Den (comics)

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Publication information
Den
Heavy Metal magazine cover featuring The Red Queen, Den and Kath (nee Katherine Wells)
Publisher	Various
First appearance	Neverwhere (animated short)(1968)
Created by	Richard Corben
In story information
Full name	David Ellis Norman
Abilities	Above-normal strength; prodigiously sexually endowed.

Den is a fictional character created by Richard Corben. He first appeared in the animated short film Neverwhere (1968).

1 Publication history
2 Fictional character biography
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Publication history

Corben created Den while working in a studio in Kansas City. His employers, impressed by his work, helped him to finish the short animated film, which later went on to win awards in several film festivals.^[1] The short was later adapted into a short comic book story that appeared in Grim Wit #2 (Sept. 1973). Both the animated short and the comic book short story would be used as the basis for the "Den" segment in the 1981 film Heavy Metal.

Corben expanded the short story to a four-part serial for publication in Métal Hurlant (1975-1976). He expanded the story once again, this time into a 12-part serial called "Neverwhere", for the first twelve issues of Heavy Metal magazine (1977-1978). All 12 stories were collected in the trade paperback Den: Neverwhere (Catalan: 1984).^[2]

Corben returned to Heavy Metal with a 13-part Den sequel, which ran in issues #54 through 72 (1981-1983). The stories were collected in the trade paperback Den 2: Muvovum (1991).

Corben began self-publishing Den through his company Fantagor Press in the 1980s, beginning with Children of Fire (1987), which was later revealed to be the prequel to the Heavy Metal-era Den adventures. Corben followed this with an ongoing Den series which did not have the full frontal nudity that was the hallmark of the original Heavy Metal strips. Corben went back to the adult content with DenSaga, which filled in some of the details between Children of Fire and Neverwhere/Muvovum.

The Den series was published in the following trades and serials, in order:

Neverwhere
Muvovum
Children Of Fire
Dreams (compilation of smaller color Den comics)
Elements (second compilation of further smaller color comics)
DenSaga Vol 1-4

All the above books are out of print.

[edit] Fictional character biography

Den is actually a young man named David Ellis Norman. When he is accidentally whisked away to a fantasy world named "Neverwhere", he is changed into a naked, muscled and prodigiously sexually endowed adventurer who is hunted by powerful forces, threatened by dangerous creatures and lusted after by impossibly beautiful, naked, large-breasted women. Confused by his strange trip, he can only remember the acronym of his real name (DEN), and begins calling himself "Den".

The latest incarnation of Den appeared in Penthouse Comix as "Denz" in the mid-1990s, following the adventures of another individual taking on the mantle of Den. This series had a more humorous tone than the previous entries in the saga.