Elric: The Balance Lost, Vol. 2

Elric: The Balance Lost #2

by Chris Roberson (Writer), Michael Moorcock (Creator), Francesco Biagini (Illustrator)

Signs appear throughout the Multiverse that the Cosmic Balance is in peril, and the Eternal Champion is caught in the crosshairs! Across worlds, Elric, Hawkmoon and Corum begin to face the force that threatens to overpower them all, while Eric Beck, a modern-day video game designer, must acknowledge that his reoccurring dreams of a Pale Prince aren’t all in his head... Join New York Times bestseller Chris Roberson (SUPERMAN, iZOMBIE, STAN LEE'S STARBORN) as he teams up with legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock to bring Elric back to comic books in an original ongoing series! See why Neil Gaiman called Moorcock “my model for what a writer was” while Warren Ellis said he is one of the “eight core sites in my creative genome.”

Genres: Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Sword and Sorcery, Fiction, Comic Book, Epic Fantasy

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2011

About the author

Chris Roberson is the co-creator with artist Michael Allred of iZombie, the basis of the hit CW television series, and the writer of several New York Times best-selling Cinderella miniseries set in the world of Bill Willingham’s Fables. He is also the co-creator of Edison Rex with artist Dennis Culver, and the co-writer of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D, Witchfinder, Rise of the Black Flame, and other titles set in the world of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. In addition to his numerous comics projects, Roberson has written more than a dozen novels and three dozen short stories. He lives with a teenager, two cats, and far too many books in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice and involved story with the 4 main Eternal Champions. Nice art as well. Very recommended

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second volume of the collected Roberson-written Eternal Champion epic. It didn't seem as rushed to me as the initial book did, but he did a good job of putting together a lot of pieces and covering a lot of distance in a relatively short space. (Although anyone who hadn't read the first book would be absolutely lost, I think.) I still question calling it an Elric book since Beck, Corum, and Hawkmoon play equally significant (if not larger) roles. I enjoyed the art more this time around, as I noticed the differences in the depictions of the forces of Law and Chaos; there's a lot of background detail in each panel, and you have to really take a good look at it to pick it out from the very vibrant colors. This volume advances the story quite well, and I look forward to finding the final volume and seeing how it's all wrapped up. There's an entertaining appendix detailing the history of Moorcock's work in the graphic format; I'd forgotten Elric's first appearance was in Conan (a -long- time ago!), and the silly little red hat they saddled him with.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this interpretation of Tanelorn, as well as all the short cameos of other Eternal Champions. I'm rather more well-versed in these things now than I was when I first read this comic. So that's nice.

Otherwise, all the things from the previous volume - good and bad alike - still apply. The rather wooden dialogue is getting to me, though.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This storyline feels structured to within an inch of its life, with all its careful parallels between all the heroes. It also takes 8 issues to get to what looks like it'll be the start of an actual quest, and even then the quest is very repetitive with some of Moorcock's recent works.

With all that said, the book is light and flows well and it does an awesome job of feeling totally integrated with Michael Moocock's Multiverse. It's an enjoyable read, and it's got beautiful art to boot.

[Matthew J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stakes are higher, but I still can't get invested in this.
Apparently there's one more volume that brings it all to a conclusion, and sadly it's not readily available, so I won't see how it ends. That might be part of why I found it hard to care. But also it's all just sort of..."over the top" isn't quite right. It's something.
Anyway, not going on my list of great comics. Good final page, though. It makes me want to read the next volume just enough to be annoyed that I don't have it.

[Periklis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, on-going, tale of the multiverse. Although Elric is only one of the central characters, there is plenty of sword-slinging action complimented by Francesco Biagini's art. Recommended for anyone who enjoyed the Multiverse mini-series.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yea... this is a pretty sorry return for Elric. The art is marginal, the panels a bit flat. There is not one thing new being done with the characters. I was hopeful about the back story of the ancient dead gods, but its not enough to carry this. So far, the series is not something i would return to.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not certain how I felt about the writing here. It didn’t feel that strong and I have to wonder if the main characters (Elric, Corum, and Hawkmoon, for example) only feel stronger and more fleshed out because I already know them from Moorcock’s works. But it was still a fun read, and I look forward to the conclusion.

[Daken Howlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quattro campioni eterni,quattro universi paralleli,una città al centro del multiverso divisa in due aspetti e due forze inarrestabili pronte a scontrarsi...la più grande saga del multiverso di Elric entra nel vivo,ed è glorioso!

[Brian Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is so large in scale that I think some if it gets lost in comic book form. The artwork is okay, and that's how I felt about this book. I grabbed it on sale. I'll only get the next if I can find it on sale too.