Elric: The Balance Lost is a comic book series based on the works of Michael Moorcock composed of 12 issues collected in three volumes of graphic novels. It was written by Chris Roberson, illustrated by Francesco Biagini, and published by BOOM! Studios from 2011-2012. It stars several Eternal Champions, including Elric, Corum Jhaelen Irsei, Dorian Hawkmoon, Eric Beck, and M'v Okom Sebpt O'Riley, who are thrust into a quest to save the Cosmic Balance from a mysterious force that manipulates Law and Chaos across the Multiverse.
Chronology[]
For Elric
- Occurs during his Dream of a Thousand Years in Black Sword's Brothers, likely after he recovered Stormbringer in The White Wolf's Son
For Corum
- Occurs between Book 2 and Book 3 of The Quest for Tanelorn
- Occurs after the end of The Quest for Tanelorn
For Oswald Bastable and the Off-Moo
- Occurs after The Steel Tsar and The Dreamthief's Daughter
For Jhary-a-Conel
- Occurs after The Sword and the Stallion
For the Spammer Gain, The Rose, and the Machinoix
- Occurs before Michael Moorcock's Multiverse
For Colinda Dovero
- Occurs after The War Amongst the Angels
Summary[]
Volume 1[]
After Elric revitalizes himself by slaying many creatures, a raven tells him that he is fated to play a part in a conflagration that threatens the Balance between Law and Chaos. Elric dismisses him, as he's already on a quest to save the Balance, and departs on the Moonbeam Roads. He travels to the Raped Planet and slays many near-soulless Chaos creatures before meeting the raven in his true form, Sepiriz. They try to escape the Raped Planet on a Meat Boat, but are restricted from it, so they shadow-walk into the Machinoix's stronghold in New Orleans and steal Olifant, the Horn of Fate, from them. Sepiriz and the Machinoix city are consumed by Chaos as Elric blows Olifant to open a portal that takes him to Narleen.
In his castle, Hawkmoon speaks to a painting of Count Brass, implying he has expired. His daughter Yarmilla then tells him that Whiskers told her of the Order of the Fly's resurgence, prompting him and Huillam D'Averc to travel to Narleen to stop them. There, they reunite with mayor Pahl Bewchard and together, they infiltrate the hideout of the Order of the Fly, led by the warlord Dherek Nankenseen. There, Hawkmoon takes the Chaos Shield, but the Beast Men kill Bewchard and summon the Chaos Lord Beelzebub.
Still mourning the loss of his Mabden bride Rhalina, Corum departs the Dark Ship and returns to his home world to seek his death. But when he gets there, he finds Jhary-a-Conel in need of rescue from persecution at the hands of Mabden cultists of Law and kills many of them to rescue his friend. Jhary insists they travel to the city of the Pukawatchi to save Rhalina's descendants. Fortunately, Corum was still owed a favor by the water Sidhe Ilbrec, so his giant horse Splendid Mane appeared to them, and on his back they rode across the surface of the sea to the city of the Pukawatchi. They aid the Pukawatchi against an assault by a tribe of Law cultists and are given their Cherooki Pipe, which turns into the Holy Grail and then the Runestaff. The Runestaff reacts to the blowing of Olifant, breaking down the walls between Corum's world and Eric's.
In a modern-day America, Eric Beck is a video game designer for Chaos War, an RPG not unlike Warhammer 40K, who dreams of Elric, Corum, and Hawkmoon. His twin brother Grayson, who killed Eric's girlfriend and changed his name to Garrison Bow, now leads the conservative Law Party Militia. During an altercation with the Militia's protest at the Capitol Building, Eric is rescued from the Law Party by M'v Okom Sebpt O'Riley, an Eternal Champion, holder of the soul-sucking Banning Gun, and last survivor of the Martian Scaling Station which was destroyed by the Singularity Fleet of Law. She tells him he's also an Eternal Champion and convinces him to join her.
O'Riley helps Eric steal the Murakamo-No-Tsurugi, an aspect of the Black Sword containing its whole power, from New Orleans's Mayor's widow Colinda Dovero. Having been the lover of several "champions éternel," she comes to their defense when they are attacked by Garrison and the Law Party, who also try to steal the sword. Garrison duels Eric and his Black Sword with its counterpart, the White Sword of Law. With the Law Party protected from the Banning Gun's soul-sucking powers, Banning sacrifices her own soul to power it enough to stop Garrison from killing Eric. Eric takes the gun and the Murakamo-No-Tsurugi as Olifant and the Runestaff break down the walls between his world and Corum's.
Volume 2[]
Elric's portal causes the Pale Prince to join with Hawkmoon and Huillam against the Order of the Fly in Narleen. Beelzebub's Chaos warps Narleen and many of its inhabitants, which the three heroes are forced to slay. Beelzebub leads the Chaos armies to Tanelorn, so Elric, Hawkmoon, and D'Averc follow them there by Ornithopter.
Corum, Jhary, and Eric similarly join forces, but so do the Law Militia and the cultists. The cultists summon the Singularity Fleet, and with their help, Garrison takes the Black Sword from his brother. The Law army heads for Tanelorn, so Eric, Jhary, and Corum follow them there on Splendid Mane.
The two teams fight their enemies at their respective Tanelorns, during which Eric reclaims his Black Sword and discards the Banning Gun, until their worlds are collapsed into one. After a brief clash, both sets of Champions join forces to aid in the defense of Tanelorn from the armies of Law and Chaos encroaching upon it. While the armies of Law and Chaos are busy fighting each other, the Champions and their companions use the Chaos Shield and the Runestaff to repel the armies long enough to enter the city.
They are met by Sepiriz, who reveals himself to be the Warrior in Jet and Gold and informs them of the cause of these armies of extremes: the Cosmic Balance has been destroyed. He tells the four that they must restore the Balance, or Tanelorn, and the Multiverse, will surely be lost. He claims the Grand Balance is a physical thing as well as a metaphorical one, so while Tanelorn is the spiritual heart of the Multiverse, they can only restore the Balance at its physical heart: Ko-O-Ko, the Lost Universe. Sepiriz says they already have all the tools they need to restore it: Eric's sword, the shield, the Grail Staff, and the Horn of Fate. Sepiriz sends the four Champions with Captain Billy-Bob Begg to the Spammer Gain.
Volume 3[]
The Spammer Gain brings the four Eternal Champions to the Lost Universe. There, they find the Grand Balance, in the form of a massive traditional balance scale, destroyed. They also find the ones who've destroyed it and amassed the forces of Law and Chaos into a war against one another. To Corum's total shock and disbelief, the culprits are revealed to be none other than the Lost Gods, Kwll and Rhynn.
Kwll explains to him that to settle a disagreement, they are playing a massive game of chess for control of the Multiverse, using it as the gameboard and the forces of Law and Chaos as the pieces, with Kwll having chosen the side of Law. The Lost Gods then transport their armies from Tanelorn to the Lost Universe so they may take a more active role in their game. Elric uses his Ring of Kings and Eric's Black Blade to summon the Warriors at the Edge of Time, an army of veteran Eternal Champions, to battle the other armies while they restore the Grand Balance. On the way, the two empathize over the guilt they carry for causing their lovers' deaths at the hands of their kin.
Once they arrive at the Balance, Corum and Eric remember Sepiriz's words about it being both physical and metaphorical and the Objects of Power being all they needed to restore it. Eric fashions them into a makeshift scale that causes the Grand Balance to begin repairing itself. However, Rhynn soon destroys what little repairs they'd effected. Elric, Corum, and Hawkmoon realize their only hope of stopping the Gods long enough to complete the repairs is to form the Four Who Are One as they did to slay Agak and Gagak in The Quest for Tanelorn. Unfortunately, Eric is pulled from the joining by his brother, who challenges him to a final swordsmen's duel to the death. This forces the others to instead become the Three-Who-Are-One, a massive six-armed, two-legged, three-faced Eternal Champion as big and strong as Rhynn, who wields a single giant Black Sword against him.
While the Three battle Rhynn and Kwll, Eric and Garrison fatally stab each other with their swords. Recalling a story Billy-Bob told him about twin brothers who could traverse the Multiverse by sharing a single form, Eric forgives and embraces Gray, causing them to merge into a single being. The fused Beck stands naked holding the two swords aloft, becoming a perfect living metaphor of the Balance. As metaphor and reality are the same in the Lost Universe, the Grand Balance is quickly repaired, as is the Multiverse.
Rhynn and Kwll tire of their game and leave, sending their armies from whence they came. As the army of the Balance fades, the Three become unjoined, and notice all that's left of the Becks are their swords. As they start to depart as well, Hawkmoon wonders if the Becks went to their final reward or joined the army waiting at the edge of time, and if they would join them as well one day. With their realms now separated once more, Elric opens the Moonbeam Roads, returning Corum to Moidel's Mount and Hawkmoon to his family and Whiskers before departing to complete his doomed final quest.