Category: Sword & Sorcery

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The Mighty Thor Omnibus volume 2


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, Bill Everett, Frank Giacoia,  & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-6813-3 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Epic Jewel of Historic Import… 10/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Even more than Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor was the arena in which Jack Kirby’s restless fascination with all things Cosmic was honed and refined through dazzling graphics and captivating concepts. The King’s string of power-packed signature pantheons began in a modest little fantasy/monster title called Journey into Mystery where – in the summer of 1962 – a tried-and-tested comic book concept (feeble mortal transformed into god-like hero) was revived by the fledgling Marvel Comics to add a Superman analogue to their growing roster of costumed adventurers.

This monumental tome re-presents pioneering Asgardian exploits from JiM #121-125 and The Mighty Thor #126- 152, plus The Mighty Thor Annual #2, and a clod-ly godly gift parcel from Not Brand Echh #3, altogether spanning cover-dates November 1965 to May 1968 in a blazing blur of innovation and seat-of-the-pants myth-revising and universe-building. It is lettered throughout by unsung superstars Art Simek and Sam Rosen, and an unjustly anonymous band of colourists. As well as a monolithic assortment of nostalgic treats at the back, this mammoth tome is dotted throughout with recycled Introductions – ‘So Utterly Godlike’ & ‘The Spectacle and Excitement’ by Stan Lee, and Mark Evanier’s ‘The Best at Their Best’ – taken from earlier Marvel Masterworks editions, and also includes editorial announcements and ‘The Hammer Strikes!’ newsletter pages for each original issue to enhance overall historical experience…

Once upon a time, lonely, lamed American doctor Donald Blake took a vacation in Norway and encountered the vanguard of an alien invasion. Trapped in a cave, Blake found a gnarled old walking stick, which when struck against the ground, turned him into the Norse God of Thunder! Within moments he was defending the weak and smiting the wicked. As months swiftly passed, rapacious extraterrestrials, Commie tyrants, costumed crazies and cheap thugs gradually gave way to a vast panoply of fantastic worlds and incredible, mythic menaces.

From JiM #110, the magnificent warrior’s ever-expanding world of Asgard was a regular feature and mesmerising milieu for the hero’s earlier adventures, heralding a fresh era of cosmic fantasy to run beside the company’s signature superhero sagas.

Every issue also carried a spectacular back-up series that grew to be a solid fan-favourite. Tales of Asgard – Home of the Mighty Norse Gods gave Kirby space to indulge his fascination with legends and allowed both complete vignettes and longer epics – in every sense of the word. Initially adapted myths, these little yarns grew into sagas unique to the Marvel universe where Kirby built his own cosmos and mythology, underpinning the company’s entire continuity.

Here we resume mid-melee as Thor, having defeated The Destroyer and Loki, returns to America only to clash once more with the awesome Absorbing Man. The Thunderer’s attack intensifies in ‘The Power! The Passion! The Pride!’ but soon seemingly sees the end of Thor: a cliffhanger somewhat assuaged by ‘Maelstrom!’ wherein Asgardian Argonauts epically encounter an uncanny storm. This Tales of Asgard serial formed part of “the Quest” which further unfolds as a band of hand-picked warriors on Thor’s flying longship endure further hardship in their bold bid to forestall Ragnarok…

In JiM #122’s ‘Where Mortals Fear to Tread!’ triumphant Crusher Creel is abducted by Loki to attack Asgard and Odin himself: an astounding clash capped by cataclysmic conclusion ‘While a Universe Trembles!’ Meanwhile, ‘The Grim Specter of Mutiny!’ invoked by seditious young Loki is quashed in time for valiant Balder to save the Argonauts from ‘The Jaws of the Dragon!’ in the ever-escalating Ragnarok Quest.

With the contemporary threat to Asgard ended and Creel banished, Thor returns to Earth to defeat the Demon, a “witchdoctor” empowered by a magical Norn Stone left behind after the Thunder God’s Vietnamese venture. Whilst the Storm Lord is away Hercules is dispatched to Earth on a reconnaissance mission for Zeus. ‘The Grandeur and the Glory!’ opens another extended story-arc and action extravaganza, bouncing the Thunderer from bruising battle to brutal defeat to ascendant triumph…

Previously, in Journey into Mystery Annual #1, in undisclosed ages past the God of Thunder fell into the realm of the Greek Gods for landmark heroic hullabaloo ‘When Titans Clash! Thor vs. Hercules!’ and now with the Greek godling clearly popular with readers, he properly enters the growing Mavel Universe.

Issue #125 – ‘When Meet the Immortals!’ – was the last Journey into Mystery: with next month’s ‘Whom the Gods Would Destroy!’ the comic was re-titled The Mighty Thor and the drama amped up, culminating with ‘The Hammer and the Holocaust!’ In short order Thor crushes the Demon, seemingly loses beloved Jane to Hercules, is deprived of his powers and is subsequently thrashed by the Prince of Power, yet still manages to save Asgard from unscrupulous traitor Seidring the Merciless who had usurped Odin’s mystic might…

Meanwhile Tales of Asgard instalments see the Questers home in on the cause of all their woes. ‘Closer Comes the Swarm’ pits them against the flying trolls of Thryheim, whilst ‘The Queen Commands’ sees Loki captured until Thor answers ‘The Summons!’, promptly returning the Argonauts to Asgard to be shown ‘The Meaning of Ragnarok!’ In truth, these mini-eddas were, although still magnificent in visual excitement, becoming rather rambling in plot, so the narrative reset was neither unexpected nor unwelcome…

Instead of ending, the grandiose saga grew in scope with Thor #128 as ‘The Power of Pluto!’ introduced another major foe. The Greek god of the Underworld tricks Hercules into replacing him as ruler of his dread, dead domain, just as the recuperated Thunder God is looking for a rematch, whilst in Tales of Asgard Kirby pulls out all the creative stops to depict the ‘Aftermath!’ of Ragnarok – for many fans the first indication of what was to come in the King’s landmark Fourth World tales half a decade later…

‘The Verdict of Zeus!’ condemns Hercules to the Underworld unless he can find a proxy to fight for him, even as at the back of the comic, assembled Asgardians face ‘The Hordes of Harokin’ as another multi-chapter classic begins. However, for once the cosmic scope of the lead feature eclipses the serialised odysseys.  ‘Thunder in the Netherworld!’ depicts Thor and Hercules carving a swathe of destruction through an unbelievably alien landscape; the beginning of a gradual sidelining of Earthly matters and mere crime-fighting in this series. Thor and Kirby were increasingly expending their efforts in greater realms than ours…

‘The Fateful Change!’ then reveals how a younger Thunder God trades places with Genghis Khan-like Harokin – leaving the drama on a tense cliff hanger mimicked in this epic omnibus by Lee’s recycled essay ‘The Spectacle and Excitement’.

Cosmic calamity recommences with the Thunderer and his Olympian rival returning triumphant from Hades. Thor even secures a pledge from his terrifyingly inconsistent father Odin that he may wed mortal love Jane Foster, but, hurtling back to Earth finds her long gone and erstwhile roommate Tana Nile exposed as a superpowered Rigellian Colonizer who has just taken possession of Earth. ‘They Strike from Space!’ was mere prologue for a fantastic voyage to the depths of space and a unique universal threat…

In Tales of Asgard the assembled Asgardians face different dramas as young Thor impersonates dynamic reiver Harokin until exposed, even as colossal companion Volstagg steals the enemy’s apocalyptic wizard-weapon ‘The Warlock’s Eye!’ before the next instalment sees ‘The Dark Horse of Death!’ arrive, looking for its next doomed rider…

Thor #132 also reveals the Thunderer explosively laying down the law on ‘Rigel: Where Gods May Fear to Tread!’ and single-handedly liberating Earth. The following issue is a certified Kirby Classic, as ‘Behold… the Living Planet!’ introduces malevolent Ego: a sentient world ruling a living Bio-verse and a stunning visual tour de force that piled one High Concept after another upon Thor, his new artificial ally The Recorder and the reeling readership, whilst Harokin’s tale terminated in one last ride to ‘Valhalla!’

The invasion threat ended, Thor returns to Earth in search of Jane, and after diligent efforts finds her with ‘The People Breeders!’ – a hidden Balkan enclave wherein pioneering geneticist The High Evolutionary is instantly evolving animals into men. His latest experiment creates a lupine future-nightmare – ‘The Maddening Menace of the Super-Beast!’ so it’s just as well the Thunder God was on hand.

Back in Asgard and an undefinable time agone, ‘When Speaks the Dragon!’ and ‘The Fiery Breath of Fafnir!’ pit Thor and his Warriors Three comrades Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg against a staggering reptilian monstrosity: a threat finally quashed in #136’s ‘There Shall Come a Miracle!’

The lead story in that issue is a turning point in the history of the Storm Lord. ‘To Become an Immortal!’ has Odin transform Jane into an Asgardian goddess and relocate her to Asgard, but her frail human mind cannot cope with the Realm Eternal’s wonders and perils and she is mindwiped(!), mercifully restored to mortality and all but written out of the series.

Luckily for the despondent Thunder God beauteous warrior-maiden Sif is on hand to lend an understanding ear and shoulder to cry on…

With this story, Thor’s closest link to Earth was neatly severed: from now on adventures on Midgard are as a tourist or beneficent guest, not a resident. Asgard and infinity were now his true home, a situation quickly proved by the bombastic clash ‘If Asgard Falls…’ Set in the Gleaming City during the annual Tourney of Heroes (and originally published in The Mighty Thor Annual #2, 1966) this a martial spectacular of outlandish armours and exotic weaponry that turns decidedly serious when the deadly Destroyer is unleashed amidst wildly warring warriors in full competition mode…

Although Thor had lost his human paramour, he rediscovered a childhood sweetheart, now all grown up and a fierce warrior maid to boot. A good thing too, as ‘The Thunder God and the Troll!’ (#137) debuts bestial menace super-troll Ulik and depicts open warfare between the Asgardians and their implacable, monstrous foes. During the spectacular carnage and combat Sif is captured and Thor rushes to Earth to rescue her, whilst legions of deadly subterranean troglodytes attack the very heart of the eternal kingdom…

Tales of Asgard feature was gradually wrapping up, but still offered Kirby somewhere to stretch his creative muscles. ‘The Tragedy of Hogun!’ shares gripping revelations of the dour warrior in an Arabian Nights pastiche also introducing sinister sorcerer Mogul of the Mystic Mountain. In ‘The Flames of Battle!’ Thor reunites with Sif but is deprived of magical mallet Mjolnir courtesy of exotic technology the trolls have mysteriously developed. Do the malign invaders have a potent new ally or a terrifyingly powerful slave? Trapped on Earth, the hammerless hero has no means of returning to the realm beyond the Rainbow Bridge whilst in Asgard, the war goes badly and the gods are close to final defeat…

In Tales of Asgard, ‘The Quest for the Mystic Mountain!’ finds Hogun and his comrades edging closer to victory and vengeance, culminating in a truly stunning Kirby spectacle in #139 as the wandering warriors discover ‘The Secret of the Mystic Mountain!’ In the lead story of that issue, ‘To Die Like a God!’ wraps up the Troll War in eye-popping style as Thor and Sif invade the bowels of the Earth to save humanity and Asgardians alike…

With Mighty Thor #140, extended epics give way to a short run of compete, single episode tales heavy on action, starting with ‘The Growing Man!’ as Thor heads to Earth and discovers New York under attack by a synthetic warrior who grows larger and stronger with every blow struck against him. Time-travelling tyrant Kang the Conqueror is behind the Brobdingnagian brute, whilst in back-up ‘The Battle Begins!’, Hogun & Co are menaced by a terrifying genie.

Mark Evanier’s ‘The Best at Their Best’ precedes Thor #141, where the Storm Lord faces ‘The Wrath of Replicus’ – a bombastic, bludgeoning epic involving gangsters, aliens and super-robots, counter-pointed by stunning fantasy as the wandering Asgardians meet ‘Alibar and the Forty Demons!’ ‘The Scourge of the Super Skrull!’ then pits Thunderer against an alien with all the powers of the Fantastic Four, even as, in Asgard, a new menace is investigated by Sif and indomitable Balder the Brave. The back-up tale sees Kirby’s seamless melange of myth and legend leap into overdrive as ‘We, Who are About to Die…!’ depicts young Thor and the Warriors Three confounding all the mystic menaces of Mogul. Thor #143 returns to extended epics with ‘…And, Soon Shall Come: the Enchanters!’ (inked by magnificent Bill Everett) as Sif and Balder encounter a trio of wizards plotting to overthrow All-Father Odin, only to fall prey to their power. Escaping to Earth they link up with Thor, but they have been followed…

Everett also inked Tales of Asgard instalment ‘To the Death!’ as comic relief colossus Volstagg takes centre-stage to seduce Mogul’s sinister sister…

Colletta returns for ‘This Battleground Earth!’, as two Enchanters attack the warriors on Midgard whilst the third duels directly with Odin in the home of the gods. At the back, Mogul declares ‘The Beginning of the End!’ At the height of the battle in the previous issue Odin had withdrawn all the powers of his Asgardian followers, leaving Sif, Balder and Thor ‘Abandoned on Earth!’ Now victorious, the All-Father wants his subjects home, but again his wayward son opts to stay with mortals, driving Odin into a fury. Stripped of magical abilities, alone, hungry and in need of a job, the former god becomes embroiled with the Circus of Crime and is hypnotised into committing an audacious theft…

Tales of Asgard wrapped up in spectacular fashion with ‘The End!’, to be replaced in the next issue with The Inhumans – but as that’s a subject of a separate volume, the remainder of this chronicle is all-Aesir action, beginning in #146’s ‘…If the Thunder Be Gone!’ Deprived of all power except his natural super-strength, Thor is helpless against the mesmerism of the nefarious Ringmaster, and steals a life-sized, solid gold bull at the villain’s command. When the police interrupt the raid, our hero awakens to find himself an outlaw and a moving target. Things get worse when he is arrested in ‘The Wrath of Odin!’: left a sitting duck for the vengeance of malign brother Loki. However, the god of Evil’s scheme is thwarted when Sif and Balder rush to Thor’s rescue, provoking Odin to de-power and banish them all in ‘Let There be… Chaos!’

As all this high-powered frenzy occurs, a brutal burglar is terrorising Manhattan. When Public Enemy #1 The Wrecker breaks into the house where Loki is hiding, the cheap thug achieves his greatest score – intercepting a magic spell from the formidable Norn Queen intended to restore the mischief maker’s evil energies. Now charged with Asgardian forces, the Wrecker goes on a rampage with only the weakened Thor to challenge him…

Thor #149 enters new territory ‘When Falls a Hero!’ as – after a catastrophic clash – the Wrecker kills the Thunderer. ‘Even in Death…’ has the departed deity facing Hela, Goddess of Death, as Balder and Sif hunt the Norn Queen and Loki. Hoping to save her beloved, Sif enters into a devil’s bargain, surrendering her soul to animate unstoppable war-machine the Destroyer, unaware her lover has already convinced Death to release him. In ‘…To Rise Again!’ the Destroyer, fresh from crushing the Wrecker, turns on a resurrected Thor as Sif is unable to communicate with or overrule the death-machine’s pre-programmed hunger to kill. The situation is further muddled when Odin arbitrarily restores Thor’s godly might, leading the Destroyer to go into lethal overdrive…

Meanwhile in the wilds of Asgard, Ulik the Troll attacks Karnilla, Queen of the Norns and Balder offers to be her champion if Sif is freed from the Destroyer. An astounding turning point comes in ‘The Dilemma of Dr. Blake!’ as Thor joins his lost companions against Ulik, only to lose his newly re-energised hammer to Loki, who flees to Earth with it…

To Be Continued…

However there’s one last reading treat in store as Marvel’s superhero spoof title Not Brand Echh #3 provides a barbed and pitiless pastiche of “Jazzgardian” life in ‘The Origin of Sore, Son of Shmodin!’ by Lee, Kirby & Giacoia. It’s followed by artistic and historical treasure including original and unused cover art and pencil pages, editorial Marvel Bullpen Bulletins and Thor Kirby covers from reprint titles Special Marvel Edition (#3 & 4) and Marvel Spectacular #1-19, plus Maximum Security: Thor vs Ego (2000).

These Thor tales show the development not only of one of Marvel’s fundamental continuity concepts but more importantly the creative evolution of the greatest imagination in comics. Set your common sense on pause and simply wallow in the glorious imagery and power of these classic adventures for the true secret of what makes graphic narrative a unique experience.
© 2022 MARVEL.

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The Michael Moorcock Library – Elric volume 3: The Dreaming City


By Roy Thomas & P Craig Russell with Tom Orzechowski (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78585-334-0 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes some Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Some stories just never grow stale or feel out-of-step. Here is a particular favourite both in prose and comics form that you can find and adore.

The third volume in a proposed complete Michael Moorcock Library of comics adaptations (and prose novels), this is – chronologically at least – the first tale of the doomed king, despite being one of the last adventures penned by Moorcock in the initial prose cycle of stories (he returned to the character years later, as all great authors do to all great characters).

It’s been given an archival polish and pictorial upgrade and is re-presented here in a superb hardcover tome complete from ‘Introduction: Conan, Elric, and Me’ from original adapter Roy Thomas, sharing his history with and undying love of the dark prince…

Elric is an icon and milestone of the Sword & Sorcery genre and one of the first and best of the “last rulers of a pre-human civilization” trope. The austere distant Melnibonéans he rules and leads to destruction are an ancient race of cruel, arrogant sorcerers: dissolute creatures in a slow, decadent decline after millennia of dominance over Earth.

An albino, Emperor Elric VIII, was the 428th of his line: physically weak and of a brooding, philosophical temperament, caring for nothing save his beautiful cousin Cymoril, even though her brother Prince Yrrkoon openly lusted for both his throne and intended bride.

Elric never wanted to rule, it was merely his duty. Crucially, he was the only one of his race to see the newly-evolving race of Man as a threat to the Empire. Thanks to earlier/later canonical tales told (for which see Michael Moorcock Library – Elric volume 1) he owns – or is possessed by – a huge black sword dubbed Stormbringer: a magical blade that steals the souls of all who fall to it and feeds their life and vitality to the albino.

The Dreaming City was the first Elric story Moorcock released, published in pulp periodical Science Fantasy #47 (June 1961). A sensational instant hit, the Last Emperor became the vanguard of a modern revival of the weird fantasy form and an inadvertent foundation stone for the new-born role-playing game market. Its transition to comics began as an adaptation by Roy Thomas & P. Craig Russell: released as a the second Marvel Graphic Novel in 1982.

In this beautifully realised (fully visually remastered for this edition), Elric has been recently usurped and ousted by Yrrkoon. The vile rival also cast Cymoril into an enchanted sleep and holds her hostage. Faustian-like, the albino has entered into a devil’s bargain with assorted human rulers and reivers and now promises to guide an armada of ships in an all-out attack on the deviously fortified island citadel of Immyr, determined to raze the city and eradicate his entire race if that what’s necessary to rescue his beloved…

The pact sees the doomed monarch burn many bridges with old friends, primordial mystic allies of his lost throne and especially his new human allies such as Count Smiorgan, Yaris, King Naclon and Fadan of Lormyr, but Elric is content to destroy the entire world to free his beloved and punish his nemesis…

Thanks to Elric the shaky alliance succeeds in spectacular manner, but Yrrkoon (carrying Stormbringer’s sister sword Mournblade) is easily his master in treachery and deceit, and the rescue mission goes horribly wrong, leaving the Last True Emperor despondent, broken and alone in world he no longer fits, and despised by the surviving humans he abandoned to the vengeful dragon-riding Melnibonéans…

Much like the original prose tale this adaptation has become a milestone of the comics genre: a resplendently flamboyant, deliciously elegant, savagely beautiful masterpiece blending blistering action and glittering adventure with deep, darkly melancholic tone of the cynical, nihilistic, Cold-War mentality and era which spawned the original stories.

Here is an iconic and groundbreaking landmark of fantasy fiction and a must-read-item for any fan…
© 2016 Michael & Linda Moorcock. All characters, the distinctive likenesses thereof, and all related indicia are ™ & © Michael Moorcock and Elric Inc. Elric: The Dreaming City is © 1981, 1982 Roy Thomas and P Craig Russell.

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The Adventures of Red Sonja volume 1


By Roy Thomas, Bruce Jones, Frank Thorne, Dick Giordano, Esteban Maroto, Neal Adams, Ernie Chan & various (Dynamite Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-1-93330-507-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Once upon a time, busty women expertly wielding swords and kicking butt were rarer than politicians and business leaders who respected personal boundaries. Then – for an inexplicably long time – it seemed no lady’s ensemble was complete without a favourite pig-sticker and accompanying armour accessories. That phenomenon eventually settled into women who fight kitted out and tooled up and those who battled unfeasibly underdressed and usually in gear that looked like it really chafed…

If you’d like more fascinating insights on this state of affairs in entertainment arenas you should also check out Jill Bearup’s Just Stab Me Now and/or her YouTube commentaries and lectures on safely and convincingly fighting with sharp objects, heavy implements and a sanguine attitude…

Meanwhile back in comics, you can probably trace the trend for combative, unsuitably cuirassed or chest plated cuties (just stab ME any time now!) to one breakthrough character. Although Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Valkyrie, Asgardian goddess Sif and even Modesty Blaise all used bladed weapons on a daily basis, none of them ever racked up the kill quotient you’d expect or believe of women in battle until ‘The Song of Red Sonja’ (Conan the Barbarian #23, February 1973).

Drawn, inked and coloured by Barry Windsor-Smith with Roy Thomas scripting, the fragment of a larger epic introduced a dark-eyed hellion to the world. The tale became one of the most popular and reprinted stories of the decade, winning that year’s Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards in the Best Individual Story (Dramatic) category.

Although based on Robert E. Howard’s Russian war-woman Red Sonya of Rogatine (as seen in the 16th century-set thriller The Shadow of the Vulture, with a smidgen of Dark Agnes de Chastillon thrown into the mix) the comic book Red Sonja is very much Thomas’ brainchild.

In his Introduction here – ‘A Fond Look Back at Big Red’ – he shares many secrets of her convoluted genesis, development and achievements as part of the first (of three) archival collection (available in trade paperback and digital editions) of her Marvel appearances. Originally released at a time when accepted editorial wisdom declared comics starring women didn’t sell, Marvel Feature (volume 2) was launched to capitalise on a groundswell of popular interest stemming from Sonja’s ongoing guest shots in Conan stories. This first compilation collects issues #1-7 (November 1975-November 1976) and opens with a then scarce-seen reprint…

Sonja graduated from cameo queen to her first solo role in a short eponymous tale scripted by Thomas and illustrated by Esteban Maroto, Neal Adams & Ernie Chan, tucked into the premiere issue of monochrome mature-reader magazine Savage Sword of Conan – cover-dated August 1974. Colourised by Jose Villarrubia and edited to remove the racier bits, it filled out the premier general distribution Marvel Feature, and revealed in sumptuous style how the wandering woman mercenary undertook a mission for King Ghannif of Pah-Dishah. That task led to her momentous first meeting with Conan and her successful completion of the mission; which was supposed to pay off with the potentate’s most treasured gift. When that reward turned out to be a position as his next wife, Sonja’s response was swift, sharp and so very memorable…

That captivating catch-up yarn leads here to ‘The Temple of Abomination’ (Thomas & Dick Giordano) as the restless sell-sword stumbles upon a lost church dedicated to debauched antediluvian gods and saves a dying priest of Mitra from further torture at the paws of monstrous beast-men…

MF #2 delivered the last key component of Red Sonja’s ascendancy as Frank Thorne (June 16th 1930-March 7th 2021) signed on as illustrator. One of the most individualistic talents in American comics, he began his career in 1948, drawing romances for Standard Comics with the legendary Alex Toth before graduating to better paid newspaper strips. Thorne illustrated Perry Mason for King Features Syndicate and at Dell/Gold Key drew Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim and The Green Hornet, as well as the first years of seminal sci-fi classic Mighty Samson.

At DC he produced compelling work on Tomahawk and Son of Tomahawk before being hired by Thomas at Marvel to illustrate (belated) breakthrough strip Red Sonja. Forever-after connected with feisty, earthy, highly sexualised women, in 1978 Thorne created outrageously bawdy (some say vulgar) swordswoman Ghita of Alizarr for Warren’s adult science fantasy anthology 1984/1994 and a succession of adult satirical strips like Moonshine McJugs for Playboy and Danger Rangerette for The National Lampoon. He won the National Cartoonists Award for Comic Books, an Inkpot Award, a Playboy Editorial Award and countless international honorariums over his astoundingly long career. Throughout his controversial career, steadfast supportive wife Marilyn worked beside him. Their 69-year marriage ended when they both died on same day – March 7th 2021.

Applying his loose, vigorous style and frenetic design sense to a meticulously plotted script from Bruce Jones, Thorne hit the ground running with ‘Blood of the Hunter’ wherein Sonja tricks formidable rival Rejak the Tracker out of an enigmatic golden key. She has also unsuspectingly unleashed a whirlwind or torment as the hunter remorselessly stalks Sonja, butchering everyone she befriends and driving her to the brink of death before their final confrontation…

Marvel Feature #3 reveals the secret of the key after Sonja takes some very bad advice from an old wise-woman and reawakens a colossal death-engine from an earlier age in ‘Balek Lives!’ before endless meanderings bring her to a village terrorised by a mythological threat. However, when she looks into the ‘Eyes of the Gorgon’ she discovers the most merciless monsters are merely human. That same lesson is repeated when ‘The Bear God Walks’ but – after joining a profitable bounty hunt for a marauding beast – Sonja and her new comrades soon find that fake horrors can inadvertently summon up real ones…

With #6, Thomas returned as scripter and set up a crossover with Conan and then-paramour Bêlit: pirate queen of the Black Coast. Although the concomitant issues of Conan the Barbarian (#66-68) aren’t reproduced here, the story is constructed in such a way that most readers won’t notice anything amiss…

Thus, ‘Beware the Sacred Sons of Set’ sees Sonja – after routing a pack of jackal-headed humanoid assailants – commissioned by Karanthes, High Priest of the Ibis God, to secure a magical page torn from mystic grimoire the Iron-Bound Book of Skelos in demon-haunted Stygia. She’s barely aware of an unending war between ancient deities, or that old colleague and rival Conan of Cimmeria is similarly seeking the arcane artefact…

After clashing repeatedly with her rivals and defeating numerous beasts and terrors, Sonja believes she has gained the upper hand in ‘The Battle of the Barbarians’, but there is more at stake than any doughty warrior can imagine…

To Be Continued…

Augmented by a colour-remastered cover gallery by Gil Kane and Thorne, this is a bold and bombastic furiously fun fiesta for fantasy action fans of all ages, genders or persuasions.

RED SONJA® and related logos, characters, names and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Red Sonja Corporation unless otherwise noted. All Rights Reserved.

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Conan the Barbarian Epic Collection volume 4: Queen of the Black Coast (1974-1976)


By Roy Thomas, Fred Blosser, John Buscema, Mike Ploog, Tim Conrad & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 1-84576-137-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

In the 1970’s, America’s comic book industry opened up after more than 15 years of calcified publishing practises promulgated by the censorious, self-inflicted Comics Code Authority: a self-imposed oversight organisation created to police product after the industry suffered its very own McCarthy-style 1950s Witch-hunt. The first genre revisited during the literary liberation was Horror/Mystery, and from those changes sprang migrated pulp star Conan.

Sword & Sorcery stories had been undergoing a prose revival in the paperback marketplace since the release of softcover editions of Lord of the Rings in 1954 and, in the 1960s, revivals of the fantasies of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline, Fritz Lieber and others were making huge inroads into buying patterns across the world. The old masters had also been augmented by many modern writers. Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter and others kick-started their prose careers with contemporary versions of man against mage against monsters. The undisputed overlord of the genre was Robert E. Howard with his 1930s pulp masterpiece Conan of Cimmeria.

Gold Key had notionally opened the field in 1964 with cult hit Mighty Samson, followed by ‘Clawfang the Barbarian’ in Thrill-O-Rama #2 in 1966. Both steely warriors dwelt in post-apocalyptic techno-wildernesses, but in 1969 DC dabbled with previously code-proscribed mysticism as Nightmaster in Showcase #82 -84, following the example of CCA-exempt Warren anthologies Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella. Marvel tested the waters with barbarian villain/Conan prototype Arkon the Magnificent in Avengers #76 (April 1970) and the same month went all-out with short supernatural thriller ‘The Sword and the Sorcerers’ in their own watered-down horror anthology Chamber of Darkness #4.

Written by Roy Thomas and drawn by fresh-faced Barry Smith (a recent Marvel find who was just breaking out of the company’s still-prevalent Kirby house-style) the tale introduced Starr the Slayer who also bore no small resemblance to the Barbarian-in-waiting…

Conan the Barbarian debuted with an October 1970 cover-date and – despite early teething problems, including being cancelled and reinstated in the same month – these strip adventures of Howard’s primal hero were as big a success as the prose yarns they adapted. Conan became a huge hit: a blockbuster brand that prompted new prose tales, movies, TV series, cartoon shows, a newspaper strip and all the other paraphernalia of global superstardom.

However, times changed, sales declined and in 2003 the property found a different comics publisher, before – after decades away – in 2019 the brawny brute returned to the aegis of Marvel.

Their first bite of the cherry was retroactively subtitled “the Original Marvel Years” due to the character’s sojourn with Dark Horse Comics and other intellectual rights holders with this fourth compendium – spanning cover-dates August 1974 to February 1976 – reprinting Conan the Barbarian #43-59 plus a tale from Savage Sword of Conan #1. It highlights a period when the burly brute was very much the darling of the Comics universe and when artist John Buscema made the hero his very own.

Adaptor Thomas had resolved to follow the character’s narrative timeline as laid out by Howard and successors such as L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, expanded and padded out with other adaptions of REH and his contemporaries and – almost as a last resort – all-new adventures. Thus, content was evermore redolent of pulp-oriented episodic action rather than traditional fantasy fiction.

As we hurtle back in time approximately 12,000 years to a forgotten age of wonders, and – following the now traditional map of ‘The Hyborean Age of Conan’ plus accompanying mandatory establishing quote, the saga resumes with a riotous romp from Savage Sword of Conan #1 (August 1974).

The series had broken many moulds, including being able to sustain not just a general audience but also appropriate for Marvel’s monochrome magazine division, offering more explicitly violent and risqué fare for supposedly more mature readers. For this market he debuted in Savage Tales #1 (1971) before winning his own magazine residency. Savage Sword of Conan launched in August 1974, running 235 issues until its cancellation in July 1995. Throughout its life SSoC offered powerful stories, features on all things RE Howard and some of the most incredible artwork ever to grace comics pages. The antediluvian experience opens with #1’s lead yarn. Thomas, John Buscema & Pablo Marcos’ ‘Curse of the Undead-Man’ was adapted from Howard’s short story Mistress of Death with Conan meeting old comrade Red Sonja amongst the fleshpots of “The Maul” in Zamora’s City of Thieves before falling foul of sorcerer Costranno: a mage for whom being chopped to mincemeat is only a minor inconvenience but who still strenuously objected to being robbed and murdered…

A sequence of self-contained tales resumes in the colour newsstand Conan the Barbarian #43 (October 1974) as Thomas continues to follow Howard and de Camp’s roadmap. The saga begins with the warriors’ rapid escape from Zamora, relentlessly pursued by bounty hunters. Trouble finds them when they are taken by bat-monsters to a ‘Tower of Blood’ (inked by Erni Chan nee Chua) where the husky lout is forcibly “admired” by ancient queen-with-a-secret Uathacht and threatened by her sorcerer brother Morophla. The mage has been hiding from Conan’s sworn foe Thoth Amon for simply ages and has revolting plans for both warriors which go appallingly awry in #44’s ‘Of Flame and the Fiend!’ (collaboratively inked by “The Crusty Bunkers”). Exposed as less than human the siblings inflict a ghastly burden on Conan but aren’t sage enough to escape his and Sonja’s inevitable vengeance…

An eerily memorable change-of-pace tragedy sees the shaken and morbidly morose barbarian befriend a foredoomed bard in ‘The Last Ballad of Laza-Lanti’: agreeing to take the troubled troubadour to his place of origin and encountering yet again the horrors that lurk in the Hyborian age…

The next half year comprises a protracted and loving adaptation of prose pulp yarn Kothar and the Conjurer’s Curse, originally penned by the prolific and justifiably legendary Gardner F. Fox (if anybody deserves the title of Elder God of comic books it must be He!). Here our cantankerous Cimmerian is once again embroiled in war between wizards and wades through imperilled maidens and gore galore in equal amounts, beginning with ‘The Curse of the Conjurer!’ as inked by Joe Sinnott. When the wanderer is coerced by magician Merdoramon into delivering a protective amulet to embattled Regent Themas Herklar of Phalkar, the simple mission to safeguard the ruler from his own treacherous court wizards soon proves riddled with undisclosed peril and duplicity.

En route he saves supposed witch Stefanya from burning at the stake and is diverted by her need to have him rescue her master Zoqquanor. Although a “good wizard”, the mage had linked her life force to his own and she needs to ensure his future safety. That proves tricky when they pull the comatose conjuror from his shattered castle and awaken crystal homunculus Shokkoth, and gets even harder in the Dan Adkins inked ‘Goblins in the Moonlight!’ (#47) as a R&R stopover in seemingly sedate ruins sparks an attack by more supernatural horrors…

The issue also provided a text feature on ‘Conan’s Parents’ illustrated by Tim Conrad, before the quest resumes in #48 where ‘The Rats Dance at Ravengard!’ Dick Giordano & Adkins inks) as a formative episode from Conan’s youth – with Priestess of the Wild Ursla – leads to a close shave with local warlord Torkal Moh, near death-by-rats and answers to many of the obscure machinations in play, thanks to Ursla’s latterday kinswoman Lupalina the Wolf Mistress…

With the aid of the ‘Wolf-Woman!’ Conan rescues Stefanya – revealed as a crucial pawn in the region’s politics – and topples Torkal Moh, but retrieving the Amulet in #50 unleashes ‘The Dweller in the Pool!’ whose subsequent dispatch by the Cimmerian triggers civil war, the downfall of the Phalkar’s resident magicians and the horror they served and the restoration of a long lost princess in concluding chapter ‘Man Born of Demon!’

Cover-dated July 1975 and stunningly crafted by Thomas, Buscema and Tom Palmer, Conan The Barbarian #52 signalled a turning point in the Cimmerian’s life as he signs on to fight a war with old Corinthian associate Murilo (from Conan #11): now leading a mercenary army of Condottieri dubbed the Crimson Company. He can always use a proven warrior, and also takes under his wing a street urchin/acrobat called Tara of Hanumar whom Conan had saved from an unfair fight…

Re-outfitting the almost-naked wanderer in arms and armour (and clothes!), Murilo’s band are headed to Ronnoco in anticipation of a war between states but the march almost ends in disaster when the mercenaries accidentally awaken an interred horror from antiquity in ‘The Altar and the Scorpion!’ Thanks to Conan the horror from the age of King Kull is defeated, but as the survivors depart they are unaware that a second terror was aroused… and now follows…

Frank Spinger embellished #53 as the Crimson Company reach their client city but are attacked by those inside. When the costly misunderstanding is rectified, Conan has made another enemy after displaying his feelings to arrogant autocrat Prince Vanni who ordered the assault on his comrades and refuses to allow any mercenaries inside walled city of Ronnoco.

King Belzamo is at least more diplomatic as he outlines the causes of the war with rival city-states Carnolla and Pergona and demands his hirelings’ first action: kidnapping the princess Yvonna of Pergona so she can be made to wed Vanni. However, defeating her terrifying bodyguards the ‘Brothers of the Blade!’ proves harder than anticipated and unknown to all, a dark hungry shadow is slowly consuming everything it its path…

Palmer returns in #54 as teen sole survivor Yusef brings a warning of the hungry shadow leading to Conan, Tara and Yusef ordered away to consult ‘The Oracle of Ophir!’ Their reconnaissance and information gathering is hampered by myriad mystic deterrents that culminate in the brawny barbarian battling his own deadly doppelganger and only getting away with highly suspect vague proclamations by guile not force. The party arrives back at Ronnoco (in #55) to find ‘A Shadow on the Land!’ and untold horror besieging the city, prompting Conan to go AWOL and return to the site of a previous victory. His hunch proves correct and he unleashes the one thing the shadow cannot consume, bring an abrupt universally unsatisfactory end to the war – and their pay – through political compromise and economic pragmatism…

Pausing for breath and the Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott cover for November 1975’s Giant-Size Conan #5 (a reprint vehicle teaming our hero with Michael Moorcock’s doomed king Elric and not included here) Conan, Tara and Yusef quit the Crimson company and in CTB #56 discover ‘The Strange High Tower in the Mist!’ Inked by Pablo Marcos, the tale finds the trio bewildered by a keep apparently populated by oblivious silent ghosts and a bat monster, but seeing in not always believing…

Still sticking to Howard’s roadmap, Thomas and illustrator Mike (Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Werewolf By Night, Monster of Frankenstein, Weirdworld, Planet of the Apes) Ploog detail an ‘Incident in Argos!’ for #57 that acts as a prelude to a momentous stage in Conan’s life. Falling foul of stupid laws, city guards and sanctimonious judges, the barbarian and his teen charges face jail and punitive amputation until Conan goes wild. Separated, they escape individually just in time for the Cimmerian to reach the long-awaited beginning of Howard’s great love story…

Pulp novelette Queen of the Black Coast was published in the May 1934 Weird Tales, obliquely told of Conan’s time as infamous pirate “Amra”: plundering the coasts of Kush (prehistoric Africa) beside his first great love. The brief but tragic tale of bold buccaneer Bêlit would be expanded over the next few years in an epic storyline that ran to #100 of the monthly comic and officially launched with Conan The Barbarian #58.

Here Thomas, Buscema & Steve Gan launched ‘Queen of the Black Coast!’ as the frantic Cimmerian fugitive finds safe harbour on an outward bound Argossean trading ship caught in a surging tide. Despite barely and extremely publicly escaping a fusillade of guards’ spears, the Northborn outlaw befriends entrepreneurial Captain Tito – himself a regular loser when faced with Argos’ corrupt lawmakers and taxmen – and settles into the mariner’s life.

After visiting many fabulous ports and exotic wild places, Conan’s life changes again when the ship encounters the most feared vessel afloat. When the fighting is done only Conan remains, having made a devil’s feast of the attacking pirates. Even he cannot beat this horde of Kushite warriors but as he prepares to die fighting, the white queen of these black pillagers grants him his life. When some pirates complain, Conan is allowed to earn his place by fighting the objectors and soon settles in… as Bêlit’s prize…

This volume concludes with Thomas, Buscema & Gan’s spellbinding origin yarn as #59 reveals in the words of shaman mentor/guardian N’yaga how the woman remade herself in ‘The Ballad of Bêlit!’. Conan hears how a Shemite child whose seafaring father was king of Asgalun until murdered by Stygians who placed her uncle on the vacant throne. He marvels at her life, growing up among barbarous tribesmen of the Silver Isles where she was trained in warrior arts to best any man. With amazement the Cimmerian learns how, by facing and mastering supernal horrors and using them to destroy a jealous chieftain, the war maiden became – in the eyes of the tribes – the earthly daughter of their Death Goddess Derketa, sworn to take her vengeance on Stygians and all who deal with them…

… And Conan also realises that he loves Bêlit beyond all else, even if she may not be human…

To Be Continued…

With covers by Boris Vallejo, Gil Kane, Dan Adkins, Neal Adams, John Romita, Tom Palmer, Dick Giordano, Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, Vince Colletta, this dark love story is also burnished by behind the scenes extras such as a more detailed map of ‘The Hyborean Age of Conan’ and world, taken from 1978’s Conan the Barbarian Marvel Treasury Edition #19 whilst #4 of the same name provides stunningly beautiful front & back covers by Barry Windsor-Smith, and text article ‘An Informal History of the Thomas/Smith Conan’.

There’s also Windsor-Smith’s watercolour Conan image and illustrated page (May) from the 1975 Mighty Marvel Calendar plus House ads, plus original Buscema unused cover art and pencil pages with equivalent inked version from Savage Sword of Conan #1. There are even pre and post CCA moderated images of Bêlit and Conan…

Stirring, evocative, cathartic and thrilling, these yarns are deeply satisfying on a primal level, and this is one of the best volumes in a superb series starring a paragon of adventure heroes. This is classic pulp/comic action in all its unashamed exuberance: an honestly guilty pleasure for old time fans and newbies of all persuasion. What more does any red-blooded, action-starved fan need to know?
© 2021 Conan Properties International, LLC (“CPI”)

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Creepy Presents Steve Ditko


By Steve Ditko, with Archie Goodwin, Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson dddf Ben Oda, Bill Yoshida & various (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-216-9 (HB/Digital edition)

Once upon a time the short complete tale was the sole staple of the comic book profession, where the intent was to deliver as much variety and entertainment fulfilment as possible to the reader. Sadly that particular discipline is all but lost to us today…

Steve Ditko was one of our industry’s greatest talents and one of America’s least lauded. His fervent desire to just get on with his job and to tell stories the best way he can, whilst the noblest of aspirations, was always a minor consideration and stumbling block for the commercial interests which for so long monopolised comics production and which still exert an overwhelming influence upon the mainstream bulk of Funnybook output.

Before his time at Marvel, Ditko pursued perfection, creating immaculately paced, staged and rendered short stories for a variety of companies; tirelessly honing his craft with genre tales for whichever publisher would have him, free from the interference of over-intrusive editors.

Even after hitting the big time at Marvel and DC, it’s a creative arena he stayed active in, and this collection gathers some of his rarest yet most accomplished examples, produced at a time when a hidebound industry was just starting to open up to new publishers and fresh themes.

After Ditko’s legendary disagreements with Stan Lee led to his leaving Marvel – where his groundbreaking work made the reclusive genius (at least in comic book terms) a household name – he resumed a long association with Charlton Comics, but also found work at Warren Publications under whiz-kid writer/Editor Archie Goodwin.

The details are fully recounted in Mark Evanier’s biographically informative Foreword, as are hints of the artist’s later spells of creative brilliance at DC, the growing underground movement and nascent independent comics scene…

Erudite and economical, Evanier even finds room to describe and critique the differing art techniques Ditko experimented with during this brief tenure. Whilst working for Warren – between 1966 and 1967 – Ditko enjoyed great editorial freedom and cooperation. He crafted 16 moody monochrome masterpieces – most written by Goodwin – all without interference from the Comics Code Authority’s draconian and nonsensical rules. They ranged from baroque and bizarre fantasy to spooky suspense and science fiction yarns, limited only by the bounds of good taste – or at least as far as horror tales ever can be…

And whilst we’re name-checking unsung heroes, it’s only fair to reveal that all were lettered by Ben Oda or Bill Yoshida.

The uncanny yarns appeared in monochrome magazine anthologies Creepy and Eerie, affording Ditko time and room to experiment with not only a larger page, differing styles and media, but also to dabble in then-unknown comics genres. Those lost stories are gathered into a spectacular oversized (284 x 218 mm) hardback compendium – part of a series of all-star artist compilations which includes Rich Corben and Bernie Wrightson amongst others – and begins here with the short shockers from Creepy.

Culled from #9 and delivered in beguiling wash-tones, ‘The Spirit of the Thing!’ starts with shadows and screams, moves on to a dying man and reveals how teacher and student battle in a mind-bending phantasmagorical other-realm for possession of one healthy body, before #10’s ‘Collector’s Edition!’ returns to crisp line art to detail an obsessive bibliophile’s hunt for a mystic tome… and the reason he should have left well enough alone.

Gripping grey-tones reveal how a gullible prize-fighter is manipulated into becoming a bludgeoning ‘Beast Man!’, after which Creepy #12 sees a disturbed man turn to a psychoanalyst to cure his delusions in ‘Blood of the Werewolf!’ Of all the headshrinkers in all the world…

Throughout his time at Marvel – and especially on Doctor Strange – Ditko was applauded for astounding other-dimensional scenes and depictions. In ‘Second Chance!’, that facility is especially exercised when a wise guy regrets his earlier deal with the devil before ‘Where Sorcery Lives!’ pre-empts and anticipates the 1970s Sword-&-Sorcery boom (and Ditko’s own Stalker at DC) as quintessential barbarian hero Garth battles the ghastly legions of vile necromancer Salamand the Sorcerer…

Creepy #15 introduced another sword-swinging proto-Conan in ‘Thane: City of Doom!’, wherein our unwashed warrior titanically thrashes thaumic terrors but nearly succumbs to the hidden threats of a comely queen…

Goodwin didn’t script the last Creepy yarn for Ditko in #16. ‘The Sands that Change!’ was devised by Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson who produced a self-referential tale of a comics artist and his wife falling victim to macabre forces on a desert vacation. Although the story is pedestrian, Ditko’s choice of illustrative materials elevates it to one of the most memorable in his uncanny canon…

The rest of this titanic terror-tome re-presents the Ditko/Goodwin Eerie oeuvre, starting with ‘Room with a View!’ from #3. Rendered in claustrophobic line art, it details how a tired, obnoxious traveller insists on occupying a cheap suite his hotelier would do anything not to rent…

‘Shrieking Man!’ from #4 reveals how an incurable maniac is brought back from agonising insanity by a new doctor, much to the regret of the asylum chief who caused this condition, after which ‘Black Magic’ rolls back the years to mediaeval Europe and a final battle between sorcerer and apprentice…

An affluent and greedy jeweller learns to forever regret taking the ‘Deep Ruby!’ from a desperate hobo in Eerie #6, whilst an underworld plastic surgeon can’t save his latest patient from the depredations of ‘Fly!’ in issue #7. ‘Demon Sword!’ then explores the darkest recesses of psychological transformation and temptation before ‘Isle of the Beast!’ (#9) revisits the hoary Man-hunting-Men plot, but proves that you can never be too careful about who you pick as victim…

The scary sessions conclude with fantasy feast ‘Warrior of Death!’, wherein a barbarian warlord makes a deal with Death and learns that Higher Beings just cannot be trusted…

This voluminous volume has episodes which terrify, amaze, amuse and enthral: utter delights of fantasy fiction with lean, stripped down plots and a dark wit allowing art to set the tone, push the emotions and tell the tale, from a time when a story could end sadly as well as happily and only wonderment was on the agenda, hidden or otherwise.

These stories display the sharp wit and dark comedic energy which epitomised both Goodwin and Warren, channelled through Ditko’s astounding versatility and storytelling acumen: another cracking collection of his works not only superb in its own right but also a telling affirmation of the gifts of one of the art-form’s greatest stylists. This is a book serious comics fans would happily kill, die or be lost in a devil-dimension for…
Creepy, the Creepy logo and all contents © 1966, 1967, 2013 by New Comic Company. All rights reserved.

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Dungeon Zenith volume 5 Fog and Tears


By Joann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim & Boulet, translated by Joe Johnson (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-316-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

Somewhere way out there, is a planet called Terra Amata. On this world of rich history and diverse ways of life, there’s a castle in a fantastic land of miracles, quests and adventures. Once upon a time it was also a rather dangerous meeting place dubbed the Dungeon…

As primarily crafted by prolific artisans Joann Sfar (Les Potamoks, Professeur Bell, Les olives noires, The Rabbi’s Cat) and Lewis Trondheim (Little Nothings, Stay, Ralph Azham) in collaboration with associates of a collective of bande dessinée creators (L’Association) – the Donjon saga has generated 59 volumes since debuting in 1998. A cult hit all over the world, it began as spoof and parody of roleplaying fantasy games, but as so often with stories of innate charm and high quality, it grew beyond its intentions…

After a cruelly long hiatus, English translations recently resumed, repackaged in full-colour album-sized paperbacks, forming sub-divisions of a vast, eccentrically raucous, addictively wacky generational franchise which welds starkly adult whimsy to the weird worlds of Sword & Sorcery sagas. These omnibus tomes take a legion of horribly human anthropomorphic stars into territories even wilder than those seen in Dungeon: Early Years, Parade, Zenith and Monstres. Latterly, adjuncts such as Antipodes and Bonus joined the sprawling braided mega-saga set on an alien world very much like ours in all the ways that really matter…

Dungeon reveals Terra Armata in time-separated epochs via periodic glimpses of a fantastic edifice on an unstable world where magic is a natural resource. Anthropomorphic inhabitants of the surreal realm include every kind of talking beast and bug, as well as monsters, demons, smart-a$$es, wizards, politicians and always – in all ways – strong, stroppy women-folk, making sense and taking charge. Whenever you look there’s always something happening and it’s usually quite odd…

Nominal star throughout the eons is a duck with a magic sword enabling – and eventually compelling – him to channel and/or be possessed by deceased heroes and dead monsters. At the time of these tales – long before his ethical downfall and rise to the unassailable rank of Grand Khan of dying, burning Terra Armata – he is simply Herbert of Craftiwich: and as usual he’s in a lot of trouble…

Just so we’re all on the same page: the “Dungeon” referred to is (mostly) an eternal hostelry and meeting place for wandering heroes, villains and extras we readers see over centuries. Adventures are staged as figurative times of day. Prequel series Potron-Minet relates to the dawn of the establishment, Donjon Zénith – the focus of today’s lesson – concentrates on a glorious hey-day, whilst the decline takes up Crépuscule – the twilight years.

Joining master craftsmen Sfar & Trondheim and supplying the art is Gilles Roussel AKA “Boulet”. He was born in the Parisienne sous-préfecture (sub-prefecture) of Meaux on February 1st 1975 and studied at the Graduate School of Decorative arts in Strasbourg, before creating comics like Raghnarok in 2001. Three years later he was one of the first to publish autobiographical webcomics (“Blog BD”) and became a leading light in the burgeoning field: a doyen of Paris’ Festival des blogs BD. Amongst jobs for magazines like Psikopat and Tchô, Boulet’s milestones include La Rubrique Scientifique, science comics series Project Octopus (from 2017), and many key literary collaborations such as Erik le Viking with Terry Jones (2008) and Par bonheur, le lait with Neil Gaiman (2015). In 2006, he took over the art for Donjon Zénith from Trondheim.

As so lavishly translated by NBM, Fog & Tears shares French Donjon Zénith tomes 9 &10: Larmes et brouillard and Formule incantatoire: seeing valiant Herbert in the worst trouble of his life in the eponymous opening instalment. The Dungeon has been captured by magical villain Delacour and all attempts to recapture it have failed. Now Herbert’s allies plan to take it back…

The duck has bigger problems. The dashing lover has just had a son with his beloved: a Kochak warrior princess. Isis is adamant that the infant will undergo all the rituals of her people, and he will accompany her into a frozen hell. He’s keen to accede to her every wish but the devout steppe-dwellers are intensely stubborn and unyielding and the duck is worried about his boy’s chances. Herbert has learned the Opasnyye Rite involves throwing infants into a pit of hungry wolves and seeing what happens…

After travelling deep into the icy region and utterly failing to talk Isis out of it, Herbert steals the baby and makes a run for home with an outraged army of fanatical military marvels on his heels. With Kochak ninjas and – far worse – Isis in close pursuit, the duck rejoins his abandoned allies and smuggles the waif onto the infiltration mission to Delacour’s Dungeon. Elsewhere, Dragonista couple Marvin and Pirzween – and their own newborn – survive a visit from Isis, leaving the outraged mother doubting her faith and the infant’s chances of survival.

In the aftermath, the duck duke and a dedicated band of necromancers slip into the keep, as do an army of outraged Kolchaks. In response, Delacour unleashes a plague of ghosts from profane coffer the Vault of Souls before fleeing. If the chest is not closed, the dead will overrun the world…

As chief necromancer Horus seeks to hold back the dead, Isis and her acolytes reclaim the baby, dragging poor misguided Herbert back north with them so he can witness the ritual that will make his son a Kolchak and the inheritor of the kingdom…

When all the tragedy ends, her father the Ataman realises that now his only chance for a true heir rests with him and recapturing the duck and his apostate daughter can wait…

In second chapter ‘Incantatory Spells’ his abandoned comrades – Marvin and Pirzween – take centre stage as Herbert’s ally Alcibiades recruits them for a convoluted conjurors’ quest to close the mystic chest still spewing ghosts into the world of the living. With only rapidly-weakening Horus holding back the host, Marvin undergoes humiliation multiple agonizing self-inflicted penances and even more humiliation as he chases down a string of components that will allow his magic wielding allies and comrades to stop the undead invasion.

It’s not the succession of weird wizards and constant stupid diversions that get to him though, it’s sneaking about in cowardly disguises – like when the mighty lizard must impersonate an elf – and Pirzween’s constant back-seat warrior-ing that ticks him off. That and her stupid girlish manner around old school flame/utterly unnecessary mystical quest-mate Blaise…

In the end though, even Herbert – and especially Blaise – have to agree that it’s Marvin’s idea and muscle that save the day and end the threat…

To be Continued…

Please be warned: these cartoon tales are a bit more sophisticated than general English or American fare. I know you’re okay with vicariously indulging in extreme and excessive depictions of violence, but if you fear your children, loved ones, livestock or servants might be adversely affected by mild swearing or nipples on birds and lizards, take whatever appropriate action you choose (which I believe is the magic phrase “it’s only a comic, dear”).

The rest of us will just carry on without you…

Surreal, earthy, brilliantly outlandish, sharply poignant, wittily hilarious and powerfully tragic, this is a subtly addictive read delivered via vibrant, wildly eccentric cartooning that is an absolute marvel of exuberant, graphic style. Despite being definitely not for younger readers, Dungeon Zenith is the kind of near-the-knuckle, illicit and smart epic older kids and adults will adore. And for the fullest comprehension – and even more insane fun – I strongly recommend acquiring all attendant incarnations too.
© Editions Delcourt 2022, 2023-2005. (Donjon Zénith tomes 9 &10 by Boulet, Joann Sfar Lewis Trondheim). © 2023 NBM for the English translation.

Dungeon: Zenith Vol. 5 – Fog & Tears will be released on October 17th 2023 and is available for pre-order now. For more information and other great reads please go to http://www.nbmpub.com/.

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Solomon Kane volume 1: The Castle of the Devil


By Scott Allie, Mario Guevara, Dave Stewart & various (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59582-282-6 (TPB)

Although Marvel have resumed control of Robert E. Howard’s star turns, they haven’t yet re-issued all the prior efforts of the previous licensee yet. That’s a shame as this particular tome has Halloween written all over it. Until they do, why not scour shoppes and online sites for a copy. The exercise will probably do you good and who knows what else you might find?

Following on from their revitalisation – if not actual creation – of the comic book Sword and Sorcery genre in the early 1970s (with their magnificent adaptation of pulp superstar Conan the Barbarian), Marvel Comics quite naturally looked for more of the same. They found ample material in Robert Ervin Howard’s other warrior heroes such as King Kull, Bran Mac Morn and dour Puritan Avenger Solomon Kane.

The fantasy genre had undergone a global prose revival in the paperback marketplace since the release of soft-cover editions of Lord of the Rings (first published in 1954), and the 1960s resurgence of two-fisted action extravaganzas by such pioneer writers as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline and Fritz Lieber. This led to a generation of modern writers like Michael Moorcock and Lin Carter kick-starting their careers with contemporary interpretations of man, monster and mage. Without doubt, though, nobody did it better than the tragic Texan whose other red-handed stalwarts and tough guys such as El Borak, Steve Costigan, Dark Agnes and Red Sonya of Rogatino excelled in a host of associated genres and like milieus.

Solomon Kane debuted in the August 1928 issue of Weird Tales in a gripping tale of vengeance entitled “Red Shadows”. He made seven more appearances before vanishing in 1932 as his creator concentrated on far more successful Conan. Three further tales, some epic poems and a few unfinished ideas and passages remained unpublished until 1968, when renewed interest in the author’s work prompted publishers to disinter and complete the yarns.

Apart from two noteworthy 4-colour exceptions, during the 1970s and 1980s, Marvel was content to leave Solomon Kane to monochrome adaptations of canonical Howard stories (in Dracula Lives, Savage Sword of Conan, Monsters Unleashed and other older-reader magazines), but with his transfer to the Dark Horse stable the Holy Terror flourished in broader, lavishly-hued interpretations of the unfinished snippets left when the prolific Howard took his life in 1936.

Beginning in 2008 and released as a succession of miniseries, these nearly-new adventures offer modern fans a far darker, more moody glimpse at the driven, doom-laden wanderer.

Kane is a disenfranchised English soldier of fortune in the 17th century on a self-appointed mission to roam the Earth doing God’s Work: punishing the wicked and destroying devils and monsters. With no seeming plan, the devout Puritan lets fate guide his footsteps ever towards trouble…

Expanded upon and scripted by Scott Allie from tantalisingly unfinished fragment The Castle of the Devil, this initial volume collects a 5-issue story-arc from September 2008-February 2009 and also includes a short piece which originally featured online in the digital MySpace Dark Horse Presents site in June 2008.

The drama opens as the surly pilgrim bloodily encounters bandits and an horrific wolf-beast in Germany’s Black Forest, losing his horse in the attack. Proceeding on foot he finds a boy hanging from a gibbet and cuts the near-dead body down. Soon after, he meets mercenary John Silent, another Englishman in search of fortune…

From his new companion, Kane learns local lord, Baron von Staler, has an evil reputation and will not be happy to have his affairs meddled with. The puritan doesn’t care: he wants harsh words with the kind of man who would execute children…

Despite genuine misgivings, the insufferably jolly Silent insists on accompanying his clearly suicidal countryman. Soon the pair are admitted to a bleak and terrifying Schloss built on the remains of an old abbey…

Von Staler is not the mad tyrant they had been warned of. The gracious, pious old warrior with devoted servants and a beautiful young Moorish wife welcomes them in, offering the hospitality of his hearth and charming them with his easy manner. The lord is appalled by the tale of the hanged boy, denying any knowledge of the atrocity and swears to bring the culprits to justice.

Over supper he and his bride Mahasti explain that their ill-repute is unjustly earned. The simple peasants have unfairly conflated him with the manse’s previous accursed inhabitants: a chapter of monks who murdered their own Prior two centuries past.

Vater Stuttman had been a holy man until he sold himself to Satan. His desperate brethren had been forced to entomb and starve him to contain his evil. With the church determinedly ignoring their plight, the chapter faded from the sight of Man and eventually Staler’s family had purchased the lands, building their ancestral seat upon the ruins.

The peasants however, still called it “the Church of the Devil”…

Gratified to find a man as devoted to God as himself, Kane relaxes for the first time in months, thankful to spend a night in a warm bed with people as devout as he. The truth begins to out at ‘The Dead of Night’ as Silent goes prowling within the castle and kills one of the Baron’s retainers, even as Kane’s rest is disturbed by shameless Mahasti offering herself to him…

Spurning her advances, the furious puritan leaves the citadel to wander the forest, and again encounters the colossal wolf thing. Back in his bed Silent, nursing a deep wound, dreams of beleaguered old monks and their apostate Prior…

In ‘Offerings’ the truth slowly begins to dawn on the melancholy wanderer after discourse with the strangely ill-tempered Silent. Something is badly amiss in the household, but when Kane and the Baron ride out that morning, all suspicions are stayed by the discovery of another gibbet and another boy. This one, however, is nothing but ragged scraps for the crows that festoon his corpse, and Kane’s rage is dwarfed by the ghastly uncomprehending shock and disbelief of the Baron…

The servants are not so flustered and something about their muted conversations with the master sits poorly with the morose Englishman. In the castle, Mahasti finds Silent a far more amenable prospect, happy to listen to the secrets she wants to share…

‘Sound Reasons and Evil Dictates’ offer more insights into the incredible truth about von Staler, as Kane takes his countryman into his full confidence before Silent and Mahasti ride out into the wild woods, meeting a ghost who reveals the terrifying truth about Vater Stuttman and the appalling thing the monks uncovered two hundred years past…

The demonic cadaver whispered unknowable secrets to one of that long-gone congregation and has continued for all the days and years since. Now the man who was Father Albrecht is ready to welcome it and its appalling kin back to full, ravening life in these benighted grounds…

Von Staler and Kane are arguing and, as accusations become blows, the secret of ‘The Wolf’ is at last revealed, even as faithful retainers capture Mahasti and Silent, leaving them on the gibbets as fodder for a quartet of horrors returning for their fleshly tribute in ‘His Angels of the Four Winds’. Savagely battling his way free of the castle, Kane is only in time to save one of the monsters’ victims, but more than ready to avenge centuries of slaughter and blasphemy in ‘The Chapel of the Devil’: grimly cleansing the tainted lands in the ‘Epilogue: Wanderers on the Face of the Earth’…

The art is beguiling, emphatically evocative with Mario Guevara’s pencils astonishingly augmented by a painted palette courtesy of colourist Dave Stewart, and the book is packed with artistic extras and behind-the-scenes bonuses. These include a gallery of covers and variants and ‘The Art of Solomon Kane’ with sketches and designs by the penciller, architectural shaper Guy Davis and illustrators John Cassaday, Stewart, Laura Martin & Joe Kubert. The tome terminates with that aforementioned digital vignette wherein Kane applies his own savage wisdom of Solomon to a troubled village of ghost-bedevilled souls in ‘The Nightcomers’…

Powerful, engaging and satisfactorily spooky, this fantasy fear-fest will delight both fans of the original canon and lovers of darkly dreaming, ghost-busting thrillers.
© 2009 Solomon Kane Inc. (SKI). Solomon Kane and all related characters, names and logos are ™ © and ® SKI.

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The Michael Moorcock Library Elric volume 4: The Weird of the White Wolf


Adapted by Roy Thomas, Michael T. Gilbert, George Freeman, P. Craig Russell, Tom Orzechowski & various (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78276-290-4 (HB/Digital edition)

As we’re all waving swords about, here’s another splendidly fantastikal romp everyone should have in their personal casque of delights and wonders…

A milestone of the Sword & Sorcery genre Elric is the last ruler of a pre-human civilisation. Domain of a race of cruel, arrogant sorcerers, Melniboné ruled the world in primordial times before its debased lords embraced boredom and decadence. Trapped in gradual decline after millennia of dominance, the end came through its final king. An albino, Elric is physically weak and of a brooding, philosophical temperament. He cared for nothing save his beautiful cousin Cymoril, whom he killed whilst battling her loathsome usurping brother Prince Yrrkoon. After Elric destroyed his own love and race he wandered the world a broken, dissolute wreck…

When some prose tales – The Dreaming City, While the Gods Laugh and The Singing Citadel – were compiled with framing tale The Dream of Earl Aubec into a single novel Elric: Weird of the White Wolf, the tragic revelations were devoured by fans devoted to the epic of inescapable doom, and translation into comics was as inevitable. Ultimately, the epic adaptations alighted in these carefully curated chronicles courtesy of Titan Comics, in both physical and digital formats.

Following a warmly informative Introduction by pioneering comics writer and publisher Mike Friedrich, and creator biographies, the saga resumes.

This stellar graphic adaptation gathers not only the novel but also many of the disparate previous adaptations (partially or in full) to form a logical chronological sequence, based on a 5-issue miniseries and collection which originally saw the light of day from the much-missed innovators First Comics in 1990.

Death and drama manifests in ‘The Dream of Earl Aubec’ – by Roy Thomas, Michael T. Gilbert & George Freeman (spectacularly supported by letterer Ken Bruzenak) – as the greatest warrior champion of his world fights to the very edge of reality, seeking more glory and searching for approval from his queen Eloarde of Klant. Where solid ground meets raw unformed Chaos-stuff, he finds a castle and is seduced by inexplicable, incredible creature Myshella, the Dark Lady. She gleefully shows him visions of the future in the raw material of unformed reality, and particularly the travails of a tragic Emperor, as yet unborn: Elric.

The first vision is an abridged and modified version of Thomas and P. Craig Russell’s ‘The Dreaming City’, taken from the 1982 Marvel Graphic Novel. It’s followed by the pair’s superb adaptation of ‘While the Gods Laugh’ which first appeared in fantasy anthology magazine Epic Illustrated (#14) in 1984.

There and then, the “white wolf” searched for the Dead God’s Book: a magical grimoire that promised to answer any wish or desire. In the quest Elric picked up the first of many disposable paramours in Shaarilla of the Dancing Mist: a woman with an agenda of her own. Most importantly. Elric met his as his truest friend and aide, human wanderer Moonglum.

Interspersed with the unfolding drama of Aubec and Myshella, the collection moves into an all-new interpretation of ‘The Singing Citadel’. Thomas & Gilbert co-adapted the tale for hugely underrated George Freeman to illustrate and colour.

When Elric and Moonglum take ship they are attacked by the magical pirates of Pan Tang, before being drawn into the dire schemes of Queen Yishana. She needs a better magician than her own lover Theleb K’aarna to investigate an incursion of murderous, melodic chaos into her kingdom…

After convincing the newcomers to join her, their search turns up a macabre, manic invader who turns out to be the Balo, malevolent Jester of the Lords of Chaos, intent on establishing his own domain and playpen beyond the interference of his fun-averse superiors…

This is a phenomenal tale of heroism and insanity, and art and colour here fully capture the drama and madness of the original. Gilbert & Freeman are every bit the imaginative, illustrative equals of the magnificent Russell and this book is inarguably one of the most impressive graphic fantasies ever produced.

Michael Moorcock’s irresistible blend of brooding Faustian tragedy and all-out action is never better displayed than in his stories of Elric, and Thomas’ adaptations were another high watermark in the annals of illustrated fantasy. Every home and castle should have one…

Another groundbreaking landmark of fantasy fiction and must-read-item, this resplendently flamboyant tale is a deliciously elegant, sinisterly beautiful masterpiece of the genre, blending blistering action and breathtaking adventure with the deep, darkly melancholic tone of a cynical, nihilistic, Cold-War mentality and the era that spawned the original stories.
Adapted from the works of Michael Moorcock related to the character of Elric of Melniboné © 2016, Michael & Linda Moorcock. All characters, the distinctive likenesses thereof, and all related indicia are TM & © Michael Moorcock and Multiverse Inc. Elric: The Weird of the White Wolf is © 1990 First Publishing, Inc. and Star*Reach Productions. Adapted from the original stories by Michael Moorcock, © 1967, 1970, 1977. All rights reserved.

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Ironwolf: Fires of the Revolution


By Howard Chaykin, John Francis Moore, Michael Mignola & P. Craig Russell (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-063-5 (HB) 978-1-56389-065-9 (TPB)

In the early 1970s, when Howard Chaykin and other luminaries-in-waiting like Bernie Wrightson, Walt Simonson, Al Weiss, Mike Kaluta and others were just starting out in the US comics industry, it was on the back of a global fantasy boom. DC had the comic book rights to Fritz Lieber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser tales (beautifully realised in 5 issues of Swords and Sorcery by Denny O’Neil and many of the above-mentioned gentlemen) as well as the more well-known works of Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan, Korak, John Carter of Mars, Carson of Venus, Pellucidar and even Beyond the Farthest Star. Marvel had some old pulp called Conan and a bunch of others…

Those beautiful fantasy strips began as back-up features in DC’s jungle books but quickly graduated to their own title – Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Weird Worlds – where they enthralled for just 7 magnificent issues before returning to back-up status in Tarzan and Korak. Dropping ERB’s strap line the comic itself ran for three more issues before folding in 1974. Those featured an all-new space opera scenario by O’Neil and Chaykin – The Saga of Ironwolf.

Predating Star Wars by years, and seductively blending hard sci fi and horror tropes, it only just began the story of a star-spanning empire fallen into dissolution and decadence and the rebellion of one honest aristocrat who threw off the seductive chains of privilege to fight for freedom and justice. Artificial vampires, monsters, vast alien armies and his own kin were some of the horrors Ironwolf tackled, leading a loyal band of privateers from his gravity-defying wooden star-galleon the Limerick Rake.

With impressive elan Ironwolf mixed post-Vietnam, current-Watergate cynicism with youthful rebellion, all flavoured by Celtic mythology, Greek tragedy, the legend of Robin Hood and pulp trappings to create a rollicking, barnstorming unforgettable romp. It was cancelled after three issues.

In 1986, those episodes were collected as a special one shot which obviously had some editorial impact, as soon after, this slim but classy all-star conclusion was released in both hardcover and paperback.

In the Empire Galaktika no resource is more prized than the miraculous anti-gravity trees of Illium – ancestral home of the Lords Ironwolf. These incredible plants take a thousand years to mature, can grow on no other world, and are the basis of all starships and extraplanetary travel in the Empire.

After untold years of comfortable co-existence, the latest Empress, Erika Morelle D’Klein Hernandez – steeped in her own debaucheries – declares that she is giving the latest crop of mature trees to monstrous aliens she had welcomed into her realm. Disgusted at this betrayal, nauseated by D’Klein’s blood-sucking allies and afraid for the Empire’s survival, Lord Brian of Illium destroys the much-coveted trees and joins the revolution.

With a burgeoning republican movement, he almost overthrows the corrupt regime in a series of spectacular battles, but was ultimately betrayed by one of his closest allies. Ambushed, the Limerick Rake died in a ball of flame…

Ironwolf awakes confused and crippled in a shabby hovel. Horrified he learns he has been unconscious for eight years, and although the Empire has been replaced with a Commonwealth, things have actually grown worse for humanity. The Empress still holds power and men are no more than playthings and sustenance – not only for the vampiric Blood Legion but also the increasingly debased aristocrats he once called his fellows.

Clearly he has a job to finish…

After decades away, much of the raw fire of the young creators who originated Ironwolf has mellowed with age, but Chaykin has always been a savvy, cynical and politically worldly-wise story-teller and still had enough indignant venom remaining to make this tale of betrayal and righteous revenge a gloriously fulfilling read, especially with the superbly beguiling art of Mike Mignola & P. Craig Russell, illustrating his final campaign to liberate the masses.

Since the tale (which links into Chaykin & Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’s DC future-verse Twilight epic – and no, that one has nothing to do with fey vampires in love: stayed tuned for our review of the sci fi classic) is not available digitally and physical copies are a bit pricy, I think the time has never been better for reissuing the entire vast panoramic saga in one complete graphic novel.

Let’s see if somebody at DC is reading this review…
© 1992 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Beowulf – First Comics Graphic Novel #1


By Jerry Bingham, with Ken Bruzenak (First Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-915419-00-5 (Album PB)

The mid-1980s were a great time for comics creators. It was as if an entire new industry had opened up with the proliferation of the Direct Sales market and dedicated specialist retail outlets; new companies were experimenting with format and content, and punters had a bit of spare cash to play with. Moreover, much of the “kid’s stuff” stigma had finally abated and the US was catching up to the rest of the world in acknowledging that sequential narrative might just be an actual art-form…

Many new companies began competing for the attention and cash of punters who had grown accustomed – or resigned – to getting their four-colour kicks from DC, Marvel Archie and/or Harvey Comics. European and Japanese styled material had been creeping in but by 1983 a host of young companies such as WaRP Graphics, Pacific, Eclipse, Capital, Now, Comico, Dark Horse, First and many others had established themselves and were making impressive inroads.

New talent, established stars and fresh ideas all found a thriving forum to try something a little different both in terms of content and format. Chicago based First Comics was an early frontrunner, with Frank Brunner’s Warp, Mike Grell’s Starslayer and Jon Sable, Freelance and Howard Chaykin’s landmark American Flagg!, as well as an impressive line of titles targeting a more sophisticated audience.

In 1984 they followed Marvel and DC’s lead with a line of impressive, European-styled over-sized graphic albums featuring new and out-of-the-ordinary comics sagas (see Time Beavers, Mazinger and two volumes of Time2 to see just how bold, broad and innovative the material could be). The premier release was a stunning – subsequently award-winning (1985 Kirby Award for Best Graphic Album) – fantasy epic by Jerry Bingham.

Beowulf is a thrilling, compulsive and intensely visceral visualisation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem committed to parchment sometime between the 8th and 11th century AD, and recently the subject of numerous screen iterations and re-interpretations.

Need a plot summary? Long ago in the far North, noble King Hrothgar built a mighty mead-hall for heroes, thereby incurring the malignant enmity of the monster Grendel. This beast ruthlessly and relentlessly raided the citadel, slaughtering many noble warriors every night. After a dozen years of horror, a valiant band of heroes led by Beowulf, Prince of the Geats, came to their aid, seeking glory and fame through battle…

The clash of Beowulf and Grendel is spectacularly handled as is the succeeding exploit wherein the stalking horror’s demonic mother comes seeking revenge and drags the warrior prince to her hideous lair beneath an icy lake, but the most effective and moving chapter is the very human-scaled Twilight of the Gods as, after 50 years ruling his Geatish kingdom, worn and elderly Beowulf goes to his final glorious battle, dying heroically whilst destroying a ravening firedrake which threatens to eradicate his people: the only proper end for a Northman Hero…

Bingham’s raw, fiercely realistic art-style perfectly captures the implacable sense of doom and by employing Prince Valiant’s text block-&-picture format he endows the tale with a grandeur frequently as mythic as Hal Foster’s strip masterpiece, whilst leaving the art gloriously free of distracting word-balloons.

Letterer/calligrapher Ken Bruzenak’s particular facility perfectly enhances the artistic mood by carefully integrating captions filled with Bingham’s free-verse transliterations of the original 3182-lines-long poem into a classic interpretation of the epic. This is a wonderful and worthy piece of work that will delight any fan of the medium. Let’s bring it back pretty please?

And for a perfect all-ages prose telling of the timeless tale I also heartily recommend Rosemary Sutcliff’s magnificent Beowulf: Dragonslayer: first released in 1961 and captivatingly illustrated by Charles Keeping. It is still readily available and one of the books that changed my life.
© 1984 First Comics, Inc. All rights reserved.