Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

This book is great- a small collection of Fritz Leibers' Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories.

For whatever it's worth this book was for me. I've always loved the Fafhrd and Mouser tales. These adaptations are among my favorites. Howard Chaykin channels Fritz Leiber like a kindred soul. Chaykin brings out the pairs' wit, arrogance, doubts and, ultimately their worldly humor as they wander through through their many adventures and misadventures. They're friends who do not need each other but love playing off of each other, as if together they are better than they are alone. These are great buddy stories with a sword and sorcery world as the setting. Best of all is that these stories (all of them, not just those in this collection) are richly detailed, realistically powerful and memorable in a way few S & S tales are. It's easy to relate to these two scoundrels. Couple this with the stunningly effective and distinctive art provided by Mike Mignola (inked by the always remarkable, fine line of Al Williamson, also proving there is no one Al can't ink and still look great) and colorist Sherlyn van Valkenburgh provides a great reason to shun digital color. She's a gem and one rarely seen in comics anymore. Even Michael Heisler's lettering is worth noting for it's melding so well with the stories. The stories selected for these adaptations give everyone a chance to shine. Mignola establishes himself as one of the more respected artists in the American comic scene by drawing everything under the sun on Newhon. The half star missing is for the book's binding. It's fine for what it is and the art director and editor deliver one of the best looking graphic novels to see print, a beautiful package. So, why did the publisher not put out a hardcover edition. It would have been worth another $5 to $10 dollars.

Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser is simply good fantasy with lots of action, comedy and darkness. Any one who enjoys Mignola's work, will like this. I read through it and wished there was another volume. Luckily there are other Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser books out there that I have yet to explore. You can really see where Mignola gets Hellboy's since of humor from. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy Hellboy, Conan etc...

I first ran into Fritz Leiber when many of the S & S books talked about him and his work in the forward or introduction. They praised him, frankly, as one of the Fathers, if not the Grand Master, of fantasy. So I picked up the first book of the series. And was very disappointed. I don't know why. It was gritty, full of action, had lots of wine and thievery. But most of it didn't even happen in the city of the title and the stories seemed to drag. On and on. They were neither short nor were they full length novels. I decided not to collect any more of his books. Then I found this graphic novel and decided to make another go at enjoying this work. I figured, if the written text seems to be too slow, maybe a graphic novel, where much of the information was in a visible form, would allow the story to move faster. And I was right. Within a night I had read the book from front to back. The plot, the characters and the setting need to be brought to life via the brush and pen of the comic book artist to truly be enjoyed. Still, the characters seem to talk too much. Silence in many of the panels would have worked just as well.

There are two undisputed godfathers of Swords & Sorcery fiction. One is Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan, King Kill, Bran Mak Morn, and Solomon Kane; and the other is Fritz Leiber who created the duo of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It was, in fact, Leiber himself who coined the term "Swords & Sorcery." The adventures of the huge red-haired northern barbarian Fafhrd and the slight, mercurial thief The Gray Mouser were written over a span of fifty years, beginning in 1939 in the pages of the fantasy pulp magazine Unknown. In all, Leiber wrote some forty stories about the pair. This trade paperback from Dark Horse Comics collects the four-issue mini-series originally published by Marvel Comics' Epic line in the 1991. The stories are adapted by Howard Chaykin with art by Mike Mignola and the legendary Al Williamson. The pairs adventures generally take place in and around the Lankhmar, the most notorious city in Newhon. The first story, "Ill met In Lankhmar" is perhaps the most famous, winning both the Hugo and Nebula awards. It tells the story of the first meeting between Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser although this "origin" story was not written until 1970. The pair are after the same quarry of riches and soon strike up a great friendship...over many tankards of ale. When both of their women are killed by dark sorcery, the two team to kill both the wizard and the thieves guild before vowing to never return to Lankhmar. After leaving the city, each will encounter a mysterious, patron wizard, who provide cryptic advice and send them off on dangerous missions, seemingly often for their own amusement. Another excellent story is "Bazaar of the Bizarre", written in 1963. A cadre of off-world merchants has set-up shot in Lankhmar, dazzling their customers with fantastic wares but it is all illusion as it is merely junk they are selling. They bleed cities dry of all their gold before moving on and the Gray Mouser is caught in their trap. Other stories adapted include "The Howling Tower", "Lean Times in Lankhmar", "When the Sea King's Away", "The Price of Pain Ease", and "The Circle Curse." Had I been choosing the stories to adapt, I would have picked a few different ones, as a a couple of these are not Leiber's best work. Chaykin has done a superb job in adapting the stories, capturing the clever and witty dialog and the superb chemistry between the two characters. The dark humor of these tales is as important as the action. As a Mignola fan I loved his art along with the assist from Williamson. Mignola has that quirky style which fits the tone and characters so well. If you didn't read these in the first go round sixteen years ago, here's your chance again to read some of the grandest work in fantasy by a true master. Reviewed by Tim Janson