The Rook was a Warren character who got his start in Eerie before moving onto his own magazine in October 1979. While Dane’s adventures are time-traveling SF, the back-up stories for the magazine varied between other SF, Sherlock Holmes, First Nations adventure and, of course, two Sword & Sorcery series. Both of these comics had intriguing histories that were not immediately obvious to readers back in the 1980s.
Alfred Alcala’s Voltar
“Voltar: Comes the Endtime” appeared in #2, February 1980-#9, June 1981. This seven-part comic was created and drawn by Alfred Alcala back in 1963. That was eleven years before The Savage Sword of Conan would use this style. This is even before Frank Frazetta’s covers for Lancer Books. In Alfred’s native Philippines, this comic and others made him famous enough to have a comic named after him, Alcala Komiks Magasin. Later, Alfred came to America to work for DC then Marvel. For some reason Voltar stayed in the back files until 1979. The comic got an English script by Bill Dubay (writing as Will Richardson).
The story of the comic follows General Voltar, having returned from a long war, finds his homeland, Elysium, ravaged by invaders, four black knights lead by Magog. Finding an old friend, Nicador, he learns that his mother and sister are dead. The end times have come. He must go to King Antiochus and help him find a savior who has been prophesied. He is attacked by goblins in a scene that reminds me of the Vulmin dwarves in Nictzin Dyalhis’s “The Sapphire Siren” (Weird Tales, February 1934). (The level of violence here is startling when compared to most Marvel and DC comics.) He returns to his king, has his wounds tended, then sees the destruction of the lands. He takes on the mantle as savior of the realm.
The rulers of the goblins show up, Nazgul style. Magog, a black knight, rallies his forces. Voltar goes to the Thorn Forest with a goblin named Minorca. This is the entrance of the Goblin underworld. Terrible vines kill the goblin and capture Voltar. He is rescued by the nether-warlord only to be taken to a cavern. Here a giant snake attacks them. The warlord is injured and Voltar does a good Conan job of killing the serpent. Having killed it, the warlord wants to resume their contest. (In a scene that can only recall the Black Knight scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.) Voltar removes his helmet to see that he is plague-ridden, one of the four dooms of earth. Voltar walks away and leaves the warlord to the mate of the serpent he killed.
Searching the cave, Voltar encounters the sage Arcanne, who tells him only he can cure himself from the plague that is beginning to eat away his body. Another of the four death knights show up and the two fight. Voltar is victor. The plague clouds his mind as he struggles to defeat the disease. He sees an angelic warrior who turns out to be another death knight! Voltar is captured, taken to the stronghold of Magog. Here he finds Sadducces, his old friend (the third withered old man character), as well as many warriors who he has known. They all rot in prison while Magog rules. In the courtyard a man stands crucified on a very Conan-like cross.
Magog takes off his helmet to reveal he is King Antiochus’s son, an heir who had been spurned in favor of Voltar. We get the back story about the royal heirs, Judah and Taraval. The king and his wife had two sons. Judah was brave and gallant while Taraval was crafty and learned black magic. (Just like those two kids in Highlights magazine.) Judah is the man on the cross, the one they call the Messiah.
The story ends when Taraval recruits Voltar to be his right hand. Voltar betrays him, kills him, and takes his armor. Pretending to be Magog, he has the goblins release all the prisoners. The goblins finally figure out the deception but Voltar kills most of them with another rockslide. Voltar dies to save Judah and the rest of the king’s men.The true king is returned to his thrown and Voltar is remembered as a great hero.
I remember reading this comic back in the 1980s and thinking it was a poor version of Conan (with great art). Way too biblical for my tastes. Knowing the true history now, I see just how amazing Alfred Alcala was, and how the look and feel of the best of SSOC is his legacy. Though Voltar is not the best story ever done, it was years ahead of its time.
Joe Ortiz’s Viking Prince
“The Viking Prince” appeared in two issues, #5, October-#6, December 1980. (Imagine the thrill for S&S fans. Two of the three stories are heroic fantasy!) This comic was drawn by another legend, the Spanish artist, Jose Ortiz. This two-parter is based on his Sigur el Vikingo from 1958, a comic that ran into the hundreds of issues in many European languages. (Not to be confused with Joe Kubert’s “The Viking Prince”.) Jose joined Warren in 1974 until 1983, drawing more comics for them than any other artist. After Warren, he drew “Rogue Trooper” for 2000 AD in England. His later years would be devoted to Western comics in Europe.
“The Viking Prince” begins with a familiar story, the true heir of the king is stolen and to be killed in the forest. Baldr can’t bring himself to do, abandoning the child. The killer is killed and the man who killed the assassin also dies. Olaf, the man who engineered the deed, usurps the throne of King Torgest. But wait, Baldr is not quite dead yet (“I’m not quite dead yet!”), telling the peasants who find the child who he really is.
Time passes. The land falls under the greedy shadow of Olaf. The boy, Sigfrid grows up in secret. The grown lad gains a companion when he has a Robin Hood style battle on a bridge with the dwarf, Sampson. The two destroy the bridge but become fast friends. And that is good because raiders are attacking his father’s farm. The two heroes take on the assailants, defeating all of them. They find Sigurd’s father, dying. He tells Sigfrid who he really is. There is proof of his birthright in an old oak chest but it has gone missing. The pair go off to Thorwald, the king’s seat, to reclaim Sigurd’s throne.
While traveling, Sigfrid and Sampson hear a woman scream. They see carnage on the road. A cyclops is attacking the woman. Sigfrid shoots arrows at it then blinds it with a spear, chasing it off. He meets the woman, whose retainers were all killed. Her name is Freyja. She says her father is rich and powerful and will reward them. Meanwhile back in Thorwald, King Olaf is upset that his daughter has not arrived. Queen Sybil worries for her girl, Freyja. Part one ends with more cyclops sneaking up behind the travelers….
A swarm of cyclops attack. Sigfried valiantly fights, allowing Freyja to escape. The giants chase the two men to a cliff’s edge. They jump to a ledge but thrown boulders knock Sigfrid off. The cyclops capture Sampson, then Freyja. They don’t kill them right away but take them to a cave, There, a wizard named Saraveg has been hatching up his revenge on Olaf. He controls the giants and plans to sacrifice the captives at the rise of the full moon.
Meanwhile, Sigfrid finishes his fall off the cliff, landing in water. A mammoth devil serpent attacks him. He rides the beast for awhile then strikes it on the head with his ax. Eventually it throws him on the bank where he hides from it. He finds a cave that leads into the cyclops’s lair. He sees Freyja and Sampson tied up. Sigfried surprises the wizard and frees his companions. They sneak out of the cyclop cave but Saraveg uses a pipe to summon the giants. The trio runs.
Seeing that the giants will overtake them, Sigfried sends the dwarf and woman on while he holds off the cyclops. He kills some by causing an avalanche. He fights desperately hand-to-hand for awhile before slipping away. While hiding he is attacked by a giant iguana. (Shades of B-movies!) He battles the dragon-sized beast, allowing the cyclops to find him. Things look bad when a hundred arrows take out the giants. King Olaf and his men have arrived and fight the rest. Sampson shows up to save Sigfrid and tells him that Freyja is his half-sister. The swordsman is unsure what to do…
And that is where Jose left it. There should have been a third piece with a true Luke Skywalker moment in it and that stupid oaken chest never resurfaced, perhaps in the unwritten next chapter. Oh well…
Conclusion
The issues that followed moved towards more SF and other kinds of historically oriented stories. The Sword & Sorcery was reserved for Ring of the Warlords (January 1979) and a Sword & Sorcery Special (#13, October 1981) to take advantage of the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings film (for which they also did a special). These collections were entirely made up of old comics from the many years of publishing.
In 1983, Warren Publications called it quits after twenty-six years of doing what other companies could not. That included some of the first and best Sword & Sorcery comics in black & white including the work of these two masters, Alfred Alcala and Jose Ortiz (along with Esteban Maroto, Luis Bermejo, Jaime Brocal, Vincente Alcazar and others). Though magazines like Heavy Metal and Epic Illustrated would use Sword & Sorcery stories, it was never the same as the best years at Warren.
