Sword & Sorcery Comics Hall of Fame: Archie Goodwin

If you are going to associate a name with Sword & Sorcery comics it is usually Roy Thomas. This is ironic in that Roy has stated for the record he’s not really a fan of the sub-genre. He prefers super heroes. He wrote millions of words of S&S because he fell into the Conan franchise, then penned other Howard stuff and even his own in Arak, Son of Thunder. None of which changes the facts: he prefers super heroes.

My vote for Sword & Sorcery Comics Hall of Famer is Archie Goodwin (1937-1998). Here’s why:

Archie wrote the very first S&S comic in the Warren magazines with “The Ogre’s Castle” (Creepy #2, April 1965) with art by Angelo Torres. Now this could have been a one-off but it wasn’t. It was the first in a string of black & white comic stories that filled Creepy and Eerie. Archie was the chief writer for Warren between 1964-1967 so it isn’t surprising to see his name on plenty of strips but it was inclusion of Sword & Sorcery (always with a bummer ending, of course) he brought in as well. Other writers like Bill Parente, Buddy Saunders and Nick Cuti would continue the vein into the 1970s with Eerie becoming the magazine with the Sword & Sorcery slant.

“Dark Kingdom” (Creepy #9, June 1966)

“Black Magic” (Eerie #5, September 1966)

“Cave of the Druids” (Eerie #6, November 1966)

“Where Sorcery Lives” (Creepy #14, April 1967)

“Castle Carrion” (Creepy #14, April 1967)

“Thane” (Creepy #15-16, June-August 1967) began as a two-parter written by Archie but got two sequels by Bill Parente in #27 and #112.

“Warrior of Death” (Eerie #10, July 1967)

“To Slay a Dragon” (Eerie #11, March 1967)

“The Demon Wakes” (Eerie #15, June 1968)

While these stories individually were buried among the tales of vampires and maniacs, they do form an important trend that would push comic publishers toward Sword & Sorcery. This was the 1960s and Lancer was selling millions of Conan paperbacks while Tolkien was sweeping the campuses of America. Artists in the undergrounds and independent comics were hip to the new Conan thing, but traditional publishers were more resistant. Archie was the guy to go from underground to a wider audience in the horror mags. It would take Roy Thomas and Barry Smith’s Conan the Barbarian to tip the scales in 1970.

In 1967, Archie moved on to writing for the King Features syndicate that provided comic strips to newspapers and then eventually Marvel and DC. Archie transitioned from writing into editing. As editor he did another favor for Sword & Sorcery comics when he created the Epic line (that featured Bolton’s Black Dragon, Wendy Pini’s Elfquest, Samuria Cat, Sisterhood of Steel, and Swords of the Swashbucklers) and Epic Illustrated magazine (that featured an adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s Almuric, Michael Moorcock’s Elric, Chris Claremont’s “Marada the She-Wolf”, “Last of the Dragons”, “Young Cerebus” and many other fantasy and outright S&S pieces).

In his way, Archie was as important to Sword & Sorcery comics as Roy Thomas, Denny O’Neil and other creators like Mike Grell. He gave early S&S a try (and ironically like Sword & Sorcery fiction buried among the tales of vampires and maniacs in Weird Tales) he did it in a horror line. The artists who helped him should also be noted: Frank Frazetta who did those amazing early covers, Jeff Jones who would make a living on painting S&S book covers, as did Gray Morrow, Steve Ditko will be remembered for Spider-Man but I prefer his gray ink work here. Archie also opened the door for such S&S artists (who came later to Warren) as Sam Glanzman, Esteban Maroto and Rich Buckler. Thank you Archie for all you did for Sword & Sorcery comics. You have a well deserved place in our Hall of Fame.