Den (comics)

According to Jan Strnad's introduction to Denz, "The saga of Den's exploits... lusty and brawling, brimming with magic, intrigue, horror and betrayal... spanned generations and filled many exotic volumes. Now in his declining years, Den lives in a NeverWhere far different from the one he entered. Thanks to his magical Locnar, Den has brought peace and prosperity to his adoptive world. Meanwhile, on Earth, Denzel Easton Norman seeks to follow in his brother's footsteps...."^[3]

Characters

The identification of the main characters of the series is complicated because they often change their name,

Den's adventures follow a complex and sometimes contradictory course of events. Some of the chapters of the story have been told in extended flashbacks, dreams, and visions. This is the order of the stories so far. There are three large gaps between the stories with adventures that have yet to be told.

• Possible prequel: "For the Love of a Daemon" (Fantagor No.4, 1972). A sorcerer named Vermian and his demon slave Zomuk live in a castle and kidnap a voluptuous girl named Merya to sacrifice to the dark god Uhluhtc. At the end, Vermian is killed by Zomuk.^[9]
• Den 3: Children of Fire (1989).
  eusocial species similar to humans but oviparous. A breeding queen rules them. Females are non-sexual muscular warriors called Kils^[10]
  or workers called Works, and males are called Mals. After an attack by giant spiders the dying queen sends a Kil, a pre-queen simply named "Kil", to found a new colony in Dremurth (Neverwhere) bringing with her Mals, Works, and eggs to seek the "Magic Scepter" (the Locnar). The ship crashes and only Kil and a skeletal Mal (named "Mal", who will become the first Den) survive. Their only remaining egg produces a human baby, the second Den. Once they land they meet Zeg, a Vermian lookalike, Zomuk and his slave cook Pucca who live in Vermian's castle from the prequel. At the end of the story, Zeg kidnaps a pregnant Pucca and the second Den, and Mal kills Zomuk.
• DenSaga No.2-4 (1992–1993).[11] Three or four years later, the second Den is now an infant called David, and the first Den has fully transformed into a hyper-muscular body and now calls himself Daniel, Dan, or Uncle Dan. The second Den lives in a floating island called Heaven, ruled by Zeg, with Pucca, who is raising him. Pucca is also raising a daughter she had with the first Den, named Elinorma. Kil returns also, fully transformed into a leaner body with a very large bosom. According to Corben, the radiation from her spaceship transformed Kil into a hybrid of breeding queen and warrior.^[12] By the end of the story, the first Den (Mal) leaves with Kil in pursuit of Zeg, who has kidnapped the second Den, and Pucca flees with Elinorma.
• First untold interlude: According to Children of Fire, "The radiation triggered a genetic change in Kil. She became a powerful ruler in this planet of violence (The Red Queen). Mal and Pucca became mates and eluded Kil for a time. Their offspring (Elinorma) challenged Kil's rule between bouts of (Kil's) madness."^[13]
• Neverwhere the Movie (1968).^[1] The first Den is now a thin, bespectacled man living on Earth. He builds a machine that opens a portal to Neverwhere. There he meets the Queen (they do not seem to know each other from when they were Kil and Mal). The Queen tells him that she is deposed and sends him on a mission to retrieve the Locnar, a magical scepter, from Gel, a humanoid monster, who declares that Den is the latest of several champions sent by the Queen. After he succeeds, the Queen returns Den to Earth in his thin form.
• Second untold interlude: Both Dens now live on Earth where they are similar looking thin men, older and younger, and they are believed to be uncle and nephew.^[14] The first Den disappears (to Neverwhere) and this time he does not return. In the note he leaves behind, he says that his Earth body is dying on Earth of a terminal disease, and that escaping to Neverwhere permanently was his only chance for survival. Once there, "He fought Gel... saved the Queen (Neverwhere the Movie)... made love to her... and was killed... by treachery."^[15] According to Denz, he "ultimately died by the hand of the woman he loved (it is hinted it was Kil)."^[3] Seven years pass until the beginning of Den 1.
• Den 1: Neverwhere (1978).
  rapes
  Den, but he is ultimately rescued by Kath. During his rescue, Den fatefully chooses to save the Red Queen from falling to her death. Four years will pass until the return of the Red Queen in Den 2.

• Den 2: Muvovum (1983).^[17] The second Den and Kath are now living in another floating island, Zegium, ruled by Zeg. Kath and the second Den return to Earth. The Red Queen appears and kills Zeg. The second Den then comes back to Neverwhere. He eventually is rejoined with a woman whom he believes to be Kath.
• Den 4: Dreams (1992).^[18] Four or five years later,^[19] the woman whom Den believes to be Kath has left him and, depressed, he has become obese and feeble. By the end of the story, he begins to transform back into his former, muscular self.
• Den 5: Elements (1992).^[20] Back in top, strapping shape, the second Den is reunited with a woman whom he believes to be Kath, who actually talks like she is Kil.^[21] Eventually, she is revealed to indeed be Kil, the Red Queen. She has brought Kath back to Neverwhere and when asked to choose between them, Den chooses the Red Queen. After a great explosion at the end of the story, Den is alone and unconscious and is rescued by his friends Zandor and Wyn.
• "The Price of Memories" (DenSaga No.1, 1992),^[22] "Bog's Deal" (Heavy Metal No.141, 1992), "Mola the Mole" (Heavy Metal No.145, 1993), "The Light at the End of the Tunnel" (Heavy Metal No.149, 1994). Amnesiac, the second Den runs into Sienna, whom he met before in the opening of Grim Wit No.4. She takes care of him and helps him begin to remember his history, from the moment of birth from the egg brought to Neverwhere by Kil and Mal. Eventually, Sienna claims she has no more tales to tell him, and they part ways.
• Third untold interlude: The second Den becomes the king of Neverwhere. By the beginning of Denz, "Thanks to his magical Locnar, Den has brought peace and prosperity to his adoptive world."^[3]
• Denz (Penthouse Comix No.15-20, 1996–1997).
  caricatures
  than in any of the previous chapters. Den's and Sienna's faces are now grotesquely old.

Influences

The stories of Den are shaped by several well-known works of fiction. Sometimes the references are featured within the story itself.

• A Princess of Mars by
  oviparous
  , like all Barsoomian races.
• The Wizard of Oz. As pointed out by Philip José Farmer^[16] Den, like Dorothy Gale, travels to a strange world and is sent on a mission,^[23] eventually returning to his former existence on Earth. Like Dorothy, Den is from Kansas.^[24]
• The stories of Robert E. Howard. Before completing the first Den collection, Corben adapted a short story by Howard, "Bloodstar", where the muscular hero fought a amorphous, demonic creature, similar to Uhluhtc.
• The tales of H. P. Lovecraft. Particularly in the first volume of Den, the presence of Uhluhtc (Cthulhu spelled backwards) is a constant theme throughout the story. Uhluhtc is also mentioned in "For the Love of a Daemon" and Children of Fire.
• J.R.R. Tolkien. As pointed out by SidSid Keränen, the Nar stones and the scepter made from them, the Locnar, are similar to the One Ring and its corrupting power.^[25]
• Captain Marvel (DC Comics). The transformation of a weak protagonist into an extremely developed muscleman resembles the same wish fulfillment fantasy between Billy Batson and Captain Marvel.

A studio was set up in London because, according to Stokes "many animators are not good artists",[36] meaning they are not skilled in drawing the human figure realistically, and art students were recruited to pitch in on the production. This accounts for the lack of consistency in the characters' likenesses. Corben painted the poster for the film and was asked to contribute to the production. He drew three character sheet turnarounds for Den and Kath, but these were not usable due to "inconsistencies in the construction".^[36] Still, the animators tried to recreate the look of the comic by developing several techniques to reproduce the unusual colors of Corben's artwork.

The segment was well received, even by critics who did not think much of the film.^[37] Critic Janet Maslin gave the film a positive review in The New York Times. She said, "The other highly memorable story is about a bookworm from earth who winds up on another planet, where his spindly body is transformed into that of an extraterrestrial Hercules". She also complimented John Candy's vocal performance as Den.^[38] Corben wrote about the film, "I was pleased with the Den segment of the Heavy Metal Movie. The drawings and movement seemed stiff, rough and unpolished, but the thrust and characters were right. I thought that John Candy did a great job with Den's voice."^[39]

References