Elric of Melnibone page 022 (1 page 22 - comic version)

Elric #1 page 22, art by P. Craig Russell and Michael T. Gilbert. This is the 30th page from this series I've acquired over the past 2 decades.

What is interesting about the page is that Russell completely replaced the large panel in the 1986 Graphitti Designs hardcover with a more stylized image, but I see that Titan restored it to the original for the 2015 Michael Moorcock Library reprint.

I prefer the original - you are drawn into the action, as Elric and Cymoril race back to the Dreaming City, it's much more cinematic and implies motion, speed and action. The replacement is beautiful but has a much more distanced and stylized What's Opera, Doc? feel to it with the amphitheatre sky and minimized figures riding across a flat surface.