Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor Quarterly (v. 1) [Paperback]

Harlan Ellison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 3, 1996

Ever wonder what it would be like to walk into someone else's mind and have a look around? Well, what if that person happened to be a brilliant storyteller whose imagination has captivated millions of readers over the past five decades? In the award-winning anthology Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor, we have had both the privilege and peril of rooting around in the eponymous fellow's noggin to see what makes him tick - and what engrossing stories have been hidden away in the cracks and crevices of his gray matter. The words of world-renowned science-fiction author Harlan Ellison are once again translated onto the page by top comics creators, including Paul Chadwick, Neal Adams, Steve Rude, Gene Colan, Steve Niles, Gerard Jones, Richard Corben and the legendary Oz illustrator Eric Shanower. Most of these stories have never before seen print!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In an introduction to one of the five stories adapted to comics in Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor, Ellison mentions that this is an age when "the young dismiss anything and anyone older than a fortnight and choose not to pay respect to artists of an earlier day." So it's no surprise that the collection of talent brought together for this collection includes legendary artists Martin Nodell, Marie Severin, and Neal Adams. Stories include "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty," "The Voice in the Garden," "Gnomeboy," "Opposites Attract," and "Rock God." Plus, you'll find a new prose piece from Ellison, "The Lingering Scent of Woodsmoke."

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; 1St Edition edition (September 3, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569711690
• ISBN-13: 978-1569711699
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,090,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "...a jolt to the brain and a feast for the eyes!", November 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor Volume 1 (Dark Horse Comics Collection) (Paperback)

Ellison once wrote that there are "five native American art forms that we've given to the world: Jazz, of course. Musical comedy as we know it today. The detective story as crafted by Poe. The banjo. And comic books." On display between these covers are some of the finest examples of comic book art and writing. "Dream Corridor" sprang to life after Showtime and HBO (having solicited him for an ongoing series) balked at paying Ellison for typing up proposals for a cable TV show. Still intrigued with the thought of having his tales transformed into the visual medium, Ellison came up with the idea for this ongoing series of quarterly comic books. Then he had them adapted by some of the finest writers and artists working in the medium (Faye Perozich, Peter David, Max Alan Collins, Doug Wildey, John K, Snyder, Mike Deodato, etc.). And to make the package twice as enticing, each issue of "Dream Corridor" included an original piece of cover artwork (beautifully drawn by the likes of Leo and Diane Dillon, Stephen Hickman or Sam Raffa)around which Ellison would write a brand new story. Not a few of those stories are already considered some of Ellison's best work in recent years: "Pulling Hard Time" is a hard-hitting, futuristic tale which begs a closer examination of our penal system and the often lopsided scales of justice. "Chatting With Anubis," a recent winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers of America, is a sly rumination on gods and what happens when the believers stop believing. And "Midnight In the Sunken Cathedral" is a haunting story about a son who transcends time and space to confront the father he never knew. This collection of the first year's output from "Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor" is a jolt to the brain and a feast for the eyes! It's sure to attract new fans to a much maligned form of art.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not good, not bad ..., August 31, 2001

By 

Ron Tothleben ([e-mail]) (Tilburg, Netherlands, Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor Special (Paperback)

What we have here is Harlan Ellison having some of his short stories (of which he has written over two thousand) adapted into being graphic stories.

An illustrated character (Ellison himself) takes the reader into his "corridor of dreams" where all the stories he ever wrote are stored in departments. He guides us through the humungous building and opens a department every now and then. Everytime he does the tour is interrupted and we get to read a selected short story ( a window-tale if you will), adapted into comicdom by different people (Len Wein, Michael T. Gilbert and others).
In this particular book are five of those short-stories which vary in quality. I definately want to point out "Rat-hater", a story about a guy taking revenge in the most gruesome way he can think of on a guy who is responsible for his sisters death. To my taste this is the best story in the book (both the story as the painted art are not to be missed). Some of the others are nice (The Len Wein story and something called "On the Slab") but there's also a story done by Phil Foglio about which you'll probably feel sorry you took the time for it afterwards.
Between the several short stories, in the sequences where Ellison takes the reader from one department to another, Ellison uses some pages to take some personal shots at people who in his eyes wrongfully criticezed his work, in a pretty chauvinistic way.
The last two pages contain part of a new never-printed-before piece of proze by Ellison.

All in all the conclussion I must come to is that this is not a spectacularly good book. There are some nice (not great) stories in here and there are some lesser ones.... As it is it's quite enjoyable but only worth the money for true Harlan Ellison fans who can't get enough of him.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite a treat, September 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor Quarterly (v. 1) (Paperback)

One of my favorite comic books. I read it weekly. Anything by Ellison is worth buying and this collection is definily worth it. The best story is probably Rat Hater.