“New Tales of the Arabian Nights” aka “The Last Voyage of Sindbad”

96 pgs. Appeared first time [COLOR] in Heavy Metal #15 (1978) to #28 (1979). Reprinted [COLOR] in New Tales of the Arabian Nights (1978) and [COLOR] in The Last Voyage of Sindbad (1988).
Story: Jan Strnad. Art/Color(colored by overlays): Richard Corben (no signature, © 1978, 1979). Lettering: printed.

France [FRA]: as “Les mille et une nuits”, as one in Les mille et une nuits (1979).
Germany [GER]: as “Neue Geschichten aus Arabischen Nachten”, as a 12 part serial in Schwermetall #2 (1980) to #13 (1981), as a 12 part serial in Schwermetall, Sammelband #1 to #4, and as one in Neue Geschichten aus Arabischen Nachten (1981), as one in Die phantastische Welt des Richard Corben #12 (1995), and as “Neue Geschichten aus 1001 Nacht”, as one in Neue Geschichten aus 1001 Nacht (1988).
Italy [ITA]: as “I nuovi racconti delle mille e una notte”, as a 9 part serial in 1984 [ITA] #11 to #19 [VERS.2] (part 4 in B&W!), and as one in Collana Umanoidi #2 (1981).
The Netherlands [NL]: as “Nieuwe verhalen van 1001 nacht”, as one in Nieuwe verhalen van 1001 nacht (1982).
Spain [SPA]: as “Nuevos cuentos de las mil y una noches”, as a 12 part serial in 1984 [SPA] #10 to #21, and as “Las mil y una noches”, as one in Colección Humanoides #3 (1981).
Sweden [SWE]: as “Den Ett tusen andra natten”, as a 11 part serial in Tungmetall #14 (2/87) to #24 (12/87).

Original Art Plate: The size of an image area of 10″x14″.
Style: Colored with overlays. Genre: Fantasy. Time Span: Ancient history. Nudity: Full frontal nudity.
Keywords: Kings. Wifes. Genies. Lovers. Virgin brides. Mercants. Tell-tale stories. Vow. Allah/Bismallah. Rescue caravan. Desert. Scourges. Lizards. Magic. Ghostly army. Fight. Imprisonment. Ogre. Cannibalism. Treasure. Torch.
Original Art Plate: 29,2 x 39,2 cm [Source: Angoulême, 2019].
Synopsis: Story starts with short visit in original “Arabian Nights”. “The Last Voyage of Sindbad” is an additional night to the fabled thousand and one of storytelling girl, Shahrazad; this time she is telling tale to her sister. Sindbad is retired from his adventures, but he is bored. And a disappointed genie, the Jinni Al-Ra’ad al-Kasif, draggs him back to one again. For revenge of genie’s wife he wants to slain Sindbad’s wife, but cannot find her. The last adventure wil be a race with genie and Sindbad to find Sindbad’s wife and who will do it first. With best friends – and advise and company of genie’s wife – Sindbad loads caravan, but on the way there is scourges. They run out of water and are forced to make detour, which leads tem to more deeper problems and captivity. Imprisonment of cannibalistic ogre they lost they hope and escape is not that easy.
Comment: Jan Strnad’s story and Richard Corben’s drawing are loyal to original “One Thousand and One Arabian Stories”, Mr. Strnad’s story full of interesting twists and tricks; Mr. Corben’s picts loaded with Arabian details. There is some beautiful page entireties, like brutal, hopeless fight against ghostly army, almost ten pages without a single word or dialogue! Without saying a cinematic climax of the story.
Alternatives, [VERS.2]: In Italian 1984 [ITA] part 4 was printed in B&W, though the rest of the story was in color!
Additional: In an interview in Heavy Metal #52 (July 1981) Richard Corben says, “The subject [Arabian Nights] was my idea and it didn’t turn out exactly the way I conceived it. But it came out all right. My original concept of Arabian Nights was based more on the images that Maxfield Parrish had done when he had illustrated The Arabian Nights. — I had planned to make the Arabian world seem much larger than it was – even though it expands over fantastic worlds, it seems to me that it’s still contained in a small area.”
Extras: The Jan Strnad interview (February, March 2001)

Copyright © 2001 Heart-Attack-Series, Ink!
Created: March 10, 2001. Last updated: April 12, 2020 at 11:17 am