Review: Elric: The Balance Lost #7

No longer is the conflict between Law, Chaos and the Balance restricted to skirmishes in separate worlds, war has come to the Multiverse.

In this latest installment in Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion cycle, several incarnations of the Champion, Dorian Hawkmoon, Corum Jhaelen Irsei and, of course, the titular Elric himself, join forces with a new incarnation unique to this comic named Eric Beck to put down the destructive forces of both Law and Chaos and help restore the Balance.

With Tanelorn, the City of Eternal Peace, under siege in one reality by the armies of Law and by the armies of Chaos in another, our four Champions and their companions rush (in two separate groups in two different realities) towards Tanelorn’s defense. In the midst of two pitched battles as each group seeks to enter the city, the two worlds merge, at least around Tanelorn, and the four Champions finally come face-to-face while realizing that they have been at odds with their true patron all along.

This was a great issue. What could be hectic and poorly-paced, easily, is the exact opposite. The book rushes headlong into an extremely convoluted situation, but never is the reader confused (at least if they’re paying attention).  Roberson’s dialogue is spot-on and he has captured the personalities of Moorcock’s characters quite well. He also treats us, once again, to glimpses of how other incarnations of the Eternal Champion fare in their worlds as the Multiverse crashes around them, and as a long-time Moorcock fan I was thrilled.

Hands down this is one of Boom! Studios’s best books, current or past, and if you aren’t reading it you’re doing yourself a disservice.