Michael Whelan: STORMBRINGER (1977) Acrylic on Masonite - 30" x 20" This is probably my most famous painting of Michael Moorcock's legendary anti-hero Elric of Melnibone. 1/4

STORMBRINGER (1977) Acrylic on Masonite - 30" x 20" This is probably my most famous painting of Michael Moorcock's legendary anti-hero Elric of Melnibone. 1/4

Whenever I see it, I can't help smiling, remembering when Donald Wollheim told me that "green covers never sell books." 2/4

Of course, Don took a chance and used it for the cover. The rest, as they say, is history. 3/4

Cover illustration for STORMBRINGER by Michael Moorcock (DAW) 4/4 www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/st...

Awwwwww as someone born in 1973 I see that old DAW logo and smile.

Truly iconic. 🙌

1976, and I so vividly remember the spinner-rack at the drug store, pocket money in hand, my attention immediately caught by the flash of that yellow spine.

You just gave me a weird memory of being at the local 7-11, spinning the rack and going, “what’s this weird Hitchhiker thing with a smiley face giving a thumbs up?” And now you know, the rest of the story.

The number of yellow spines on my bookshelves...!

Next cover I draw when I get back to stuff is totally going to be green.

Didn't a heavy metal band use it as an album cover in the 80s, too?

Cirith Ungol

Have a print of this hanging in my home office directly above my desk. One of my favorite characters by one of my favorite artists. Thank you!

😊🙏

Wow, thanks for the trip back in time. Teenage me (& current me) appreciate all your excellent work. Still awesome!

😀🙌

Love it. From the dragon design, to the fact there's a lot of color but it's still undoubtedly Elric and it still feels really dark.

Well, he was wrong. I got the Swedish pocket paperback.

I love accepted wisdom like that. True until it’s not and then everyone wants green.

It seems to me that the most noteworthy feature of the piece is not "green."

And then it sold many copies of the TTRPG too.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_F...

Frank Frazetta - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

Gotta say, that this cover art definitely helped convince me to pick up the Elric books back in my high school days, and boy howdy, did I deep dive into Moorcock afterwards. Still my mind's eye vision of what Elric should look like.

My Moorcock phase didn't start with Elric, but with Corum....but of course, I went to Elric after that. But not before reading the first two Bastable novels!

I was limited to what was in the library at first, which was 1 random Elric book and the Swords trilogy. So I started with the random Elric (“Revenge of the Rose,” still a favorite) and then took a detour through all the Corum books before I found more Elric books. (And then the End of Time series)

I haven't read the End of Time series, but I was lucky to get my hands on the collection "The Roads Between The Worlds". I do wish I had picked up the collection for "Kane Of Old Mars", though.

If you can find it, the Dancers at the End of Time series is super fun! And there’s a lavishly illustrated spin-off volume of Elric at the End of Time which is very cool (I was lucky to find a used copy somewhere.)

The Rodney Matthews one? That is a *fabulous* picture book.

I adore him. I hugely recommend his Hawkmoon and Corum books as well.

The Eternal Champion books are a real rabbithole to fall down into. Especially since Moorcock seems to have not finished occasionally bringing out new titles! I think that this article is one of the better checklists for folks looking to fill in their collections: www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/co...

Reddit - Dive into anythingwww.reddit.com r/Fantasy is the internet's largest discussion forum for the greater Speculative Fiction genre. Fans of fantasy, science fiction, horror, alt history, and more can all find a home with us. We welcome respectful dialogue related to speculative fiction in literature, games, film, and the wider world. We ask all users help us create a welcoming environment by reporting posts/comments that do not follow the subreddit rules.

If I recall correctly, Corum was my second after Elric. And then Hawkmoon.

I read Corum in art school, and lent the first three books to a classmate. He absolutely loved them and declared that they were even better than THE LORD OF THE RINGS. He was also very happy when I lent him the first three Elric books (never got the chance to show him Russell's comics though..).

"Farewell, friend. I was a thousand times more evil than thou!"

I had a paperback with that cover!

Oh yeah …

Awesome, but not my favourite of your Elric's (That would be White Wolf)

I think this was also used as cover image for a Swedish rpg: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drakar_... Did they license the image?

Drakar och Demoner - Wikipediaen.m.wikipedia.org

Yeah, that was officially licensed and Michael has a huge following in Sweden because of it. Great fans there!

The new edition pays clear homage to it, appearing to be another moment from the same scene.

I HAD THIS BOOK

Always love seeing this one, the face, the greens, perfect

This is one of my favorite images of one of my favorite characters. I had a t-shirt with this pic and I wore it till it literally fell off my body in rags! I've been a fan of Elric since I was a moody teenager, and your illustrations have been what I strive for when learning illustration.

😊🙏

Such wonderful work...

Cool cover. I've been meaning to try the Elric books for ages

I love that painting.

Absolutely stunning

For many, whenever they think of Elric, this painting comes to mind.

I love everything about this painting.

Such an awesome cover. Also: I have seen that same expression on a man trying with all his might to contain the exuberance of a very large dog, and *almost* succeeding. I imagine Elric feels much the same way about his constant companion.

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