{"id":33272,"date":"2025-07-08T17:18:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T17:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=33272"},"modified":"2025-07-08T17:18:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T17:18:45","slug":"maroc-the-mighty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/07\/08\/maroc-the-mighty\/","title":{"rendered":"Maroc the Mighty"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy an unknown author<\/strong> & Don Lawrence<\/strong> with Alfredo Marculeta<\/strong> (Rebellion Studios\/ Treasury of UK Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-83786-517-8 (TPB\/Digital edition) 978-1-83786-518-5 (Webshop Edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

For British, commonwealth and European readers of a certain age and prone to debilitating nostalgia, the comic works of Don Lawrence (17th<\/sup> November 1928 – 29th<\/sup> December 2003) are a treat that never pales and always satisfies. His lavish painted-narrative illustration was only ever about two things: boyish wish-fulfilment and staggeringly beautiful images.<\/p>\n

Beginning in the 1950s, Lawrence (Marvelman<\/strong>, Wells Fargo<\/strong>, Billy the Kid<\/strong>, Fireball XL5<\/strong>, Olac the Gladiator<\/strong>, The Adventures of Tarzan<\/strong>, The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire<\/strong>, adult comedy strip Carrie<\/strong> and multi-volume Dutch magnum opus Storm<\/strong>), inspired a host of artists like Brian Bolland and Dave Gibbons. However, as Lawrence worked into the 1990s, his eyesight was increasingly impaired by cataracts, and he took on and diligently trained apprentices like modern stars Chris Weston and Liam Sharp who collaborated with the venerable mentor on his last Storm<\/strong> stories.<\/p>\n

Although magnificent painted fantasies are Don\u2019s everlasting legacy, he was also a supremely gifted master of monochrome illumination and gritty realism. Astoundingly, in Britain most of those pre-colour comics remained unreprinted until relatively recently. Now a regular and recognised wellspring for Rebellion Studios\u2019 Treasury of UK Comics, two volumes of his Karl the Viking<\/strong> have been augmented by a true lost classic: a historical but engagingly daft fantasy that Lawrence was plucked from in midstream to begin the Trigan Empire<\/strong> opus…<\/p>\n

The extraordinary adventures of a valiant and benevolent wandering Devonshire yeoman making his way back to England after the Third Crusade never actually carried the hero\u2019s name in the weeklies where it was serialised, but ever since the feature – long mis-attributed to writer Michael Moorcock, but now officially devoid of a credited author – has been called by fans Maroc the Mighty<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

This brief but bombastic movie-influenced (particularly Ray Harryhausen) skein of sword & Sorcery sagas was first seen in Lion<\/strong>: a triptych of tales spanning 3rd<\/sup> October 1964 to 6th<\/sup> February 1965 (The Hand of Zar<\/em>); 13th<\/sup> February – May 1st<\/sup> (The Red Knights of Morda<\/em>) and then May 8th<\/sup> to 3rd<\/sup> July 1965 (The Gigantos<\/em>), augmented by a short escapade from Lion Annual 1967<\/strong> as originally released in the autumn of 1966.<\/p>\n

Following an enthusiastic and informative Introduction<\/em> from historian Steve Holland \u2018The Hand of Zar\u2019<\/em> introduces John Maroc<\/em>: a doughty English fighter serving the Lords and Nobles of militant Christendom, who now the defeated Christian warriors flee the Holy Land. Sadly, the term \u201cnoble\u201d never really applied to aristocratic leader Sir Guy<\/em> who uses the retreat to pillage and plunder, and when his depredations threaten a helpless Arab boy, outraged Maroc leaps to his defence and must battle his way out with young Ahmid<\/em>. Fleeing to the mountains they meet an old man who gives the Englishman a golden wrist bracer. The Hand of Zar originally belonged to an ancient \u201cSun warrior\u201d who fought for justice, and will make Maroc \u201ca giant among men\u201d. It gets the chance almost immediately as Sir Guy\u2019s men ambush them and overwhelm them… until John discovers he has strength enough to snap chains and topple stone pillars…
\n\"\"
\nOver ensuing weeks Maroc and Ahmid thwart Sir Guy\u2019s schemes despite quickly discovering that although the relict imparts incomprehensible strength – and a little enhanced stamina and durability – it only does so as long as it remains in direct sunlight. If clouds appear or night arrives, Maroc is reduced to his ordinary self…<\/p>\n

The clashes eventually attract the attention of Richard the Lionheart<\/em>, who values and admires the efforts of the peasant warrior, but must follow the codes of chivalry and shun him for fighting against his betters, no matter how scurrilous they might be. To make matters worse, Sir Guy accuses the lowly hero of treason and settles a death sentence upon his head…<\/p>\n

Their flight across the middle east brings them into extended conflict with all-conquering Warlord Kalin<\/em> and his war elephants, wicked mountain wizards and dinosaurs, marine slavers, shark packs and reivers, and embroils Maroc and Ahmid in a deadly quest for a mystic artifact – the Stone of Aolath<\/em> – fighting antediluvian primitives inhabiting The City of the Clouds. Ultimately the legacy of Zar proves unconquerable and the wandering heroes part ways…
\n\"\"
\nOne week later, the Englishman abroad reached Spain as The Red Knights of Morda<\/em> plunged into more of the episodic same. In mountainous, arid Morda Maroc encounters a band of rogue paladins steadily eroding established rule and bleeding the coffers of true local sovereign Don Miguel Y Cipriano<\/em>. When Maroc befriends the Baron\u2019s son Carlos<\/em> and charming scoundrel \u201cRamon the Gypsy\u201d<\/em>, it begins a brutal, bloody fightback to restore order and justice. The real enemy is a secret society led by evil genius mastermind Satana<\/em>, and encompasses defeating his colossal enforcer Khala the Strong<\/em> and legions of fanatical killers, bad knights, huge swamp lizards and more war elephants…
\n\"\"
\nThe final Lawrence exploit began in colour on the cover of Lion<\/strong>\u2019s May 8th<\/sup> 1965 issue, with the wanderer still trudging through Spain and abruptly ambushed by archers. Falling victim to the assault he sees with amazement that none of his attackers are over four feet tall…<\/p>\n

Explanations by the Minimas<\/em> lead to the Englishman enlisting to aid the \u201cdwarf folk\u201d against a determined foe sworn to enslave them for their mines – \u2018The Gigantos<\/em>\u2019. Nominative determinism was a major factor at this time in comics and their oppressors are a tribe of oversized tyrants misusing their strength and exploiting equally prodigious wildlife – like giant eagles and bears – to tyrannise the Minimas, but all their might, diabolical traps and the wiles of their leader Pesado<\/em> – and the active volcano they live in – are insufficient to deter Maroc when he finds injustice festering…<\/p>\n

… And that was it for Lawrence\u2019s most superheroic star since Marvelman<\/strong>. From September 18th<\/sup> 1965 fans were periodically gobsmacked and enthralled by The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire<\/strong> – and never really looked back. Editors, however, are callous pragmatic folk and established name brand Maroc returned via Lion Annual 1967<\/strong> in another anonymously scripted, done-in-one tale illustrated by UK comics mainstay Alfredo Marculeta. He was a regular of the era\u2019s weeklies probably most recognisable today for The Rubber Man<\/strong>, a superhero knock-off of Jack Cole\u2019s Plastic Man<\/strong> written by Ken Mennell and running in Smash<\/strong> from #15.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t find out much about him, but his work and overall style look remarkably similar to that of Spanish political exile, cartoonist, caricaturist and comics illustrator Edmundo Marculeta (6th<\/sup> April 1923 – 3rd<\/sup> May 1989 and AKA \u201cMarcouleta\u201d, \u201cMarcouletta\u201d, \u201cMarcou\u201d, \u201cTony Cranach\u201d & \u201cBoris Tunder\u201d) who worked in Europe and the UK in the 1960s & 1970s on everything from all-ages westerns and historical adventures to adult comics.<\/p>\n

Here, those gifts are employed depicting how mighty Maroc is tramping through Germany\u2019s Black Forest and attacked. Losing and winning back the armlet of Zar, he joins ousted prince Johann of Grunde<\/em>, helping him regain his birthright from usurping murderer Baron Grimm<\/em>, a tyrant obsessed with gladiatorial contests and animal cruelty…
\n\"\"
\nBased in equal part on cinematic Sword & Sandal and Knight & Ladies epics and a long-cherished movie genre of manly blockbusters to construct a vast sprawling serial of heroic vigilantism, two-fisted warriors, wild beasts, deadly monsters and even occasionally the odd female (very, very occasionally in this instance!) Maroc the Mighty is the quintessential 5-minute read, but with visuals every boy I knew spent hours staring at. Some – who shall remain nameless – might even have traced or copied many of the panels and tableaux for art and history projects, Hem Hem…<\/p>\n

Incorporating a tantalising teaser for the next volume and creator biographies, this truly spectacular visual triumph is a monument to British Comics creativity, simultaneously pushing memory buttons for old folk whilst offering a light but beautiful straightforward epic readily accessible to the curious and genre inquisitive alike or anyone who actually saw the latest William Tell<\/strong> movie…<\/p>\n

Is that you or someone you know?
\nMaroc the Mighty is \u2122 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. \u00a9 1964, 1965, 1966 & 2025 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By an unknown author & Don Lawrence with Alfredo Marculeta (Rebellion Studios\/ Treasury of UK Comics) ISBN: 978-1-83786-517-8 (TPB\/Digital edition) 978-1-83786-518-5 (Webshop Edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. For British, commonwealth and European readers of a certain age and prone to debilitating nostalgia, the comic works of Don Lawrence (17th … <\/p>\n

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