Artist Spotlight: Richard Corben

January 1, 2026 Andy Edmonds

Richard Corben traumatized me as a child

Richard Corben was a sequential artist with a truly unique style and focus. His use of airbrush alongside traditional techniques made his work utterly unique.

Person sitting on a large bear in a forest setting

For me, he will always be part of the Métal Hurlant/Heavy Metal universe, though it was his work in Creepy that is indelibly tattooed on my brain. I read the below excerpt when I was 11 and instantly became obsessed:

Comic book page with various disturbing panels showing characters and action.

He shared a painterliness with Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta, and his subject matter often crossed over into their territory, but Corben's stuff was just different.

Comic book style illustration of a warrior fighting a creature with a fiery background

His juxtaposition of the hyper-realistic with the cartoonish is destabilizing in the best way.

Cover of 'Basically Strange' Special Collector's Edition with fantasy characters and text.

If you're an old gen-xer like me, you may have seen his work and not known it.

Album cover for 'Bat Out of Hell' by Meat Loaf with a motorcycle bursting from a grave while a giant bat perches on a nearby a mausoleum against an orange sky.