Monday, November 23, 2015

Fafhrd and Grey Mouser

My first introduction to Fafhrd and Grey Mouser was not through the original novels by Fritz Leiber but from a comic book adaptation by Howard Chaykin and Mike (Hellboy) Mignola. Howard Chaykin, in addition to being a great creator of original characters (American Flagg) also knows his way around other writer's works. And in the late 1980s at the prime of my comic collecting days, Mignola was one of my favorites. He is a stylist without making his style obtrusive on the story. I enjoyed the collection quite a bit, but not to the level of Marvel's Conan comics, especially Savage Sword. Regrettably, I did not pick up the novels until years later and was blown away by the craftsmanship of Leiber.



Here are two obvious Reaper "not Fafhrd and Grey Mouser" figures, Fafnir of Kjord and Arran Rabin. Fafnir is in metal, the other in Bones plastic. Side by side, one can see that metal holds better detail, especially in the face, than bones plastic, not withstanding improvements in Bones II over Bones I. He's still worth picking up if you need a Mouser stand in for an RPG or skirmish game. 

Leiber continually emphasized Grey Mouser's monochromatic apparel. On the page, it's fine, but on a figure it is hard to avoid a dull, boring look. However, put the Mouser against a grey stone background and I instantly see why the smaller man favored such an outfit. It's sword & sorcery urban camouflage. 


Before my comic collecting days, but a little web research led me to this forgotten (better forgotten?) work from Wonder Woman's disco era costume days. 



No comments:

Post a Comment