Paula Hammond - Features EditorIt’s a curious fact that Michael Moorcock has been one of the most influential genre authors of the last fifty years. Yet, to date, his work hasn’t received the sort of big budget film or TV adaptations enjoyed by the likes of Tolkien and JRR Martin.
Long before Marvel cornered the market on the multiverse, long before The Witcher made cursed anti-heroes mainstream, long before steampunk and grim-dark entered parlance, Moorcock was creating worlds and characters who directly challenged the muscular, virtuous, and often cozy worlds of conventional fantasy.
While the Eternal Champion sequence is still to be optioned for big screen treatment, there have been plenty of both Moorcock inspired comics (think Luther Arkwright, Nemesis the Warlock, The Invisibles, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and adaptations.
Titan’s latest graphic novel, Hawkmoon: The Battle of Kamarg returns this month, with part two of Moorcock’s epic dystopian series, The History of the Runestaff.
Deftly adapted, with artwork that adds a grim-dark edge to this tale of war, love, and loss, Hawkmoon: The Battle of Kamarg is a welcome addition to the growing canon of Moorcock comic adaptations.
Set in a post-apocalyptic age of primitive technology and strange magic, Europe has been conquered by the tyrannical Granbretan empire led by King-Emperor Huon. When the city of Köln falls under the empire’s iron ire and its Duke, Dorian Hawkmoon is captured, it’s up to one of the last strongholds of civilization to rescue him and end the Granbretan’s evil rule.
Under the thumb of Baron Meliadus and the King Emperor due to the black jewel entombed in his forehead, Dorian Hawkmoon infiltrates the land of Kamarg in order to steal away the Lady Yisselda. But the only man standing between him and his mission is his former ally and leader of Kamarg, Count Brass.
From writer Jérôme Le Gris and artists Benoît Dellac and Didier Poli, Hawkmoon: The Battle of Kamarg (ISBN 978-1787744172) is out now, RRP £17.99.
