Descent into Madness

Unravelling the mystery of The Mad Poet

May 17, 2026

An artist—lost in the moment when either magic happens or madness takes hold—leans over his writing table with quill in hand. The cuffs of his blue shirt are undone, not rolled neatly but drawn up hastily as if to give his arms release from confinement. As he stares over, his gaze bores into the viewer, half accusing, half pleading. A glossy sheen reflects in one eye as moonlight illuminates that side of his face. His head rests on tense fingers that seem to push into his troubled thoughts. Sandy brown hair hangs tousled, the ends clearly slick with sweat. Figures, both horrific and temptingly curvaceous, warp in the abstract smoke that wafts past from a squat candle burning low. Nearly extinguished, the wick glows. All signs indicate that he's been there awhile. The ornate candlestick is dull silver, speaking to some ritual in the curl of horns and goat faced demon at its top. Stars dot the dim blue sky in the windows beyond. The lower pane of glass is shattered. — THE MAD POET (1977), Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 12 ½” x 17 ½”

Although its origins have been obscured by the fog of time, this moody piece has elicited a strong response from fans whenever it has seen print. It certainly struck a chord when I first found it in The Art of Michael Whelan as I was finishing up my writing degree in 1993.

For some reason, I’d always assumed the painting was a personal work, a loosely based self-portrait of the young artist. But in conversation with Michael, I was stunned when he revealed that the painting was commissioned to accompany a poem by Robert E. Howard, the father of Sword and Sorcery, creator of Conan the Barbarian.

Share The Art of Michael Whelan

A tiny demon sits on a leather-bound copy of the Necronomicon explaining the details of his offer to a young artist who listens half-interested with elbows on the table and chin propped on his palm. His sandy blonde hair falls to shoulder length. The sleeves of his white shirt are rolled up. The red satin ribbon tucked in the book catches light, standing out from the earthy tones of the painting which is framed in gold moulding. — Untitled Self-Portrait

Who commissioned the painting?

I had so many questions and there was so much I had wrong from the start, including the copyright date in the website gallery. It turned out that 1982 was when we first offered a signed and numbered print of THE MAD POET. Somehow I conflated the two, possibly because the painting is uniquely undated.

Unfortunately when prompted, Michael couldn’t recall the title of the poem. It felt like a mystery worth digging into for no other reason than to uncover the origins of one of my favorite Whelan paintings.

The problem? I wasn't around at the time and neither Michael nor Audrey could remember what publication the assignment was tied to. Michael’s initial thought was either Armand Eisen or Byron Preiss commissioned the piece, and that breadcrumb set us on the right path…in a way.

“Whoever it was,” Michael said. “I naively sent in the original and—after some insistence on my part, it was returned unprotected in a manila envelope. I found it one afternoon on the ground next to our mailbox. Luckily it was only slightly bent, but that’s one of the reasons I started painting on Masonite around then!”

LEFT: AMERICAN FANTASY magazine with cover featuring THE MAD POET. The cover reads “Michael Whelan Interview/Showcase” and is dated Summer 1987. RIGHT: Back card design for THE MAD POET from OTHERWORLDS. Number 25 with text reading: “Artists seeking a representation of what they’re about to create usually pose and photograph models. Michael sometimes finds himself posing in front of mirrors for his own paintings when he needs to capture a realistic lighting technique.” — *American Fantasy, Volume 2, No 4* (Summer 1987) and the back of the card from *Otherworlds: Michael Whelan II* (Comic Images, 1995)

Pinning down the date

The back and forth that followed spurred recollection in Audrey: the assignment had come at MidAmeriCon, the WorldCon held in Kansas City in 1976. That would have placed the painting quite a bit earlier in Michael’s career, but elements of his brushwork tracked with that time and so did his signature. The sigil matched paintings like STORMBRINGER and SWORDS AND ICE MAGIC.

Interestingly, the appendix in The Art of Michael Whelan did offer clues once we circled back to the book. A citation credited the “original commission by Morningstar Press” [sic] and dated the painting to 1977—lining up perfectly with facts we knew.

The deeper I dove, however, the more frustrating the search for first publication of the painting became.

Volumes 1-4 of Ariel, featuring cover art by Richard Corben, Frank Frazetta, Barry Windsor Smith, and Michael Hague. — Ariel: A Fantasy Magazine, Volume 1 (The Morning Star Press) and Ariel: The Book of Fantasy, Volumes 2-4 (Ballantine)

An issue with issues

Based in KC, Morning Star Press seemed like a solid lead, starting with Ariel: A Magazine of Fantasy. They published four volumes that quickly moved to publication with Ballantine Books in conjunction with Ariel Books, a small press founded by Armand Eisen.

Michael felt reasonable certain the poem and art had to be in an issue published in 1977 but he’d never seen it. We didn’t have copies in our library for reference, so I tracked down photos of the table of contents for each issue and cross-referenced those with the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB).

As it turned out, Volume One featured two poems by Robert E. Howard, “The Symbol” and “A Crown for a King” with only a Richard Corben comic titled “Den” set between them. Volume Three collected a poem by Howard titled “Musings,” but it was illustrated by Jack Kirby. Again, no dice.

LEFT: Two page spread of Ariel Volume 1 fanned open to a headline that reads “TWO POEMS” with a byline for Robert E. Howard. “The Symbol” fills the page beneath while a comic illustrated by Richard Corben is on the opposite page. RIGHT: Table of content for Arial Volume 3, which includes an entry for “Musings” by Robert E. Howard illustrated by Jack Kirby on page 18. — Pages from *Ariel: A Fantasy Magazine, Volume One* (The Morning Star Press, 1977) and *Ariel: The Book of Fantasy, Volume Three*. (Arial Books/Ballantine, 1978)

Running out of road

At that point, Michael started digging into records from the beginning of his career. Determined to find the original commission, he miraculously unearthed a Morning Star Press invoice from 1977, yet it provided no details on the art or where it would be printed.

They also published Night Images: A Book of Fantasy Verse by Howard, but ISFDB credited those illustrations to Richard Corben. Through Ariel Books, Armand Eisen cowrote an art book titled Sorcerers with Bruce Jones that featured Whelan art. Michael guessed that the invoice he found might be for that book. We do have a copy in our archive, so I already knew that THE MAD POET wasn’t in it.

That’s how the process went, hopefully following clues only to be disappointed hitting a dead end while clarifying little about the original question.

LEFT: Cover of Shayol No 5 with cover art featuring a dark skinned warrior mounted on a winged unicorn against vibrant blue sky. RIGHT: Table of contents for the issue featuring an entry for 14 Questions: Michael Whelan, interview by Pat Cadigan and Arnie Fenner on page 12 — *Shayol Fantasy & Science Fiction*, No. 5 (Winter 1982), with cover art by Ezra Tucker

History of publication of The Mad Poet

Filling in the blanks with what we know so far:

1982 - Print, signed and numbered edition of 500 (advertised in May WFC update)
1982 - Shayol, No 5, interior art accompanying an interview (Winter) *
1985 - The Sound of Wonder: Interviews from “The Science Fiction Radio Show”, Volume 1 (Oryx Press), interior art accompanying an interview *
1987 - American Fantasy, Vol 2, No 4, cover art (Robert & Nancy Garcia)
1993 - The Art of Michael Whelan (Bantam), collected for the first time in full
1995 - Other Worlds: Michael Whelan II card set, 25 of 90 (Comics Images)
1997 - Michael Whelan 1997 Calendar, interior (Antioch)