Den 3: Children of Fire

Den #3

by Richard Corben

The third volume in Corben's groundbreaking adult fantasy series [the series 1. Neverwhere (1978, 1985, 1991); 2. Muvovum (1984, 1991); 3. Children of Fire (1992); 4. Dreams (1992); 5. Elements (1992)].

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Horror, Sequential Art, Graphic Novels Comics, Adventure

80 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2024

About the author

American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in Heavy Metal magazine. He won the 2009 Spectrum Grand Master Award. In 2012 he was elected to the The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very strange prequel to Den that creates more questions and confusion than answers. Lovingly restored José Villarrubia, these pages are a pleasure to look at.

[Bogdan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This third volume had me invested more in it`s story than the previous one. The idea that this is a prequel to the first book, didn`t spoil the whole positive sentiment overall.

The art is top notch as usual! Yeah, Corben really knew how to blow you away with his drawings!

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually, I'm ambivalent about attempts to humanize the villain in a story. "Something terrible happened to him so that is why he did something even worse!" However, Richard Corben successfully pulls off this trick in the back story of the Red Queen, one of the antagonists that Den faced in Den: Neverwhere and Den: Muvovum.

If everyone is the star of their own film, than the Red Queen was the heroine of her own screenplay. What appeared to be the coldblooded murder of Zeg in Den: Muvovum was something more like justice than revenge after reading the prequel, Den: Children of Fire. The Red Queen, or Kil as she is referred to in the third part of the Den "epic" was seriously wronged by Zeg. He took her child and left her for dead.

Den: Neverwhere was fun, with occasional flashes of greater depths lurking underneath the swords, sorcery, and sex. Den: Children of Fire (together with Den: Muvovum) has an elegiac wistfullness that fulfulls the promise of making comics for adults started in, but not quite delivered by, Den: Neverwhere.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Children of Fire" is the third entry in Richard Corben's Den series, though by chronology it serves as one of the earliest stories in the saga. The story takes place on the planet Zomere ruled by a breeding queen who lords over a population divided into Kils (muscular female warriors), Works (worker class beings) and Mals (the males of the population). Unlike the last two Den stories which include a lot of scantily clad men and women engaging in equal parts of violence and sex, "Children of Fire" is a surprisingly more subdued affair where much more attention is paid to the world-building. The two characters to have held the name Den are not prominently featured here, but their origins are shown nonetheless. Instead, this volume serves as a way to really flesh out the character of the Red Queen (mostly referred to as "Kil" here) who comes off as more relatable than in previous showings.

As always, Den boasts some fantastic coloring work that has been lovingly restored here by José Villarrubia. Included in this edition is the first Den comic short story from Grim Wit #2, which rounds out this volume nicely.

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children of Fire was never available to me when I was young. So it does not hold the same memories as the first two volumes, Neverwhere and Muvovum. Furthermore, on reading it now, it does not seem as developed storywise as the previous volumes, and only late in the stories does it become apparent to me it's a prequel and not a sequel.

Regardless of this, it is Corben, and while I prefer the drawings in the first two volumes it is still nice to be able to finally read the continuation of the Den saga.

The afterwords by José Villarubia on the creative process of bringing back all the Den volumes to life again after so many decades is also a fascinating and appreciated read.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I'm not too wild about the storylines, Richard Corben's artwork remains incredible, especially after reading about the painstaking process he went through to achieve his unique color palette.
In this third volume of Den, the eponymous hero is nowhere to be found. Instead, it concerns the lives of two aliens who arrive in Neverwhere with a clutch of eggs, sent to establish a new colony for their species.
While lacking the graphic nudity of the previous volumes, Corben's style is retained in the sparse landscape and distorted characters. I only wish there was more to the story instead of the retelling of the first Den story at the end, which feels like filler.

[Luke John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Den series takes a sidestep, frustrating audience expectations whilst keeping things fresh and, of course, weird. As with the other entries in this incarnation of Den's return to print, the book is wonderfully presented and this time comes with the original letters pages as bonus content (which are well worth reading, even if a lot of the letters are really just begging Corbyn to add explicit nudity back into the mix).

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m going to have to revisit this one sometime, this was not what I excepted or wanted and everyone was overdressed. Corbin is an amazing artist and it was very interesting but really frustrating, he abandoned the story for something that just wasn’t as good.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of weird, even by Corben's standards. I guess it's basically an origin story for Den and the Red Queen, though I never would have figured that out without the afterword. The art continues to be the highlight. The story is kind of...meh.

[Keith Kavanagh · Rating 3 out of 5]

art is solid as ever however I didn't appreciate the final third of the book is just reprinted letters and essays

[alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story but this origin doesn’t hold up to what the story achieved this far.

[Chema Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maravilla gráfica del maestro y rey de los 80 Rich Corben. En su estilo tan, tan característico, tan original y tan potente, teje una historia a medio camino entre la fantasía heroica y la ciencia ficción, q a pesar de su ritmo sincopado y tics ochenteros, es una delicia para sus fans, entre los q me encuentro. Un gran cómic. Te queremos Richard!

[Reyel2107 · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is not the best but fun anyway !!!!