BOOM! Studios has announced plans to launch a new comic series featuring the Michael Moorcock creation Elric.  The first release will be a prequel edition for Free Comic book Day; Elric: The Balance Lost #1 will ship in July.  The year 2011 marks the 50th year since Moorcock created the character. 

The FCBD issue will be written by Chris Roberson, with cover art by Erik Jones.  This must be the second BOOM! FCBD release; the company has also announced the release of a Disney flipbook (see “Maybe FCBD’s Best Year?”). 

Elric: The Balance Lost will tell the story of Elric’s battle to restore the Cosmic Balance of the Multiverse after the workings of Fate are tampered with.  Elric is stranded on a world where Chaos holds sway.  The series will also feature fellow characters from Moorcock’s multiverse Corum and Hawkmoon. 

The character’s last appearance in comics was in a 2007 graphic novel written by Moorcock with art by Walt Simonson (see “Top 100 Graphic Novels—July 2007”). 

Mongoose publishes an Elric roleplaying game (see “Mongoose Publishing Revised ‘Elric RPG’”).