing’s “Creepy” and “Eerie” anthologies, “Criminal Macabre,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and numerous horrific and grotesque one-shots and miniseries featuring some of the best horror writers and artists in the comics business.
One such Dark Horse title is Jan Strnad and Richard Corben’s “Ragemoor,” a four-issue miniseries featuring a living castle, its tormented inhabitants, insect servants, and warring tribes of ape- and worm-creatures. The story focuses on Herbert, the master of Ragemoor, the living castle, ever since it drove his father, Machlan, mad. His loyal butler, Bodrick, is the third and final human inhabitant of the castle. They are visited by his uncle, J.P., who tries to pass off a woman of ill-repute named Anoria as his daughter in an attempt to wrest control of the family home for what he is convinced lies beneath it: vast mineral or oil deposits.
While Herbert is the protagonist, Ragemoor is perhaps the most important character in the book. Those who live in the castle are completely at its mercy. Nothing goes on in its halls without it knowing, and those who attract its ire are swiftly and horribly punished, as Herbert’s uncle soon finds out. One of my favorite sequences in the series is Herbert’s description of the birth and growth of the castle. It was constructed by pagan slaves as a temple for human sacrifices, fed on their sweat and blood, and consecrated by the blood of the very priests who created it. It became an elemental being of its own, growing slowly over millennia into a massive, foreboding monolith on the rocky cliffs above the ocean. Herbert has become its reluctant caretaker, and must carry out what he believes are its wishes for his own sake.
“Ragemoor” is a story filled with obsessive behavior, and every character in this book is deeply flawed. Herbert is the one character who ultimately proves himself to be a decent person. While he is brash, passionate and self-centered, he is also compassionate, and balks whenever the castle demands something that goes against his own moral code. However, he becomes obsessed with Anoria, convinced she must deliver for him an heir to his position as Ragemoor’s caretaker. His obsession even drives him to attempt to take a stand against Ragemoor, for a while.
For her part, Anoria is much like Herbert’s uncle J.P.: greedy, lecherous, underhanded and selfish. But while J.P. is willing to turn against his own family for personal gain, Anoria at least recognizes that Ragemoor is inherently evil, and plots with her lover, a poacher named Tristano, to escape and seek help in destroying the castle.
Bodrick, the butler, is obsessed with the mysteries of Castle Ragemoor. He concocts a hallucinogenic drug from a flower that can only grow on the castle grounds. It gives him psychic visions which reveal that, while Ragemoor is evil, it may be Earth’s only guardian against an even greater evil. This knowledge changes him and his loyalties, and he is willing to cross lines that Herbert himself could never cross.
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While Strnad has spun this wonderfully convoluted story of obsession, lust, greed, murder, and monsters, Richard Corben proves once again why he is one of the modern masters of the horror genre. He is one of the driving forces behind the resurgence of horror comics. Having started his career during the previous horror surge of the late sixties/early seventies with his own underground comics and in Warren Publishing’s “Creepy” and “Eerie” anthologies, Corben was already a driving force in horror comics when they came back in force in the eighties. While his own company, Fantagor Press, folded in the 90’s comics bust, he has continued to put out some of the most visceral art in the medium, praised by giants like Will Eisner, Robert Crumb and Jean “Moebius” Giraud.
His artwork for “Ragemoor” is typical of his style. He combines elements of realism and cartooning seamlessly, giving his work a surreal aspect that complements the grotesque subject matter…and grotesque it is indeed. The castle itself is full of cracks that look like demon’s faces, reliefs of maidens being eaten by demons, and bones and skulls a-plenty. The characters’ features are exaggerated, with Herbert’s face elongated, J.P.’s gorilla-shaped face and Anoria’s voluptuous features. Everything is done in black and white, but the term does his work no justice, as the shades of grey in between are done so seamlessly it feels like a black-and-white reproduction of a colored world, like an old movie. Or, perhaps, it’s a full-color reproduction of a black-and-white world.
One aspect in particular in which his skill impresses me is his ability to convey texture. Skin looks smooth, bones look brittle and hard, and the stone looks so rough and jagged you can almost feel it when the characters are struck by it (In a living castle made of stone that likes to punish its inhabitants regularly, people hit rocks and vice versa quite frequently). Likewise, Corben is a master of expressions. The pompous self-assuredness of J.P., the feigned innocence of Anoria as she attempts to seduce Herbert, the looks of pain and anguish that come across practically every character in the book are all conveyed so perfectly it seems almost effortless.
“Ragemoor”’s influences are readily apparent. Herbert’s love poetry is reminiscent of the awful Poe fan-poetry you can find in every high school literary magazine, and his influence can be found in the tragic obsessions of the castle’s inhabitants. The whole world seems to strive against them like something straight out of the work of Lovecraft, whose influence can also be seen in the tentacled monsters the castle itself battles against. Herbert could even be a likeness of a young Lovecraft, sharing his elongated face and tight lips. I would say that Corben’s art is reminiscent of the older horror comics I had a limited exposure to as an adolescent, but in all likelihood it is Corben’s own work from his Warren Publishing or Fantagor Press days that I’m remembering.
If you can find them still in your local shop or online, I highly recommend picking up all four issues. If not, make sure you order the hardcover edition coming out November 7th. Whatever way you prefer, “Ragemoor” is a story that every horror comics fan will want in their collection. If you haven’t experienced Corben’s work or horror comics in general before, it’s also not a bad place to start.
