Tuesday 2 November 2021

Incomplete Archive of Evocative Illustrations from the Forest of Doom

Malcolm Barter is listed as the interior illustrator for The Forest of Doom, the first Fighting Fantasy book I must have read (I think I was about 9 or 10). Some of these images have remained with me ever since; they seemed incredibly grown-up to my primary school mind - in a stratosphere of sophistication in comparison to the cartoonish things I had been exposed to in kids' books. 

Here are some favourites:








Now, what strikes me about them is their strange combination of understatedness and detail. Barter's world is grimy, lived-in, stark: it concedes nothing to modern nerd-dom's insistence on all-awesome, all the time. What you see is what you get. These pieces do not, like a modern D&D piece, depict larger-than-life heroes who the viewer is supposed to fantasise about becoming. No; they depict a real, inhabited world, with all its flaws, disappointments, sorrow and bathos.

I'm curious to know what happened to Mr Barter. Biographical information on the internet is scarce. Something about these pieces suggest that, given time and money, he could have produced work of (even more) exquisite skill. Yet he seems to have subsequently disappeared. 

15 comments:

  1. That's a blast from the past. Forest of Doom was my first FF book, and I loved it. The page for the character sheet disintegrated from overuse of the eraser. And thank you for bringing the artist to my attention. Malcolm Barter never reached the level of fame as Russ Nicholson who did a lot of FF books but it would be nice to know what else he illustrated.

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    1. Yeah, those were the days when I actually used to play FF books straight and not cheat!

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  2. I loved the heck out of that fishman as a kid.

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  3. Lovely illustrations; you’re right, they have a grimy weird (and yet very realistic) aesthetic that’s very uncommon in fantasy nowadays. I adored the Fighting Fantasy books.

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  4. I love the little arc of rock that is maintaining the dignity of that fish man (must be a fish_man_ since there are no rocks arcing over the top of his torso).

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    1. If it was a fish lady, I'd expect a bikini made of sea weed and shells.

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    2. This one is even better: https://www.fightingfantasyfan.info/wp-content/uploads/FF46-Relem.jpg

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    3. Japanese hentai censors would be proud of the "modesty lighting" effects in that last link. :)

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  5. "I'm curious to know what happened to Mr Barter."

    Um...is this him?

    https://uk.linkedin.com/in/malcolm-barter-5b1723b4

    I mean, this sure sounds like him:

    https://www.peopleperhour.com/freelancer/malcolm-barter-illustrator-wjwmqz

    And he was definitely drawing for FF books again a few years back:

    http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.com/2016/07/gamebook-friday-you-are-colourist.html

    Seems like you just ask him what he's been up to. Never underestimate the value of those "job networking" sites for finding people who aren't trying really, really hard to stay off the grid.

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    1. Maybe I'll try to do an interview!

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    2. I'd be interested to see that.

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    3. This looks to be him:

      https://www.facebook.com/malcolm.barter.37

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  6. Captain Lhurgoyf4 November 2021 at 08:07

    As I've noted before, that sense of understatedness and the lived-in feel seems to be a peculiarity commonplace among British fantasy gaming of the era. You see it in old-school Warhammer Fantasy, you see it in Dragon Warriors, and you see it in Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. The American gaming industry certainly didn't embrace over-the-top high fantasy until later, yes, but it seems particularly tangible in British games.

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  7. Those are excellent. Thanks!

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