Gardner F. Fox‘s Warren Sword & Sorcery appearances seem almost obvious as Fox had left DC to write his Kothar and Kyrix novels. The dispute in 1968 was over health insurance, which DC did not want to give its older writers. Fox parted ways after decades of work on classics like Batman and The Justice League of America. Fox was not above working for DC’s rivals, Marvel and Warren. It was in the black & white pages of Eerie, Vampirella and Creepy he got to do some Sword & Sorcery tales. Some of his S&S work was reprinted at Skywald too.
The first three were a trilogy around a female warrior named Amazonia:
“Amazonia” (Eerie #27, May 1970) is set in the land of Karkassone. Amazonia is on a quest set her by her guardian, the sorcerer, Dyzlann to retrieve the Iron Crown of Karkassone. Her father was once king but has been displaced by an usurper. She kills a band of goblins in the forest before discovering a young man who has been pegged out for sacrifice to the dark god, Skorpovion. She battles the charnal god who freezes her limbs and melts her sword. She is captured by Skorpovion’s minions and is going to be sacrificed. Fortunately she has the Iron Crown of Karkassone in a bag. The true iron repels the monsters. Amazonia and her male companion escape.
In the swamp she sees a sword guarded by demons. She leaps over them to claim Excalifer while Llyrith the witch watches her in a crystal ball. She conjures a demon to attack Amazonia. The warrior queen kills it with her new sword and takes the crown to the usurper Hermotimos. When she places the crown on his head it dispels the magic that reveals he is actually Fedrik, Amazonia’s father. Fedrik dies, making Amazonia queen.
“Amazonia: The Demon in the Crypt” (Vampirella #8, November 1970) has Amazonia, now queen, hunting a horror that lurks in the castle. The palace was built over an ancient temple. She takes her sword and searches the shadows for the monster. She finds Baidoba the Demon and fights desperately.
Amazonia is knocked unconscious and falls in the soil that preserved the demon for ages. Now the monster can not hurt her so it seals her up in the crypt. Baidoba transforms itself into a woman and claims Amazonia’s sword and throne. Amazonia frees herself from the coffin and studies the dirt she lie in. Realizing the soil is the only thing the demon fears, she brings some of the dirt with her. The two spar with swords. Amazonia throws the dirt at Baidoba, allowing her to kill the demon.
“Amazonia and the Eye of Ozirios” (Vampirella #12, July 1971) begins with the robber, Throkklon ravaging the country. Despite Theonides the court magician’s concerns, Amazonia goes alone to free the people. Armed with Excalifer, she rides out. She is surveiled by the Dread Eye of Ozirios then attacked by soldiers. It is a trap and Amazonia kills left and right to free herself.
Ultimately she is captured and hung on a cross Conan-style. A juicy caravan shows up, drawing Throkklan away as she lights a fire under Amazonia. The warrior queen frees herself before seeing the Eye of Ozirios again. She throws her sword at the demon eye, destroying it. With the eye destroyed, Throkklon and all his forces disappear.
The last three were individual tales. The first was with future writing superstar, Steve Engelhart. Engelhart drew the strip. (He began his career as Neal Adams’ assistant.) He wasn’t bad but must have found writing more to his taste as he would go on to created Star Lord, Shang-Chi,The Master of Kung-Fu (along with Jim Starlin), Coyote and write the novel, The Point Man (1980). I guess we are okay with him giving up drawing…
“Retribution” (Eerie #35, September 1971) Corelle, Queen of Thieves in Gagrath and Bardak, High Priest of Thurnool in Armal, fight a battle. Bardak loses and is blinded then killed. The venom of his god, the serpentine, Thurnool, revives him, though not his sight. Bardak lives as a beggar. Eventually he is noticed by the queen and taken to her. Bardak tells a story of the hidden gold of Thunool’s temple. Corelle calls for her chariot and goes to find the wealth.
Corelle goes to the old building and finds the gold. Gloating over it, she taunts Bardak, who she will torture to death. When he doesn’t respond, she pulls off his bandages that cover his blind eyes. Bardak has new eyes. Serpent eyes. He turns into the giant snake god Thunool and vengeance follows. The Doom that Came to Gagrath feels very Dreamlands Lovecraft.
“Tower of the Demon Dooms” (Eerie #35, September 1971) begins with mention of “In those ancient lands that stretch from Kabblamoth to long-deserted Gagrath…” The mention of Gagrath (and we know why it is deserted) means this story is set on the same map. There is really no reason to not assume all of these stories are set in the same world but this reference proves some of them are.
Warrior, Evram Dag is under a powerful geas. The spell forces him to dig up his dead lover, Rosalia, and take her body to the wizard Kodore. Kodore uses a spell: “Kthulnu borol Cthaffos!” reinforcing the Mythos feel. The spell brings Rosalia back to life. Evram Dag smashes his way out of the black tower.
He arms himself and goes to Kodore’s castle. He shows up as Kodore is sending Rosalia into a mystic cloud. Evram Dag threatens the wizard who casts another Mythos spell. This one makes Dag into his slave. Slowly over time, Evram Dag leans that Kodore fears the demon Affridiom who gives him his power. To hold the demon at bay, Kodore has powerful elixirs. Dag replaces these with harmless mixtures. Kodore loses his powers and Dag is freed from the spell. Evram Dag takes Kodore’s place as wizard. When Rosalia returns the lovers go to bed and the girl feeds on Evram Dag’s blood. To escape the curse, he takes Rosalia with him to live in the Demon realm. Unfortunately, no one can live there without drinking blood. Dag has no choice but to feed on her.
“Soul and Shadow” (Creepy #58 , December 1973) A barbarian adventurer sneaks into the Temple of Shalimar to steal the legendary jewel there. When he does he finds a beautiful woman lying on a couch. She wants him to take the stone so the spell that keeps her there will be destroyed. She is afraid but the warrior shows her she is free. Meanwhile in the temple, the statue of Shalimar talks with a shadow that resembles the warrior-thief, telling it to avenger her. As the couple leave, sand ghouls long imprisoned there go after the warrior. He fights but can not harm them until the woman enchants his blade.
This give the shadow monster time to sneak up and attack the warrior. The shadow sucks the life from the wanderer, dropping his skeleton to the ground. The woman picks up the jewel, which now burns with the warrior’s soul and returns to the temple. She lies down, ready for the next victim…
Fox has no trouble writing the Warren-style of Sword & Sorcery tale, which has an obligatory bummer ending. The Warren magazines were Horror first and foremost. Sword & Sorcery was tolerable as a setting as long as the ending felt like a horror story. The Lovecraftian/Dreamlands feel was perfect for this type of dark fantasy.
Fox wasn’t done with Sword & Sorcery yet. He still had more paperbacks to write as well as the Niall of the Far Travels stories for The Dragon Magazine starting in 1976. As the man who wrote “Crom the Barbarian”,the first true Sword & Sorcery comic back in 1950, his work was always welcome. Fox loved Sword & Sorcery and made significant contribution despite never getting to work on Marvel’s Conan properties. Marvel used his novel, Kothar and the Conjurer’s Curse for Conan the Barbarian #46-51 but never invited Fox to write anything new for them.
