Jerry Cornelius - Work Inspired By Jerry Cornelius

Work Inspired By Jerry Cornelius

Moorcock encouraged other authors and artists to create works about Jerry Cornelius, in a sort of early open source shared world attempt at open brand sharing. One example is Norman Spinrad's The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde; another is Mœbius's The Airtight Garage. The Nature of the Catastrophe, a collection of Jerry Cornelius stories and comic strips which had appeared in the International Times (with art by Mal Dean) by various hands, was published in 1971. It includes works by Moorcock himself, James Sallis, Brian Aldiss, Langdon Jones, M. John Harrison, Richard Glyn Jones, Alex Krislov and Maxim Jakubowski.

The story "...the price is worth it." by Graeme K Talboys and the subsequent novels in the Stormlight quartet (along with the short story collection Stormwrack) are centred on Charlie Cornelius, a daughter of the Cornelius clan with uncertain parentage.

In comics various writers have used elements of the character, most notably Bryan Talbot's character Luther Arkwright. Currently, Image publishes Matt Fraction's Casanova series which also pays homage to Cornelius. Tony Lee's Midnight Kiss actually features Cornelius, with Michael Moorcock's blessing. (Michael even wrote the introduction for the collected trade paperback). Grant Morrison created an Oscar Wilde-inspired steampunk version of Jerry Cornelius in Sebastian O, the original Vertigo mini-series. Another Morrison character, Gideon Stargrave, is one of the few interpretations of the character that Moorcock has issues with, as he considers the character little more than a straight lift of Cornelius.

The name of the protagonist of The Airtight Garage was changed in later editions to "Lewis Carnelian". In 2006, on his website, Moorcock himself wrote:

I didn't retroactively withdraw permission. Moebius was a friend of friends of mine when he started and someone (I don't know who) told him I didn't like the strip. I loved the strip, though I'd said it wasn't really Jerry Cornelius. This got taken to mean by someone that I didn't like it and Moebius, whom I came to know later and explain that I hadn't withdrawn permision, took the JC out of the title. He knows now that I liked it and had no problems with it.

Bad Voltage, a 1980s cyberpunk novel by Jonathan Littell that also dealt with themes of bisexuality and violence, features guest appearances by a decidedly has-been Jerry Cornelius and a substance-abusing 'Shaky' Mo Collier. The independent comic Elf-Thing featured not only Cornelius but members of his supporting cast in a very close homage. Cornelius is also seen in Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier as a child. Cornelius appears in the second part of Alan Moore's three-part comic The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century. Jerry Cornelius also appears briefly in Neurotwistin', a french novel by Laurent Queyssi (an appearance sanctioned by Moorcock). You can also find a version of Jerry Cornelius in Michael Moorcock's 1999 graphic novel "Multiverse".

Carter Kaplan plays a variation on Jerry Cornelius in his novel Tally-Ho, Cornelius!.

Author Bruce Sterling has described his recurring character Leggy Starlitz, star of a series of short stories and the novel Zeitgeist, as "a nonlinear descendant of Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius."