Q&A WITH COMIC ICON RICHARD CORBEN ON “RAT GOD”
Fangoria Archives: Q&A: Comic Icon Richard Corben on “RAT GOD”, Jan. 27, 2015 (by Svetlana Fedotov)
Having been in the comic business for nearly 50 years, Richard Corben has established himself as one of the go-to icons of horror and sci-fi comics. Though he is frequently seen collaborating with other writers, his most recent endeavor, RAT GOD, sees him take both the creative mantles in an original new mini-series. Mixing Lovecraftian mythos with Native American magic, the series will be hitting the shelves from Dark Horse Comics in February, to the delight of horror fans everywhere. Richard Corben sits down with FANGORIA for a quick and dirty about his up-coming new title. By: Svetlana Fedotov
FANGORIA: RAT GOD has a longer story arc than most of your past work. What made you decide to try a mini-series than a series of one-shots?
RICHARD CORBEN: In a longer story, I and hopefully the reader can get to know the characters better than in the shorter stories. Also, there is more space to develop things like mood and pacing. The elements don’t have to be immediate and in your face. With more pages, I can move the plot forward at a deliberate speed with more depth and subtly. There is also a tendency to feel a longer story is better just because of its size, which is obviously absurd. I personally like comics of varying lengths, short and long. I think the longer ones are harder to do.
FANG: Mixing Lovecraftian mythology with Native American spiritualism has made for a very unique take on horror for both. What inspired you to combine these two seemingly opposite elements?
CORBEN: The original concept was to use some themes similar to those as from some of Lovecraft’s stories, such as the existence of unknown ancient civilizations. I thought a very appropriate source in such a case would be the prehistoric American tribes. I feel this is an honest approach, even though I used some real tribes as well as some I made up.
FANGORIA: RAT GOD has a longer story arc than most of your past work. What made you decide to try a mini-series than a series of one-shots?
RICHARD CORBEN: In a longer story, I and hopefully the reader can get to know the characters better than in the shorter stories. Also, there is more space to develop things like mood and pacing. The elements don’t have to be immediate and in your face. With more pages, I can move the plot forward at a deliberate speed with more depth and subtly. There is also a tendency to feel a longer story is better just because of its size, which is obviously absurd. I personally like comics of varying lengths, short and long. I think the longer ones are harder to do.
FANG: Mixing Lovecraftian mythology with Native American spiritualism has made for a very unique take on horror for both. What inspired you to combine these two seemingly opposite elements?
CORBEN: The original concept was to use some themes similar to those as from some of Lovecraft’s stories, such as the existence of unknown ancient civilizations. I thought a very appropriate source in such a case would be the prehistoric American tribes. I feel this is an honest approach, even though I used some real tribes as well as some I made up.
The full interview with Richard Corben at Fangoria does not exist on site any more.
Rat God #1 was in stores February 4th, 2015.
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Created: September 19, 2020. Last updated: January 3, 2021 at 21:25 pm
